It is also about storytelling. That’s what Stephen King does in “Bag of Bones.” Pure storytelling. He spins a tale and creates horror, which gets to you one page at a time. The action gets faster and the horror/terror gets more gut wrenching with every paragraph.
The beginning introduces Mike Noonan, who is an author. Stephen King is written all over the first part. The first-person perspective and King’s distinctive writing style forces one to think that Noonan, the character, is based on the author. But as the story moves forward, King makes way for Michael Noonan.
And then there is romance in this horror story. Stephen King has kept it sincere, simple, and yet quite touching. Had it not been for love, the story would not have moved forward.
King shines in the last five chapters that make up the ending. I read those 140 odd pages at one go.
While reading a novel, I often highlight words, phrases, and sentences which make me go, ‘Wow! This is too good.’ I kept highlighting every other paragraph. There were instances where I bracketed entire page with the highlighter!