Free Download | The Regulators | Richard Bachman, Stephen King

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-ThinnerBachmans. 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.

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Free Download | Rage | Stephen King, Richard Bachman

In quiet Placerville, Maine, a slightly twisted boy named Charles Decker holds the 24 other students of his algebra class at gunpoint after shooting 2 teachers. Abused by his father as a child, he describes the important parts of his life, and in the process, lets a lot of the students he holds hostage tell the rest of the class their "Dirty Secrets". Things almost come to an early end when Charles is shot by a sniper, but the bullet hits a padlock he had placed in his pocket earlier. As things progress, the students become more and more responsive to their captor, all except Ted Jones. The students get their own back, and play one last nasty trick on another student before being released unharmed. But Charles is out of luck... This was initially titled "Getting it On" (After Deckers favourite saying) but was later renamed Rage, and released under Bachman's name. It has not been reprinted in the last few years as Stephen King thought it too violent, and similar to many killings in some American Schools. This is a pity as it is an excellent insight into the mind of someone that it walking the thin edge of sanity.

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