Guest Review: Pet Semetary by Stephen King

I’m happy to welcome Little Appletree from The Secret Insights of My Bookshelf as a guest reviewer today. Little Appletree is a twenty-something German blogger living in London.  She reads all genres, ranging from historical novels to crime stories.

Little Appletree is reviewing one of my favorite books by my all-time favorite authors, Pet Semetary by Stephen King.

Synopsis: The road in front of Dr. Louis Creed’s rural Maine home frequently claims the lives of neighborhood pets. Louis has recently moved from Chicago to Ludlow with his wife Rachel, their children and pet cat. Near their house, local children have created a cemetery for the dogs and cats killed by the steady stream of transports on the busy highway. Deeper in the woods lies another graveyard, an ancient Indian burial ground whose sinister properties Louis discovers when the family cat is killed.

My Thoughts: I read this novel years ago but it is one of my most favourite novels written by Stephen King. I have this problem with Stephen King novels that his stories are really compelling but on the other hand I am disgusted and scared. Thus, I am always on the edge between continuing and not going on reading the book.

The story of Pet Sematary is written in such a great way that you are really afraid that this might be real. It does not seem to be supernatural even though it is. It is scary to imagine the once dead cat that comes back to the family and behaves not as it used to before its death. Every time I was reading by night I was so scared that I did not want to turn off the light afterwards.

But this book is not just about the story of something supernatural. It talks a lot about human feelings and the way we humans deal with dead. When Louis’ son dies, Louis is willing to sacrifice everything just to get him back. Who would not feel like that after the loss of a close family member? I think, in this situation we would all wish for a way to bring the dead person back to life and would take the chance when it would arise. Even though, Louis was aware of the fact that animals and people buried in the pet sematary come back differently and are strange and dangerous, he cannot stop himself from burying his son there just to get him back. Even when he sees the consequences of doing so, he doesn’t really seem to understand and reacts in the same way when his wife is killed by his revived son.

The novel outlines in a great way how helpless we are in situations of death. We turn into complete strangers and start acting in new strange ways that just make sense for us but for nobody else. As a reader, we can totally understand why Louis is acting like that. We can feel his desperation and wish for him that he’ll get his son back the way he was before his death.

Pet Sematary is a great novel demonstrating how difficult it is to deal with feelings about the loss of a close person. This is also embedded in a great plot and written in such an exciting and compelling way that you cannot stop reading even though you do not want more than escape from this cruel world. A real page turner that I can recommend to all horror and Stephen King fans. Especially with regard to the upcoming Halloween season, this is a great book to read!!!

Thank you so much for your review, Little Appletree!

What is your favorite Stephen King novel?