The Regulators
The Regulators book cover

The Regulators

Audio Cassette – Audiobook, September 1, 1996

Price
$5.95
Publisher
Penguin Audio
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0140863222
Dimensions
4.5 x 2.25 x 7.25 inches
Weight
14.1 ounces

Description

From Library Journal Stephen King dusts off his nom de plume for this tale of the supernatural.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From AudioFile Do NOT listen to this book alone at night, at least not beyond the first half-hour of tape. After that pleasant, scene-setting portrait of summer in suburbia, The Regulators turns terrifying, and the horror doesn't let up until the very last sentence. Kate Nelligan resists the temptation to dramatize the many characters in this complex story, and her unemotional telling contributes even more to the terror of the tale. Nelligan's detached, professional narration is well supplemented by chilling special effects at the beginnings and ends of some chapters. These effects, including music mutations; storm sounds; and chilling, almost-animal cries, elevate the book to a near-movie experience. R.P.L. Winner of AUDIOFILE's Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Features & Highlights

  • It's a summer afternoon in Wentworth, Ohio, and on Poplar Street everything's normal. The paper boy is making his rounds; the Carver kids are bickering at the corner convenience store; a Frisbee is flying on the Reeds' lawn; Gary Soderson is firing up the backyard barbecue. The only thing that doesn't quite fit is the red van idling just up the hill. Soon it will begin to roll, and the killing will begin. A quiet slice of American suburbia is about to turn to toast.The mayhem rages around a seemingly still point, a darkened house lit fitfully from within by a flickering television screen. Inside, where things haven't been normal for a long time, are Audrey Wyler and the autistic nephew she cares for, eight-year-old Seth Garin. They're fighting their own battle, and its intensity has turned 247 Poplar Street into a prisonhouse.By the time night falls on Poplar Street, the surviving residents will find themselves in another world, one where anything, no matter how terrible, is possible...and where the regulators are on their way. By what power they have come, how far they will go, and how they can be stopped - these are the desperate questions. The answers are absolutely terrifying.

Customer Reviews

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Audiobook Review

This audiobook kept my keen interest, but not just for the usual reasons. One of my major interests is autism, and I was hoping against hope that Richard Bachman could write a convincing autistic character without lapsing into myths of autism, or worse... using autism as a metaphor.

For the majority of the book, Bachman does an excellent job with Seth, especially in creating a believable (at least in the context of the genre) tension between Seth and the intertwined, parasitic intelligence of Tak, whose reality-warping powers are shaped by Seth's perseverations. Speaking of these perseverations, Bachman is able to create two parallel stories... a cartoon series called "MotoKops 2200" and a 1958 western called "The Regulators," both of which Bachman created out of whole cloth, but with enough verisimilitude to feel like independent creations.

The only time Richard Bachman errs in his narration of the autistic Seth is very near the end. He makes the mistake of saying that within his inner world, Seth is not autistic. Autism is far more than a neurological condition; it is a configuration. There is no more a "normal" child within an autistic person than there is cat within them. The other mistake Bachman makes, and within the same paragraph, is to use the term "genius" as an antonym for "autistic." Autism is not a form of mental retardation. While there are some mentally retarded autistics, there are also autistic geniuses, such as Temple Grandin, Carl Sagan, Marie Curie and Albert Einstein. Still, this is forgivable in light of Richard Bachman's knowledge of autism being limited to only that available in the 1980's.

What really struck me most about this book though is Bachman's absolutely sick sense of humor and misanthropic characterizations. I was howling with laughter. No description I could type could explain how truly funny this book is.

One note for the audiobook version only... Frank Muller breaks the "fourth wall" with a note to the editor. The editor did not edit this note out, for whatever reason. While this doesn't change my rating of the book, it does effect the overall flow of Muller's otherwise brilliant narration.
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