With Revival behind me, and a long drive ahead, I dug through my giant case of Stephen King CD’s to find a book to listen to. Surprising, there are some I just don’t want to go back to. Misery was good – once, but it doesn't beckon me for more reads. Same with Gerald’s Game, Desperation and Roadwork. Good once, but not hungry to venture into that territory for a long period of time again.
I dug into a novel I knew nothing about, Apt Pupil. And know what, I love it! The book is driven by total psychological warfare here.
The basic plot is this: A thirteen year old boy discovers his neighbor is an old SS soldier who worked in the concentration camp. How he puts the pieces together becomes a little contrived, but it works for the story. He then uses his knowledge to extort the old man; but not out of money, he wants him to retell stories of the war days. Only, the boy isn't just interested in stories, he wants gruesome details of how people died.
What’s scary is just how young King makes the main character; thirteen. Often he responds with a confidence that far exceeds anything most thirteen year olds possess.
It is a crazy novel. I mean crazy! A thirteen year old gets the upper-hand on an old Nazi who used to torture people. What’s amazing is that King makes this pretty believable. And, King turns the old plot problem, “why don’t they just call the police” into his theme, what if they call the police? The novel builds into a game of mental chess between the old man and the nasty kid.
In the world of Stephen King, kids can be brutal. But Todd Bowden is easily one of Stephen King’s scariest characters. Because he’s young, he’s unflinching and he’s brilliant. King may have given his lead character too much emotional strength, resulting in a character that’s far more creepy than the likes of Carrie. Of course, Carrie isn’t evil exactly, she’s persecuted. Carrie lashes out at her persecutors. But Todd is the persecutor.
The novel was released in 1982 as part of the larger book, Different Seasons. I’ve always focused more on Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body, forgetting the other two novels.
The book takes us back a few years. Obviously, through story telling, it takes us back to the dark days of World War Two. But, because King writes in his own time, it also takes us back to the seventies. Electric typewriters, no cellphones and most important, no internet. I am curious when the novel itself was actually written. Was it a trunk novel thrown in to Different Seasons?
One of the delights of going into a King novel I know so little about is that anything can happen. Usually I have a pretty good idea if a novel is seriously dark, or a few tricks King has up his sleeve. For instance, when Revival came out, the publisher was so stinking paranoid, they built a website to try and ease everyone into the right mood. They didn't want anyone surprised that Stephen King could be dark. GASP! So I knew going into Revival that it was not going to be fun and games. But when it comes to Apt Pupil, I'm taking it one blind curve at a time. I know there's a movie. But it's not the same as letting Frank Muller read it to me.
Star Trek:
For some reason, reading this book reminds me of that old Star Trek episode where the enterprise comes to a planet that has been fashioned completely after Nazi Germany. It's not a good episode. What is fantastic is watching Spock use a strip of metal from his prison cot to focus light coming from a simple light bulb, turning it into a laser beam that blows the door open. Yeah, that's how it works.
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