THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606100192
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY GREGORY N. KROLCZYK
LENGTH: 48 lines
THE GREEN MILE
Coffey's Hands
STEPHEN KING
Signet/Putnam. 90 pp. $2.99.
Aaaaaahhh, so things are not as they had appeared. Of course, it would have been pretty disappointing if they had been, now, wouldn't it?
``Coffey's Hands'' is the third part of Stephen King's six-part paperback novel-on-the-installment-plan called The Green Mile. And it is, thus far, by far, the best.
Set in 1932, The Green Mile centers around the men who guard a group of death row inmates at a prison located somewhere in the Deep South. In the first two parts, plot was all but absent. Instead our narrator, head guard Paul Edgecomb, mostly just introduced us to the novel's main players, who include John Coffey, a gentle giant convicted of the rape/murders of 9-year-old twin girls, and a Cajun killer, with an unusual mouse, named Delacroix.
In ``Coffey's Hands,'' things are much different. Gone from this installment are the episodic little vignettes (and much of the foreshadowing that accompanied them) that composed its predecessors. A more linear structure, one that contains the beginnings of a plot, has replaced them.
Here we learn that one guy might not be as bad as he seemed, and that another is actually worse. We also discover that one character has a special power and we witness another's death. In all, pretty intriguing stuff.
Yet what really makes this installment so much better than the others is that finally our narrator does something other than narrate: He is actively involved in the story line. And his involvement allows our involvement.
My enthusiasm for this series has been reserved, but now I guess I should add my name to the list of people champing at the bit waiting for the next installment.
So far - quite good.
Next up: ``Part 4: The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix.'' MEMO: Gregory N. Krolczyk is a writer who lives in Kill Devil Hills,
N.C. by CNB