THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150188
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY GREGORY N. KROLCZYK
LENGTH: 47 lines
THE GREEN MILE
Part 4: The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix
STEPHEN KING
Signet. 90 pp. $2.99.
Set in 1932, The Green Mile, Stephen King's six-part paperback-novel-on-the- installment-plan, centers on the men who guard a group of Death Row inmates at a prison located somewhere in the deep South.
Eduard Delacroix isn't the only thing that dies in Part 4, ``The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix,'' as King returns to the static style that so defined the first two parts, ``The Two Dead Girls'' and ``The Mouse on the Mile.'' Indeed, if it's King's intent to make us feel as though we, too, are trapped in jail, he's succeeding admirably.
As in parts 1 and 2, little happens here to encourage reader involvement. As the title indicates, Part 4 relates the execution of Cajun killer Eduard Delacroix. This act, written in King's inimitable ``if you can't scare them, gross them out'' style, occupies 30 pages. Take away another 11 pages during which our narrator, head guard Paul Edgecomb, relates seemingly irrelevant events, and another 25 or so ``talking head'' pages, and we've little left to get excited about.
Of course, action would be of less importance if our narrator were more interesting. But Edgecomb is simply an uninvolving character, a rarity considering King's incredible track record for creating living, breathing characters.
Fortunately (at least if we can believe the foreshadowing), things are due a change. Now the novel's direction seems clearly defined. And though the end point appears mundane in concept, getting there from here could be quite interesting.
So far - well . . .
Next up: ``Part 5: Night Journey.'' MEMO: Gregory N. Krolczyk is a writer who lives in Kill Devil Hills,
N.C. by CNB