Desperation started out fast and it showed a lot of promise, but halfway through it turned from a horror story into a crazy supernatural yarn. By the time the book starts to drag you've read 350-400 pages so you've sort of feel obligated to finish it. The ending is really lame. It's like King ran out of ideas but had to submit the manuscript to meet a deadline. It you want to read some good Stephen King try The Bachman Books, Different Seasons, or Four Past Midnight. King writes great short stories but his novels are too long and have lousy endings.