Insomnia by Stephen King (1994, Hardcover)

This is the first King novel I've ever started and lost interest in the beginning. It was months before I started on it again. The beginning is a bit slow, which is unusual for King, and it took a determined effort to get me going again. However, the story certainly was worth the effort. This is another of King's novels which involves the Crimson King, for all you constant readers, and is worth slogging past the beginning to settle in for a lively story.

Here King touches on the unique problems of the elderly, and how they try to cope with all the unpleasant and unpleasant aspects of this time of life. As an insomnia myself, I was entertained by the many remedies to combat insomnia offered to the main character by well-meaning but mostly clueless friends and acquaintences. The insomnia leads to some strange happenings that coincide with other unusual events in the spooky town of Derry (home of Pennywise the Clown from It), and the hero of the day is the elderly gent unable to sleep. Without his intervention, the final Dark Tower book would have been a lot different!

In sum, a great read with a slow beginning, but well worth the effort.