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The Regulators
  
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The Regulators [Large Print] (Hardcover)

by Richard Bachman (Author) "Summer's here ..." (more)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (133 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

An evil creature called Tak uses the imagination of an autistic boy to shift a residential street in small-town Ohio into a world so bizarre and brutal that only a child could think it up. It's as two-dimensional and gaudy as a kid's comic book, but for this reviewer, The Regulators is a gripping adventure tale about what happens when a mind fixated on TV (especially old Westerns and a cartoon called MotoKops 2200) runs amok. As Michael Collins writes in Necrofile, "[Stephen] King offers his readers a glimpse of the true evil of popular culture ... which has no design or intent, only an empty need to sustain itself. King is, I think, about the canniest observer of what America is, and that he generally writes horror ought to give us pause from time to time." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.


From Publishers Weekly

Why revive the Bachman byline more than a decade after Stephen King was found lurking behind it? Not for thematic reasons. This devilishly entertaining yarn of occult mayhem married to mordant social commentary is pure King and resembles little the four nonsupernatural (if science-fictional) pre-Thinner Bachmans. The theme is the horror of TV, played out through the terrors visited upon quiet Poplar Street in the postcard-perfect suburban town of Wentworth, Ohio, when a discorporeal psychic vampire settles inside an autistic boy obsessed with TV westerns and kiddie action shows and brings screen images to demented, lethal life. The long opening scene, in which characters and vehicles from the TV show Motokops 2200 (think Power Rangers) sweep down the street, spewing death by firearm, is a paragon of action-horror. The story rarely flags after that, evoking powerful tension and, at times, emotion. The premise owes a big unacknowledged debt to the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life"; echoes of earlier Kings resound often as well?the psychic boy (The Shining), a writer-hero (Misery, The Dark Half), etc. But King makes hay in this story in which anything can happen, and does, including the warping of space-time and the savage deaths of much of his large cast. The narrative itself warps fantastically, from prose set in classic typeface to handwritten journals to drawings to typewritten playscript and so on. So why the Bachman byline? Probably for fear that yet another new King in 1996 in addition to six volumes of The Green Mile and Viking's forthcoming Desperation might glut the market. Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is certain: call him Bachman or call him King, the bard of Bangor is going to hit the charts hard and vast with this white-knuckler knockout. Main selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery Guild and Science Fiction Book Club.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews

133 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (133 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Bachman, Jun 21 2004
By Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Regulators (Paperback)
I just read "The Regualtors" again, mostly looking for a "Dark Tower" connection and I had actually read a couple of "Bachman" books, "Thinner" and "The Long Walk", before I found out about his "involvement" with Stephen King. After "Thinner" I did not plan on reading anymore Bachman because he was too pessimistic. The protagonist usually ends up dead or worse, killing the people he cares for most. When I found out Bachman and King were one in the same, I ended up reading all of the stuff King put out under Bachman's name. But of course, I was always hit with that same downer feeling when reading a Bachman story. King's novels may be horrifying but at least the reader is often left with a sense of hope at the end, "Cujo" being the main exception. You feel, after reading a King novel, that, yes the hero or heroine went through hell, but they, or the world in general, are better for the suffering they endured. It makes it a pleasure to re-read King's novels. When "The Regulators" & "Desperation" came out I was excited to read both, but I was a little worried about "The Regulators" with the Bachman name attached. I won't give anything away involving the story, which is gripping and will keep you turning pages, but it is a Bachman story. It does not end on such a sour note like "Thinner", but it will give you a feeling of futility after reading it.
As another reviewer stated, I too found that there were too many characters without enough development. Only one or two became "real", but the rest seemed like so much Regulator gunfire fodder. All in all, "The Regulators" is neat, in that it is a companion piece for "Desperation", and it is a quick read. I finished it in about 7 hours. I would recommend getting one of the used copies listed above for under $.50, I wouldn't pay the $5 price tag for a book you most likely will only read once.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but for completists only, May 15 2004
By Maxwell Mattord "Climax" (South of Pico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Regulators (Paperback)
Without question, this one doesn't begin to stack up against Desperation. Some new elements fall into place, but nothing too exciting.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful Schlock, April 9 2004
By brewster22 "brewster22" (Evanston, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Regulators (Paperback)
This novel gets 2 stars instead of 1 out of me only because I thought the beginning pages displayed a certain satisfying suspense, a feeling of impending dread, and I liked the way King captured the atmosphere of suburban American. It doesn't take long for the book to deteriorate though, and it gets bad. I mean, really, REALLY bad. I just came back to reading King after being away from him for a long time, and if "The Regulators" is any indication of the stuff he's churning out now, I think I'll go back to staying away.

You might be interested in checking out the sister book to this, "Desperation." It's better by far, but it's still a much flabbier, more undisciplined book than I remember King producing in the past.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Being in a wrong place and a wrong time
Bachman writes better than king.

This book is not typical at any rate. Its suppossed to be gory, but the morbid description of it for me was written in sophistication. Read more

Published on April 4 2004 by Stan Go

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bestselling Companion of Desperation
The Regulators is plain great. This is just one of those stories where you get sucked in and cant get out. I know one reviewer gave this a one star, but don't pay attention. Read more
Published on April 2 2004 by jonathan ferreira

1.0 out of 5 stars I can't think of a word bad enough to describe this book
This book reminds of someone describing describing a disgusting incident in an emergency room while you are trying to eat.

Awful. Read more

Published on Mar 28 2004 by 10za

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome back, your Highness
I think this is one of the best pieces of real pulp horror that Stephen King has ever written. While ohter reviewers cut inot the supposed lack of character development, they are... Read more
Published on Feb 5 2004 by jd230

3.0 out of 5 stars Appropriate for King not to use his own name...
Ive been deployed to iraq and consequently had much time to read many of Kings novels, my first one being Salem's Lot. Read more
Published on Jan 22 2004 by kdave21

5.0 out of 5 stars Some original concepts, but not King's best
As many avid King fans had probably noticed, 'The Regulators' seems to be somehow reflecting of 'Desperation' - it has the same set of characters (more or less), even the same bad... Read more
Published on Nov 25 2003 by Adi Adler

5.0 out of 5 stars pulls you in from the beginning
The Regulators by Richard Bachman pulls you in from the beginning with the horrific murder of the local paper boy. Read more
Published on Oct 29 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars My first Bachman novel
Until I read some of the reviews here I was unaware this book was by Stephen King. The book was drawing dust on my bookshelf and I was hard up for reading material so I thought... Read more
Published on Oct 28 2003 by Jack Purcell

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Desperation!
This book is so incredible!!!!! I couldn't put it down! This could only come from the wonderfully sick mind of Stephen King. Read more
Published on Oct 21 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen King lets his hair down
"The Regulators", published under Stephen King's alter ego Richard Bachman, is probably among his most imaginitive (and twisted) works to date. Read more
Published on Oct 21 2003

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