Joyland

Written by Stephen King

Narrated by Michael Kelly

"I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts," says Stephen King, who has combined these elements into a wonderful new story. Joyland is a whodunit noir crime novel and a haunting ghost story set in the world of an amusement park.

It tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a 'carny' in small-town North Carolina and has to confront the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the way both will change his life forever. It is also a wonderful coming-of-age novel about friendship, loss, and your first heartbreak. Who dares enter the funhouse of fear?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette UK Audio
• Release date: Jun 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781444778090

Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

Reviews for Joyland

[therestlessmouse · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I very much enjoyed this book, although it's only a touch of "traditional" King, like Buick 8 or something, but it draws you in the whole way. Love the "Hard Case Crime" covers.

[sriddell_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a typical horror story from Stephen King. This is a detective/ghost/coming of age story that was actually kind've sweet.

The setting was the best part for me. The whole story takes place in an old-fashioned amusement park in the 1970s. The kind of small park that was already on its way out, losing to Disney and other big parks.

The description of the park could have been lifted directly from the small amusement park of my own childhood in the same time-frame. BobLo Island, which was located at the juncture of the Detroit River and Lake Erie. Reachable only by old-fashioned river boat - about an hour's voyage from Detroit.

The haunted house features heavily in the book. This is where the ghost lives. Not really a spoiler, since where else would the ghost live? I'm pretty sure the author was describing the exact haunted house from BobLo in my youth.

The book was OK. It was the trip down memory lane that bumped this up to 4 stars for me.

[eurohackie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I LOVED this. Once again, Mr. King proves that, above all else, he is a consummate storyteller. This is the best kind of book: the kind that amuses, rouses sympathy, pushes you to the edge of your seat, and ultimately churns up all kinds of emotions about what it means to be a kid, with a broken heart, who's surviving a 'lost year' of youth.Devin Jones chronicles what happened during his 'lost year' of 1973, when he took a summer job at an independent amusement park on the beaches of North Carolina. He's just been dumped by his first true love, and is nursing a broken heart and the jumble of emotions that comes with that. The park he's working at, Joyland, has its own secrets, including a grisly murder mystery and a haunted House of Horrors, but this is very much a secondary story. This is more of a story of Devin finding out about himself and what it means to be an adult in a turbulent period of time. He has the ultimately escape into a world of fun and games and a summer camp atmosphere with new friends to help him forget Real Life. Joyland truly brings a lot of joy to its customers and its workers alike.Devin is warned by the park's resident gypsy psychic that he will meet two children that summer, one of whom has The Sight. He's upset that the resident ghost shows itself to his friend instead of him. He's able to stay on beyond the summer season with the park, and soon finds himself entwined in the lives of the local black sheep/ice queen and her son, who knows way more about what's going on around him than any ten-year-old should. The murder mystery rears its head as the story goes on, and all of the threads are woven together in a beautiful way, with just enough suspense and the perfect touch of the supernatural to make the whole thing unputdownable.These are the best kinds of books: the kind that keep you up past your bedtime for "just one more page" - the kind that take you out of our shitty world into the escape of summers past - the kind that leave you with some food for thought. DAMN, but this man can tell a good story!

[sheriawilkinson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Joyland by Stephen King1973 in a small North Carolina Town, college student Devin Jones takes a job at Joyland. This is a summer Devin will never forget, where friendships are made, a ghost story seems real, and a vicious unsolved murder is always at the back of his mind. The summer not to be forgotten, etched in his mind and altering his life, forever.Stephen King tells (the) story like no other, pulling (you) deep into carnie life. With well developed characters and detailed plot, I was hooked from the first page, until the compelling conclusion. I highly recommend Joyland to all.

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

2021 pandemic read. Great way to escape a day. Thanks, Mr King. I've discovered that after years of not liking some of your novels, that others are worth the read for me,

[jessicareadsthings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lest you doubt, this book proves, once again, that Stephen King is truly a great storyteller. Also, this book takes place at an amusement park that is really more like a permanent carnival. Those are really the only enticements I needed to read the book. If you need a few more, this is quick-reading, coming-of-age mystery novel accessorized with a little bit of paranormal phenomena. In my opinion, it's not quite as "pulp" as the (awesome) front cover would have you believe, but the setting and the characterizations are magical. And there's a Scrabble-playing librarian. Really, what more do you need?

[usuallee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

King's still got it. This was a wonderfully written, spooky, genuinely moving story. It is not a horror story, but rather a coming-of-age story, a mystery, with a dash of the supernatural. Highly recommended.

[tobinelliott · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Let's get one thing out of the way: this is NOT a pulp crime novel and has no right to be published under the Hard Case Crime imprint. Yes, there's a murder, yes, there's a mystery, but it's like my mother's orange juice...it's pulp-free.

That being said, it's also very, very good. Very good in a Shawshank Redemption way. Think of it as a "Summer of 42" story with a hint of murder and a hint of the supernatural.

Go in with that expectation and you're gonna love it.

And so ends my King trifecta of Joe Hill's NOS4A2, Owen King's Double Feature, and their dad, with this one. It's been a good month.

[ralphd00d-325171 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

King has returned to the style of writing I enjoyed with his earlier works of CARRIE, FIRESTARTER, etc. I fell into this while reading, and literally went through it in one sitting. I had just finished CARNIEPUNK, an anthology of carnival stories, and King's usage of carny language, and life, just jumped out to grab me. I felt drawn in to Jones (main character) as he dealt with life in general, and for the first time in a long time, I actually got a bit teary-eyed at the ending. Definitely a thriller, and a hard case crime read, that includes King's bit of twist! If you enjoyed THE COLORADO KID, you'll love this one, too!

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First off - the narrator was fantastic - I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. Secondly - I love Stephen King and I really enjoyed that he tied a coming of age story, with crime noir, and a touch of the supernatural. It hit all the right notes. It's the mid 1970s and when Devin Jones takes a summer job at Joyland, an East Coast amusement park - he doesn't realize how much his life is about to change. He's a college student going through his first real heartbreak and a change of scenery is just the ticket. The fortune teller tries to warn him of a shadow and of two kids, but nobody believes that old fraud - especially not Devin. Devin immerses himself with the carnie lingo, new friends, and the stories about a "haunted" ride where a young woman was killed a few years prior. This is a summer he will never forget. Classic - Stephen King - a must read for all.

[sgtcat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was entertaining. Having read quite a few of King's novels now, I'm starting to realize that he reuses certain elements, like the "shine" in many of them. It makes me want to reread the Gunslinger series again with that in mind.I gave this just 3 stars because I didn't care for the way the narrative was presented. The ending was ruined on page 1 because we know that the main character survives since he's the one relating this story to us as his future self. The only thing we had left was to figure out how he gets there and, while there is a lot of joy to be found in the telling, I'd rather the mystery have been a mystery until the resolution of the mystery at the end of the book.

[james_patrick_joyce · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Jesus Christ. I mean... wow.

I've loved Stephen King since I was a teen. I count some of his books among my favourites. Many of his books. But this was the first one that I'd call beautiful. The writing was as easy to read as his writing always is, of course. And this is the quietest book of King's that I've read. Everything before this was either out-right horror, with extremely fantastic elements, as in "It", or out-right horrific, as in "Misery", but this was straight mystery for most of it. Actually, straight literary fiction, for most of it and straight mystery for the rest.

Yes, there are some potentially oogie-boogie elements, but they are few. And, for the most part, you can't be sure they're more than overactive imaginations.

And I teared up, at the end. But it was a melancholy/happy sadness. Partly happiness at having read it, to be honest.

If I ever meet Stephen King, I'm not going to ask for his autograph; I'm not going to ask for a picture; I'm going to say, "thanks, man". Thanks, for all the stories...

Beautiful.

[devendradave-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow what a read. Huge fan of Stephen King. I can say the first American author whose books I thoroughly enjoyed during my teenage years. Stephen King is truly a king of horror and mystery.

[sami7-951065 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A strange story that I can't currently put into a category. But a nice read nonetheless, light and easy going. My 1st King novel and he is truly a master storyteller.

[bookishtexpat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As always, I love Stephen King. I've had "Joyland" on my shelf for a while and finally picked it up. It's definitely one of King's more "grounded in reality" novels; there are ghosts, but the reader never experiences them first-hand, and even though the setting is an amusement park, it's not presented in a super creepy way. However, I really loved the characters is "Joyland" - Dev is a wonderful narrator and a realistic guy. I also loved the twist, which really got me.

Overall, not my very favorite King novel but still a good one!

[pmtracy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Traditional mystery novel set in the mid-70's at a small amusement park. It contains classic King elements like illness, insanity, special powers and a ghost. It was a fun, quick read.

[carolesrandomlife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had a great time with this book. After refusing to read Stephen King for most of my life, I have a lot of catching up to do now that I realize I actually love his writing. I decided to pick up Joyland while I had some time off work for the holidays and found it to be a very entertaining way to spend a few hours. I am really starting to understand why Stephen King is such a popular author.This story takes place in 1973 and is largely set at a small amusement park called Joyland. We get to spend the summer with 21-year-old Devin as he works at Joyland for the summer. Devin has a broken heart after being dumped by his college girlfriend but throws himself into his new job with gusto. I love that we get so see so many aspects of the park since Devin seems to work just about everywhere. The characters in this book were fantastic. I loved getting to know Devin and I really felt like I knew him by the end of the book. The storytelling style of this book is as if Devin were telling us a story years after these events and at times he would meander and jump ahead a bit. I thought that this style really made the story feel authentic and added a lot of charm to the story. Devin's friends at the park, his co-workers, and a little boy and his mom all had important roles to play in this story and I felt like King did a remarkable job of bringing each of them to life. The story was a little slow to get moving with the first half of the book more focused on character development. The pace did pick up during the second half of the book and I was really interested in learning how the girl at been murdered in the park years earlier. I thought I had the mystery solved only to learn that I was way off base. I also thought that Devin and Mike's relationship added a lot to the story. There were a lot of different elements that came together in this shorter work to tell a really amazing story.I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a very well-told story with great characters, an interesting mystery, and just a touch of paranormal. I can't wait to continue working on Stephen King's amazing backlist.

[readingover50 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a really fun book and I enjoyed reading it. I am a sucker for books about amusement parks or carnivals, so right away this book intrigued me. There is a ghost story at the heart of the book, and some psychic powers, but mostly this book was about a nice boy who is looking into a decades old murder that happened at the amusement park where he is currently working.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Man, King can write. Not that this is news, but he just blows me away sometimes. I think this is my favorite of his so far.

[nkmunn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A murder mystery but also a coming of age story and an evocative nostalgic encapsulation of a place and time

[jamski-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephen King--Big Steve--has been quoted as saying, “I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.” Indeed.

Oh, how times have changed! As they will, and must. And Stephen King's writing has changed too. I don't dare call it "gentler", but the story content has changed somewhat and I think my first sure sign was "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". What a lovely tale! Terrifying, dark, yes...but, yes! Lovely! Even heartwarming, not necessarily any new territory for King, but done so well it might as well have been a complete change of direction. There were no monsters, except for the ones you produced in your own head. Which was okay, as I was in intensive care when I read it, and I'd had enough of blood, thank you very much.

Now, I am not so enthusiastic about horror as a genre as I used to be, though I still relish the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (to be reviewed soon) which my wife gifts me with each Christmas. Maybe it's age, I don't know. I do know I sure do wince when I see those stupid videos on TV where someone hurts themselves doing something silly. THAT is horror now; perhaps it is that we are so inured to it anymore. And to think I used to do stuff like that! But anyway. Perhaps Mr. King has aged thus as well, and of course he has done his own share of sheet time in the Crash House, and perhaps it's only expected that he produce somewhat mellower works. If that's the case, I'm fine with it because he's still one of those writers I really look forward to reading every time they produce something new. If this is a sea change in King's work, well, then I am all for it.

So, "Joyland" then, which is an amusement park in North Carolina to which our protagonist Devin Jones retreats whilst taking some time off from school and a girlfriend who has apparently rejected him. Joyland is a sort of a second tier amusement park, a local Coney Island. In fact, that's what the proprietors insist on calling the patrons: "Conies". As opposed to the usual carney term, "Rubes". And there is a a lot of carney talk in this story, which really adds to the realism. I enjoy dialect and it was a pleasure delving into the culture.

At its core "Joyland" is a murder mystery, which is as it should be: this is a Hard Case book after all. But it's also a Stephen King book, so there will be some elements of what I call "believable unreality", and here it is a ghost which is (probably not coincidentally) located in the Horror House. There is a deep cast of characters including Fred Dean, the boss; Erin and Tom, Devin's fellow "greenies"; Lane Hardy, the rhyming roustabout; Mrs. Shoplaw, the concerned landlady; Rozzie Gold, aka Madame Fortuna; Eddie Parks, the embittered master of the Horror House; and finally Annie Ross and her afflicted son Mike who live in the great house on the beach. What bits of the story don't revolve around Devin neatly pivot around these two, and Annie is one of the most engaging characters Big Steve has ever created. Mike is sort of a Danny Torrance, if you will, and if you've read a lot of King you know what I mean. Lots of other supporting roles just add to the complexity.

I won't say too much more lest I spoil it for everyone, but suffice to say that "Joyland" is all that and more: a complete joy to read and a book you won't be putting down till you're done. It cost me several late nights and that's the kind of admission price I don't mind paying. Get up there where the air is rare and read this one while you can; also check out King's other entry in the Hard Case library, "The Colorado Kid". It bears little resemblance to the TV show which spun from it (SyFy's delightfully weird "Haven") but it's a darned good read. I may have to start collecting these Hard Case books now…as if I needed another literary obsession…

PS: Look closely for the name-dropping of one of my favorite fantasy authors. Wire me when you find it!

[carl_alves_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Joyland was a bit of a departure from the usual Stephen King novel. For one thing, although it had supernatural elements to it, it was at its heart a mystery. Also, I’ve never read a Stephen King book that took place in a carnival setting, although Joyland was technically an amusement park, it still seemed more like a travelling carnival. There was a good deal of carny lingo in there at the least.The story’s protagonist, Dev, is a college kid who had just gotten his heart broken by his college sweetheart. He spends the summer far from his university working at an amusement park in North Carolina. The park has a haunted house type of ride that is actually haunted from a woman who was murdered while going on the ride—and that is the heart of the mystery in this novel. What shapes the story is when Dev sees the park’s fortune teller, who actually has some psychic ability, and she tells him that a young boy and girl will figure prominently in his future. As it turns out, this young boy, besides suffering from a debilitating disease, also has psychic abilities, and figures in his quest to solve the mystery of the haunted ride murder.This was an enjoyable novel. It was really strong from a characterization standpoint. There were very memorable characters, from Dev on through numerous side characters. Although the mystery element was well done, most of the book did not focus on that part of it. Most of the book focuses on his evolving as a person and his relationship with the crippled boy and her mom—both of whom are also standout characters. I liked the supernatural parts of it, and thought it meshed well with the mystery. The one negative was a groan-inducing part at the end that involved the reveal of the killer, but otherwise this was a satisfying novel.Carl Alves - author of Battle of the Soul

[conalo-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another enjoyable King entry in the book world and as usual, we find well written and fleshed out characters and well detailed story line to go along with it.

4.5 Stars for a nice enjoyable quick story.

[rosechimera-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't super excited to read this one after The Colorado Kid (ending was unsatisfying in way that didn't feel like it had purpose), but then another author described it in a way that seemed appealing, so I gave it a shot and it was perfect. People are criticizing the book for not adhering to Dashiell Hammett conventions of crime genre because there is a supernatural component, but I think the melange works and still comes out a crime novel. Regardless of genre preferences, it transcends and is just a really good read.

[bekkil1977 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Joyland" by Stephen King was great fun. Set in the summer of 1973, college student Devin Jones takes a job at an amusement park known as Joyland. Like any good amusement park, it is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young woman who was murdered on one of the rides. Devin's friends Tom and Erin are skeptical, until they ride the haunted house ride and Tom sees her ghost. Erin starts doing research to see if she can find out more about the other murders that were committed by the same man. Meanwhile, Devin stays and continues working at Joyland after the park closes for the winter. In town he meets a sweet young boy named Mike who is dying of MD. Mike's mom is very overprotective of her son, but all Mike wants to do is go to the amusement park he's heard all summer long. Devin arranges it and Mike has a wonderful time. Mike is also psychic, and ends up saving Devin's life. It was a great quick read.

[sparemethecensor · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

King's writing is compelling and engaging as ever, but this novel is average overall. The characters don't come alive the way other novels of his do. In fact I would have enjoyed more of the characters beyond just Devin. It troubled me that a now elderly man wpuld still be stuck in the mindset of "screw this girl who broke up with me to have sex with another man" literally decades later. It's immature and it's sexist, and here it is so overdone that it warps the rest of the novel. I could understand maybe if the narrator were still 21, but he's grown, and the events of that summer should so very much overshadow a breakup. A grown man relating a crime story while fixated on a girl he thinks didn't deserve him because she didn't want to have sex with him? Sigh.

[davewilde-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's a coming of age story about a young college kid who gets his heart broken by picking the wrong girl and not reading the signals. It's about this same kid leaving New England for a summer job at Joyland, a beAt up old amusement park on the Carolina shore. That summer he learns the ropes as a carny. And he hears from a fortune teller that he will meet two children, one with the gift of sight. It is a haunting nostalgic tale that takes place in the early 70s and is told by a master storyteller. If you read just one book this year, this should be the one.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stephen King gets it! First love, first loss, crushing emotions, questions not easily answered, mystery and the mysterious. I always wonder when someone says "I just don't like his writing." How can you not love an author who can sum up life with:

" When you're twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It's only when you get to twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect you've been looking at the map upside down, and not until you're forty are you entirely sure. By the time you're sixty, take it from me, you're fucking lost."

[lostinreverie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This isn't like the majority of Stephen King's work, but, at the same time, it still possesses his trademark writing style. Fans of Stephen King will no doubt enjoy this work, but it may not become a favorite. I enjoyed Joyland, but I enjoy King's work more when he sticks to the horror genre. He has a real talent for telling scary stories, but this just isn't one of them. The first half of the story went by very slowly, at least to me. If I wasn't such a big fan of King, I might not have stuck with the book. It's his writing style that really enlivens some of the dragging plot here. Only at the end does the plot really pick up, and when it does it feels a bit too abrupt after the slower pace of the rest of the novel. Anyway, die hard King fans will enjoy this, but die hard crime novel or mystery fans may leave a bit disappointed.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

College student Devin Jones takes a summer job at a small amusement park in North Carolina known as Joyland, which is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a murdered girl. More haunting to Devin is the memory of his first love, who recently broke up with him. A psychic employed by the amusement park also makes cryptic remarks about two children impacting Devin's life, one of whom will be a psychic as well. I was very impressed with this book. In it, King's superb writing style shines. The characters are all deeply interesting and mostly well-rounded. The jumps back in forth between the 1970s when Devin is in his early 20s to the present when Devin is an older man reflecting back on this time in his life work very well, creating appropriate amounts of foreshadowing and dramatic tension. The mystery is intriguing as well, although it is really only a small part of the story. (There is an element of the supernatural here, but it's worth noting this isn't really a ghost story. You won't be creeped out by this book.) Rather, the book is largely about Devin growing up and the people who help that maturation process. For the audophile, Michael Kelly was exceptional as the reader of this audiobook. He employed just the right amount of emotion for each turn in the plot and an array of different voices to distinguish the characters. His reading was compelling from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book for fans of King or just fans of well-written drama.