If you want to be creeped out by something besides Stephen King’s typical werewolves, monsters, and wicked clowns, then pick up a copy of Dolores Claiborne. This is a great story, one that I have read three or four times since I first bought it about four years ago. I can’t resist!
Dolores Claiborne is an older woman who has suffered one hell of a lot in her life. She was born and raised on Little Tall Island, a small part of a northern American state. Through the course of her life she has dealt with an alcoholic, abusive husband, raised three children, and worked for decades for Vera Donovan - a woman who originally inhabited Little Tall Island as a tourist, but moved in permanently after her husband left and her two children died mysteriously.
This story is told by Dolores herself instead of the usual Stephen King narrative. When the story begins, she is explaining herself because she is being questioned in the accidental death of Vera Donovan - who had over recent years grown incapable of caring for herself and was confined to a wheelchair, then to her bed.
So, Dolores begins by explaining that she did, indeed, murder her husband many years before Vera died - the sheriff’s office acts shocked, but Dolores knows that they were all suspicious when it happened way back when. Dolores spends most of the book telling about when, why, and how she killed her husband - a chilling story if there ever was one. It’s an ingenius plan, carried out almost flawlessly and described in such detail that the reader cannot help but feel shivers up and down his or her spine.
Dolores comes off as a very sarcastic and callous woman, but underneath it all you will discover that she has a very big heart - the driving force behind most of her actions. She is a charming Southern belle, one that most would look up to if she were a real person versus a very creative and unique Stephen King character in a very well-written book.
Eventually Dolores goes on to explain what happened with Vera Donovan on that fateful day, hoping and praying that the sheriff and his deputies will believe her. She figures that, because she finally confesses to the murder she committed many years before, she will be further justified when she explains that she did not, in fact, kill her employer. This all makes a lot of sense, especially when Dolores is telling it.
Suspenseful, frightening, and downright eerie. This is a fascinating book - a quick day and a half to read because you simply cannot put it down. Stephen King has, once again, given us a masterpiece in between the covers of his novel - one that will surely be read time and again over the years.
I highly recommend this because it’s such a work of art, but also because it’s a special story. It doesn’t follow King’s usual trends, and often you wonder if it was King himself or one of the many voices in his disturbed mind telling the story. Whatever the case, it’s well worth the read.