Thinner

from No. 1 bestseller Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman

By: Richard Bachman, Stephen King

Narrated by: Joe Mantegna

'Thinner' - the old gypsy man barely whispers the word. Billy feels the touch of a withered hand 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 courts 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 ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But . . .

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

(P) 2011 Penguin Audio USA©1996 Stephen King

Critic reviews

An incredibly gifted writer, whose writing, like Truman Capote's, is so fluid that you often forget that you're reading

Astonishingly good...honourable, deeply felt and almost wonderful

"Thinner...Thinner..."

The word spoken by this story's villain lodges in the mind and stays there. Even now it brings an image to mind of a grotesque relic of a man who long ago lost the majority of his humanity.

King (sorry, Bachman) weaves a distressing tale that sees our protagonist Billy cursed by a gypsy after he accidentally runs the old man's daughter over, killing her. The result of said curse is the steady, inexorable loss of Billy's weight.

It's a simple premise. The first half of the book deals with the weight loss and it's consequences, while the second charts Billy's mission to find and confront the old man. The narrator does a decent job. I find it amusing that whoever decided to hire him just wanted to hear him do Ginelli's voice. Why? Because it sounds exactly like Fat Tony from the Simpsons. Same guy. However I also just found out that the narrator starred as Ginelli in the film version of this book. But I digress.

The book is a decent read from King. An interesting and disturbing one. The ending is quite tragic and as the reader gets closer to it, they realize the story can only end one way. Spine-tingling.

The story is ok.

The random terrible music, it does not improve the performance. The performance would have been better without the music.

King never disappoints me

Pure brilliance. Loved this from start to finish! If you are looking for a thrill ride with a supernatural twist that is brilliantly narrated then Thinner is the book for you!

Simple but interesting King novel

This book has a fairly simple concept, but it actually worked out really well for it. I was very interested in the beginning, but I must admit that it starts to drag on a bit in the middle of the book. It does pick up again near the ending and goes out with a great twist

It was the soundtrack for me

Great story, but I could have done without the soundtrack/interludes. Overall, it’s great story telling from SK that I always enjoy.