For those of you lucky enough to see the television show Haven on the SyFy channel, you may have noticed that the series is actually based on a Stephen King novel called The Colorado Kid. Like most of his works, King chooses the Northeast, specifically Maine, to set this story of mystery and intrigue.

Fair warning: if you’re the type of person that reads the last chapter of mystery novels first, you will be sorely disappointed in King’s story. This is not a mystery tale that wraps everything up in a nice bow for the reader, but instead King offers only more questions.

While relatively short, the serialized novel allows the reader to explore the process by which truth can be found. The story also explains the nature of rumor and story that most people are willing to accept. There are conclusions, but King ultimately is interested in the murder and resulting investigation from a journalistic standpoint, not necessarily the conclusion of the case.

The story is short and the payoff might be insufficient for those who can’t see King’s purpose, but the journey is worth taking to understand the mentality that so fascinated the author. King includes an explanation at the end to assuage his readers’ issues with the purpose of the story’s construction, and I hope you take the time to read it. While the novel is rare enough to garner a higher than average price on Amazon and other book dealers, we are lucky enough to have a copy in the campus library. Happy reading.