Hearts in Atlantis

Five consecutive stories that are related and take place between 1960 and 1999. Every narrative has strong links to the 1960s and is tainted by the Vietnam War.

The first tremendously successful writer of the TV age is Stephen King, whose debut book, Carrie, was released in 1974, the year before the last US soldiers left Vietnam. For ten years, pictures from that conflict and the anti-war demonstrations had saturated American living rooms. King's most recent book, Hearts in Atlantis, is divided into five storylines that are chronological and interrelated, taking place between 1960 and 1999. Every narrative has strong links to the 1960s and is tainted by the Vietnam War.

In the first chapter, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield explores his own neighborhood and finds a world full with predatory malice. He also learns that grownups are often the source of the fear rather than its rescuers.

In the narrative with the same title, a group of college students get addicted to a card game, learn that they may protest, and face their own dark side, where laughing could well be the beast's thinly veiled scream.

Two guys who grew up with Bobby in suburban Connecticut attempt to fill the void left by the post-Vietnam period in "Blind Willie" and "Why We're in Vietnam," where America sometimes appears as empty and haunted as their own lives.

And in the incredible book's conclusion, "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling," Bobby goes back to his hometown, where he could find his heart's desire, one last secret, and hope for forgiveness.

Stephen King's latest novel will transport some readers to a world they have never visited and others to a place they have never been able to fully leave. It is full of danger, suspense, and most importantly, emotion.