The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last. <br> <br> A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote <i>Blaze</i> in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write <i>Carrie.</i> Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym") , but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of <i>Blaze</i> among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!") , and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published. <br> <br> <i>Blaze</i> is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. -- of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs -- and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own. <br> <br> He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character -- as taut and riveting as Stephen King's <i>The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.</i>
