Pet Sematary

Inhoud

Dr Louis Creed is uneasy as he drives his family, wife Rachel, children Eileen and Gage, and cat to their new home, a rambling white-frame house on the outskirts of Ludlow, New England. The children are tearful, Rachel is short-tempered. But the place is just perfect and the family meets Jud Crandall, an old and wily neighbour. He takes them exploring and shows them the Pet Sematary, where local children have buried their pets for generations. Only Eileen is slightly disgruntled. After all, her beloved cat is going to live for ever... The family has barely settled in when the nightmare begins - for Louis anyway. Day one at Maine University Medical Centre and a young student, Victor Pascow, is brought in, horribly mutilated and dying - the innocent victim of a careless driver. Pascow tries to warn the doctor about the place beyond the Pet Sematary, a burial ground far older and touched by the very essence of evil. Death comes again on Thanksgiving and when personal tragedy strikes the Creed family Louis sets out on a terrifying journey with consequences beyond the realms of human comprehension... and sanity. Pet Sematary is more than vintage King. The author himself has confessed that the events of the novel left him terror-struck and showed him levels of blackness that he had no desire to re-visit. With this account of one rational man's encounter with the forces of an unimaginable evil, Stephen King shows he is a master of the horror story

Bespreking

Lazarus, come forth!

Dr Louis Creed is uneasy as he drives his family, wife Rachel, children Eileen and Gage, and cat to their new home, a rambling white-frame house on the outskirts of Ludlow, New England. The children are tearful, Rachel is short-tempered. But the place is just perfect and the family meets Jud Crandall, an old and wily neighbour. He takes them exploring and shows them the Pet Sematary, where local children have buried their pets for generations. Only Eileen is slightly disgruntled. After all, her beloved cat is going to live for ever...

This horror story is so well-written that it simply must be classified as a 'Classic'. It has a bone-chilling suspense, very convincing characters with 'real' emotions and a plot-line that cannot disappoint. Although the decisions Louis Creed takes are quite unconventional, Stephen King still succeeds in letting them seem quite the natural to do. Even while reading this book I was constantly wondering: "What should I do if confronted with such a situation?", and I guess that's a really good sign.

But there is much more. This book has a depth that reaches far beyond the average horror story. Like the author himself has confessed it showed him levels of blackness that he had "no desire to re-visit". And I could not agree more. The main theme is clearly "death", or to use the words of Zelda, the sister of Rachel: "Oz the Gweat and Tewwible". But Stephen approaches this theme in such a personal way that the reader is bound the get a bit uncomfortable. It sneakily whispers into your ears that death might actually not be as far in the future as you like to believe. This makes this book ever creepier. So, be prepared to be thrilled in more than one way.