Revival by Stephen King

I am a newbie when it comes to Stephen King books. Only having read a few (and only recently), I am still finding my way through his works and my opinions have been varied. With Revival, I had this feeling of recognition as if I had read a similar story before, but couldn’t place it. The pacing was very lax and the ending… weird. I have yet to fully form complete thoughts about the book as a whole.
We follow the story of Jamie and his life-long association with Charles Jacobs. Although Charles only comes into his life sporadically throughout the novel, it really does focus on him and his achievements with electricity. Jamie’s life is one full of miracles. He watches as Charles (Pastor Jacobs at the time) performs a miracle on his brother. Moving on to his love for music, joining a band, his first love, drugs and becoming sober. There is really not so much about his life to be impressed with or outstanding. The real interesting events only happen when he crosses paths with Charles. This gave me pause to wonder why this story was not told from Mr Jacob’s perspective, as it would have been darker and more exciting.
Jamie begins to question what Jacob is up to as his popularity soars from holding events where just by touching people with his rings (one on each hand), he heals them. True to his writing style, King continues to bring the reader fully developed characters and tantalizing narrative questions. This is why I continue to pick up his books — out of curiosity and how good his characters are. It’s what I enjoy most about his work.
Fans of Stephen King will surely enjoy this story and while he doesn’t disappoint, overall, I personally felt this story turned out to be pretty weird in the end. I am sure it’s going to take me awhile to comprehend what it all meant. I would recommend it to those who have already read some of his other books, but not as a starter book for those just beginning to read him.