Billy Summers

[Ben Mears]

Curious to read member opinions. I thought it was middle of the pack SK. Not bad but nothing special.

[daniel_pyle]

Not my favorite for sure, but I liked it a little more than average. I put it at 21/59 on my ranked list of novels.

[Garrell]

Not quite done but really enjoying it. I like the character building he’s done in this story.

[frik]

Personally, loved it. One of my favorite (King)reads in many a year.

sk

[Curly]

Couldn't remember much about it after first read.

[RichardX]

Very disappointing book. Some of the plot elements were ludicrous. If it were a "supernatural" book, then maybe it would be easier to suspend disbelief but wow. And how many times did Billy go to Walmart or the store? I may owe Owen King an apology. I thought he was the reason that Sleeping Beauties was so bad, but a lot of the same problems in this book. The plot involving organized crime figures hiring a sniper was insane. A sniper killing is a high publicity act (remember the DC snipers?). You don't have a sniper killing multiple people around the country - even "bad" people - and get away with it for long. You certainly can't just put a wig on and walk away. What was with all the disguises? My favorite had to be when Billy tried to disguise himself as a deaf and mute Mexican by putting on bronzer! He apparently had to be deaf and mute because he couldn't speak Spanish. HA HA HA. You can't make that up. And then his cover was immediately blown and that was all pointless. The organized crime figures rent space in an office building for months and Billy's cover is to be a writer! They also rent a house and he mixes with the neighbors because getting to know everyone is a good cover? Wow. And then old Marge is hanging around the estate where Billy eventually shows up to kill the evil mastermind for days, weeks, months in advance just waiting for him to show up. Unreal. The references to the Overlook hotel felt cheap. Like King got four hundred pages into this hot mess and realized he was in trouble. The solution? Make a couple of references to the Overlook. I also learned kids are still enthusiastic about playing board games and their parents will even invite the lone adult male who just moved in next door to spend time with them! It was also extremely weird that even though the book is set before the pandemic that there are a couple of references to it in the future tense. A bit jarring. Most secondary characters and plot lines go absolutely nowhere. Much like Sleeping Beauties.

[BigJoeHillfan]

Very disappointing book. Some of the plot elements were ludicrous. If it were a "supernatural" book, then maybe it would be easier to suspend disbelief but wow. And how many times did Billy go to Walmart or the store? I may owe Owen King an apology. I thought he was the reason that Sleeping Beauties was so bad, but a lot of the same problems in this book. The plot involving organized crime figures hiring a sniper was insane. A sniper killing is a high publicity act (remember the DC snipers?). You don't have a sniper killing multiple people around the country - even "bad" people - and get away from it for long. You certainly can't just put a wig on and walk away. What was with all the disguises? My favorite had to be when Billy tried to disguise himself as a deaf and mute Mexican by putting on bronzer! He apparently had to be deaf and mute because he couldn't speak Spanish. HA HA HA. You can't make that up. And then his cover was immediately blown and that was all pointless. The organized crime figures rent space in an office building for months and Billy's cover is to be a writer! They also rent a house and he mixes with the neighbors because getting to know everyone is a good cover. Wow. And then old Marge is hanging around the estate where Billy eventually shows up to kill the evil mastermind for days, weeks, months waiting for him to show up. Unreal. The references to the Overlook hotel felt cheap. Like King got four hundred pages into this hot mess and realized he was in trouble. The solution? Make a couple of references to the Overlook. I also learned kids are still enthusiastic about playing board gams and their parents will even invite the lone adult male who just moved in next door to spend time with them!

+1 I agree. This story never went anywhere for me. I am wondering if King has run out of ideas. I am so sick of King's political commentary. He must have made 20 - 30 anti Trump comments in this story. It adds nothing to the story, and just becomes very annoying after a while.

[CyberGhostface]

Just finished it. Not his best but still pretty good.

I pretty much called as soon as the the conclusion was being written
as a story that there would be some sort of twist that Billy wasn’t the one writing it and that what we saw didn’t actually happen.