gilda_elise

”Thinner" - the old gypsy man barely whispered the word. Billy felt the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.

Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered, then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The court had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.

Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor had ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But...

"Thinner" - the word, the old man's curse, had lodged in his mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, came violence.

The book is far creepier than you might think, actually one of the creepier King books, imo. The reader is there every step of the way as the gypsy’s curse takes hold. The descriptions of not just Billy’s plight, but that of the judge who cleared him and the sheriff whose report was deliberately, well, thin, can’t help but bring a shiver or two. It’s strange how something that sounds so mundane, no vampire or ghoul to be found, could actually be more frightening.

The story is told from Billy Halleck’s pov, and while the reader might attempt some sympathy for the man, we also know that he hasn’t yet payed for his transgression. He’ll do just about anything to make sure that doesn’t happen, but some things are unavoidable. And it was the gypsies who I ended up feeling for sympathy for.

The story never lets up, as the curse relentlessly does its work. There are some great characters, just as important to the story as Billy, who help it along.