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    Blaze: A Novel
    Blaze: A Novel
    Blaze: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Blaze: A Novel

    Written by Stephen King

    Narrated by Ron McLarty

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Master storyteller Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) presents this gripping and remarkable New York Times bestselling crime novel about a damaged young man who embarks on an ill-advised kidnapping plot—a work as taut and riveting as anything he has ever written.

    Once upon a time, a fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 (“cancer of the pseudonym”), but this last gripping Bachman novel resurfaced after being hidden away for decades—an unforgettable crime story tinged with sadness and suspense.

    Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., was always a small-time delinquent. None too bright either, thanks to the beatings he got as a kid. Then Blaze met George Rackley, a seasoned pro with a hundred cons and one big idea. The kidnapping should go off without a hitch, with George as the brains behind their dangerous scheme. But there's only one problem: by the time the deal goes down, Blaze's partner in crime is dead. Or is he?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJun 12, 2007
    ISBN9780743569798
    Author

    Stephen King

    Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

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    Reviews for Blaze

    3.5/5

    1,103 ratings64 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Not a bad story. But... Meh. Wouldn't recommend You are super into good endings
    • 5/5
      Thanks t get streets S rèrrrès were w streets refer f regret f red we begged gd g VHS g
    • 4/5
      I nearly cried at the end of this book; not something which normally happens with a Stephen King book... but this is very much unlike any of his other offerings. I loved it!
    • 4/5
      Better than most of what he has published recently. It does show an early Bachman in spots, yet has well developed characters and is simply a good story.
    • 5/5
      I really loved this one!! STEPHEN KING IS A MASTER CRAFTSMAN AND MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE AUTHOR
      IM SO HAPPY SCRIBD HAS SO MANY AUDIOBOOKS BY HIM!!
      IM A HUGE FAN OF THIS APP

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wow what a sad story. Good but sad. As always, great characters

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The Blaze character is is so well developed he is real in my mind. I absolutely loved him and had so much sympathy for him and his unfortunate lot in life. I’m so glad, Stephen King, that you took another look at this story and decided to publish it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great, easy, read. For a second there I thought they both going to die.
    • 2/5
      I've read a lot of King and this is the worst so far. Bland and juvenile. I rounded up to 2 stars because the narrator was good.
    • 1/5
      Very bleak. They're a reason King chose to write under a different name - this is like a totally different author, and should be treated as such. No light at the end of this depressing tunnel.
    • 3/5
      Book 60 of Stephen King. Enjoyed reading the novel, once I started I couldn't put it down. All the classic features of Kings novels are there to enjoy. One feels for the main protagonist even though he is a bad guy trapped in circumstances beyond his control.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Blaze is the lead character. The story current story of his criminal undergoing unfolds alongside the filling in of his personal history. I found my feelings toward him ever-changing. He's simple-minded and has had a hard life and is caught up is a major crime. For me this was engrossing and sad. It makes you wish for the impossible ending.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Not my favorite King by far. I didn't find it to be suspenseful. The only real evil in the book is the "system". Some of the peripheral characters are the really onerous ones.
    • 1/5
      Interesting enough... never had me gripping my seat.
    • 4/5
      3.75 starsBlaze and George are best friends and (mostly) small time criminals. Blaze was abused as a child, and is now a bit “slow”. Unfortunately, after beginning to plan their biggest crime, George passed away, but Blaze wants to go it alone (with George in his head, egging him on). Blaze is about to kidnap a baby…The book actually goes back and forth in time, so we also see how Blaze grew up, first abused by his father, then in a home for orphaned boys. I didn’t find the back story quite as interesting as the current-day kidnapping. Well, I found Blaze more interesting as he was younger and a teen, with his best friend (and his only other friend besides George, ever), Johnny, more interesting, but it was less so once Blaze met George (at least for me). The end of the story was really good, though, and had me eagerly turning pages to find out how things would end. Waffling between 3.5 and 4 stars (good and really good), I did not come to a decision and averaged it out.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is a really sweet and touching novel. It's essentially about betrayal. So Blaze is first betrayed by his father when he throws him down the stairs, then the state, then by God when he kills Bluenote with a heart attack and finally by his 'friends' when they lead him into crime, until finally Blaze betrays himself. Well worth a read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A different type of novel with an honest forward from King regarding his reasons for releasing it. It's tough not to emphasize with the main character, and the strength of Blaze made this an enjoyable read. Although it shifts from past to present, it's done in such a way that the structure and pacing is solid.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I had given up on reading a Stephen King novel because most of his later novels read like a parody of his earlier work, pre The Stand. I soon discovered that this was part of King's earlier work and I'm glad I gave it a try. I loved this book. The lean, spare writing was classic King. The characters and especially the lead character captured my imagination from the beginning and I soon felt so much sadness at the helplessness of Blaze's circumstances. Where it eventually led was tragic, but I still am glad I got to know this character and was allowed to know him without King's later excesses in narrative and prose. I highly recommend it to King fans and to those discovering King for the first time.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Not what one expects from King, but I have found that a lot of his later books are like that. Good read.
    • 1/5
      Oh wow, this was bad. King claims it was a trunk book. It should have stayed there.
    • 3/5
      Not bad. Not as good as other Bachman books though. Something different, though, with the eerie Stephen King supernatural overtones there.

      If you really need something to read, pick it up. But there are better Richard Bachman books ([book:The Regulators], [book:Thinner])
    • 4/5
      Der erste Teil ist sprachlich knapp und brutal - das Beste, was ich von King bis jetzt gelesen habe.
    • 2/5
      This was just ok. I am a big Stephen King fan, but I just wasn't thrilled with this one.
    • 5/5
      Clayton Blaisdell Jr, nicknamed Blaze, is a mentally disabled giant of a man; he’s 6ft 7in and “not quite” 300 lbs. His best – and only current – friend is George; a con man and bad influence on him. It’s George who urges Blaze into the life of crime that he’s living now, who, in fact, teaches Blaze how to live the life. Their dream is that one big score that will let them retire. That’s where the idea of kidnapping a baby comes in. But this will not be the Lindbergh kidnapping; Blaze never hurts anyone (unless provoked and defending himself) and he is not about to hurt a little baby. The story takes place in “America, not all that long ago.” It’s not specifically post-war America, but there are no cell phones. The plot moves back and forth between the kidnapping caper and Blaze’s childhood. We learn about his alcoholic father who abused him, the orphanage where he grew up, the foster family that misused him, the petty thieves who “befriended” him so they could use his size and basic naiveté to their own purposes. To King’s credit, he keeps these two plots moving, building tension and explaining the underlying pathology that results in the final tragedy. The language is rough and graphic. The scenes of abuse made me cringe and want to beat the &*%^ # out of those who used their power to create the adult Blaze. Once again, King has created a character who is not necessarily likeable, but who captures the reader’s sympathy. It’s worthwhile to read the forward by Stephen King who explains this “trunk novel,” which is copyrighted in 2007. When King was first starting out he wrote different genres under different names. He had been very successful in the horror genre with his own name, so he used Richard Bachman for non-horror books from about 1966 to 1973. This was the last book “Bachman” wrote. But THIS book didn’t ever get published. Fast forward to 2005 when King, now an incredibly successful author, comes across this manuscript in a cardboard carton. He looks it over; it’s okay but not great. But he cannot forget this story. His original is too “weepy,” and not hard boiled enough; but, there is a kernel of a good book there. It is not horror; it’s not noir; so what is it? He reworks it, and what we have is a “minor tragedy of the underclass,” a sort of homage to Of Mice and Men. McLarty is nothing short of wonderful as the performer of this audio book. His ability to give life to the various characters through use of different pitch and/or accent is remarkable. I was never confused when two characters had conversations because he gave each a unique voice. Bravo!
    • 4/5
       Blaze by Richard Bachman is about a guy who performs a kidnapping with his dead friend George and tries to get money for it. Asking for one million dollars, he is also on the run from the police.Blaze is the main character in the story. He was an orphan seeking adoption but never was adopted. He grew up in his orphanage to become strong, but dumb.George is Blaze’s friend. He’s really bad though. He always tells Blaze what he is doing wrong and is never positive about anything. Because he’s dead, Blaze is the only one who can see him.Blaze kidnaps a rich families baby, and asks for one million for him. When he does something really stupid, he has to run from the police. There are flashbacks that tell of Blazes back story, behavior, and past friends. I did enjoy this book though. It kept me interested all the way through.
    • 4/5
      on Thursday, February 07, 2008 I wrote about this book.....

      Read this in 2 days.
      Really enjoyed it. In reality it is such a sad story but in another way so beautiful.
      Completed it on February 4 2008

      4.5 stars out of 5
    • 3/5
      A mildly interesting tale of a not-too-bright and all-too-trusting career criminal. The real gem is the short story "Memory" that was expanded into the novel Duma Key.
    • 4/5
      One of King's early book (as Richard Bachman). A bittersweet story of Blaze, an ill-fated slightly retarded man...
    • 3/5
      Obviousy not one of Stephen King's best...but still entertaining. Depressing at times, frustrating at others. It drags on a bit and I don't particulary care to reread it like most of King's, but enjoyable nonetheless!
    • 5/5
      Read this book because I thought it would be a quick easy read. Ended up that I really liked the book a lot! One of the better books that I've read in a while. You really have to feel sorry for Blaze.