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From a Buick 8 cover art

From a Buick 8

Written by: Stephen King
Narrated by: James Rebhorn,Bruce Davison,Becky Ann Baker
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Publisher's Summary

The state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in Shed B out back of the barracks ever since 1979, when Troopers Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox answered a call from a gas station just down the road and came back with an abandoned Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and he knew immediately that this one was...wrong, just wrong. A few hours later, when Rafferty vanished, Wilcox and his fellow troopers knew the car was worse than dangerous.

Curt's avid curiosity took the lead, and they investigated as best they could, as much as they dared. Over the years, the troop absorbed the mystery as part of the background to their work, the Buick 8 sitting out there like a still-life painting that breathes - inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of whatever world it came from.

In the fall of 2001, a few months after Curt Wilcox is killed in a gruesome auto accident, his 18-year-old boy, Ned, starts coming by the barracks. Sandy Dearborn, Sergeant Commanding, knows it's the boy's way of holding onto his father, and Ned is allowed to become part of the Troop D family. One day he looks in the window of Shed B and discovers the family secret. Like his father, Ned wants answers...

From a Buick 8 is an audiobook about our fascination with deadly things, about our insistence on answers when there are none, about terror and courage in the face of the unknowable.

©2002 Stephen King, All Rights Reserved (P)2002 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved

What the critics say

"Nearly flawless and one terrific entertainment." (Publishers Weekly)
"A wonderful example of how much King's plotting skills and literary finesse have matured over his long career. And, most of all, it's a darn creepy book." (Amazon.com)

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What listeners say about From a Buick 8

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I couldn't finish this book

I am a huge Stephen King fan and this is my least favourite. I kept tuning out the story while I was listening and then when I'd tune back in nothing much more had happened. The characters were unremarkable. I usually can't stop listening to Stephen King but with this one I was just trying to get through it and then just gave up.

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Drew me in.

Spellbinding. Loved it. Did not want to take even a short break from this story. Now to find my next fantastic tale.

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*

loved the narration. made the story that much more engrossing! I enjoyed every minute of it.

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I love it.

I've read this book a number of times and the voices I imagined are close to the ones preformed. I reccomend this audio book because it is the best I've found so far.

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  • Randall
  • 2018-03-24

Narration nightmare

I liked the story, but the "round robin" style of narration was very distracting. They should redo the book with only one reader.

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114 people found this helpful

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  • J M
  • 2003-10-18

Essence of Stephen King

Like all of King's books, this one is about memory and the psychology of the subconscious. It's about getting inside the heads of the characters and seeing what rattles around. This is about a boy who losses his father and finds a new family in the men who had shared a secret with his dad. The decision to use multiple actors fits the style of the book perfectly, and makes the structure of the book easy to follow, even though it has multiple narrators and spans 25 years. To specifically address the complaint that the book doesn't go anywhere, maybe those folks missed one of the main points of the book; the repudiation of the "childish insistence that the story must have an ending, and that the ending must hold some kind of answer." As for lack of action, I disagree strongly. Most of the "action" in any Stephen King book is actually the tension around some event that he's already told you is coming, and he does a masterful job in this, as usual. He does an amazing job of keeping the tension building for long stretches of time, without any break or chance for release. The only reason that I can come up with for why some people didn't like this book is the fact that there are parts that made me truly uncomfortable. And this wasn't the supernatural "horror" stuff, it was some of the harsh realities of police work and life.

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24 people found this helpful

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  • Jim
  • 2017-08-31

Perseverance Waisted

The book started slow but I kept thinking, "perseverance", because some books start slow! This was not one of those! It never picked up speed & it had only 1 twist that had you thinking one way but it was actually another. Thumbs Down!

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  • Todd
  • 2002-12-21

Dreadfully boring...

Having recently listened to and thoroughly enjoyed The Talisman (Unabridged), Dreamcatcher (Unabridged), and Everything's Eventual (Unabridged), I was really excited for this Audible book. I've always thought Bruce Davison is a great actor (and he is) but, after an hour of his droning (and after starting the book over six times), I've given up! I'm fairly tenacious, but I've relegated this to the archives for the next time I'm bedridden and without any form of entertainment...

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  • Dani
  • 2016-02-20

The 1st Stephen King that I disliked

It was dull. Never felt like the story went anywhere. It was one big boring conversation.

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  • JR
  • 2003-01-23

A different King story.

This is not the classic Steven King horror action story but it has great characters. I think that the narration style is one of the best I have heard. The story is told by several different characters and therefore narrated by several different actors. This makes the story work better than if you read it.

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  • J
  • 2004-08-19

So So

If you're like me, you enjoy anything Stephen King writes. This is not as bad as some of the reviews would lead you to believe, but certainly it is not his best. I believe that in "On Writing" he mentions that he threw this in a drawer for some time before taking it out to finish. Perhaps it should have stayed in there.

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  • cecarney
  • 2003-12-03

The World According to King

I almost passed over this little gem after reading some of the other reviews. Yes, it is a bit slower than many of his other books, so if you are looking for trademark King terror, you won't find it here. What you will find is a thought-provoking bit of King philosophy that is both surprising and satisfying. If you can stick around for the last few chapters, you won't be disappointed.

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  • carmen
  • 2016-11-24

So dry and just not that good.

I have had his book for four month and still can't listen to more and a charpter at a time. if good if you want to tale a nap.

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15 people found this helpful

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  • Ian
  • 2005-05-29

A surprisingly enjoyable King novel

I never write reviews of books, but I had to after seeing that only negative reviews have been posted on Buick 8 so far. I guess I can understand why some people found this boring, but I am appalled to see that no one has disagreed yet.

I found Buick 8 to be a very human, very engrossing and unique tale. Yet again King takes a premise that cannot even be described (without sounding stupid) and makes it utterly believable, and at times terrifying. I respectfully disagree with the other reviewers, if you are a Stephen King fan, give Buick 8 a chance.

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15 people found this helpful