Sarah O'Connor

“Give me what I want, and I’ll go away,” (King 75).

The Storm of the Century is coming to Little Tall Island, and while the town folk have dealt with their share of bad storms this one comes with promises of hurricane-like winds and five feet of snow, and something worse. Just as the storm begins one of the town’s eldest residents is murdered violently and the culprit, Andre Linoge, waits in her house to be caught. When Constable Mike Anderson apprehends him and puts him in the town’s tiny island Linoge has no answer for what he’s done or why he’s on the island except for one request: to give him what he wants, and he’ll go away.

I’ll be honest, I only read this because it came up as recommended reading for Midnight Mass fans and as many of you know, I’m a big one at that. I’m not sure if Mike Flanagan used Storm of the Century as any inspiration for his miniseries, and while I can see that in some ways (small community, jail in the back of a convenience store, mob mentality) it’s also a story all it’s own, and a good one at that.

The most interesting thing from the start about Storm of the Century is that it’s a screenplay. There is no novelization or short story that it’s based off of, Stephen King had the idea and realized that the best format to tell this story was as a screenplay. While I’m not sure if that’s true (I haven’t watched the miniseries yet, and some things I’ve seen about it have been mixed), I loved reading about his process in the introduction to his screenplay, heck, anytime Stephen King is going to talk about writing I’m going to read it. I also liked seeing how he wrote a screenplay as opposed to a novel and thought it was interesting how much detail he put into camera angles and shots as opposed to other screenplays I’ve read, but then again King did write the screenplay for The Shining (not that one).

As a story it’s pretty standard: during a record-breaking windstorm a strange man has come to an isolated island town and murdered one of it’s oldest residents. He doesn’t give any answers as to why he has killed her, what brings him to Little Tall, or how he knows so many of it’s residents dark secrets, all the man is willing to say is that he will leave once he gets what he wants.

It’s tense, it’s scary, it’s got a crazy long cast of characters that honestly were hard to keep track of, but I feel like most stories set in small towns are like that. It gives readers the sense that they are apart of the town too, so I didn’t dislike the amount of characters that were mentioned but if I ever decide to watch this miniseries I’m sure it will clear up who everyone was.

I thought King built excellent tension as our murderous stranger, Linoge, sits silently in his jail cell as more and more violence occurs in the town that he is seemingly responsible for and will stop once he gets what he wants, whatever that is. Constable Mike Anderson is a pretty standard King hero, he loves his family, has a streak of machoness, and attempts to be the moral compass for a panicked town. Linoge’s reveal of what he wants and what the residents decide when learning that information is tragic and heartbreaking in the stories I often appreciate the most.

Storm of the Century is a unique one in King’s extensive biography but not one that should go ignored. I’m curious how this translate to screen and may just have to find a time to watch. Hopefully not during a bad blizzard.

Publication: February 1 1999
Publisher: Pocket
Pages: 376 pages (Paperback)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Screenplay, Horror
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:

They’re calling it the Storm of the Century, and it’s coming hard. The residents of Little Tall Island have seen their share of nasty Maine Nor’easters, but this one is different. Not only is it packing hurricane-force winds and up to five feet of snow, it’s bringing something worse. Something even the islanders have never seen before. Something no one wants to see.
Just as the first flakes begin to fall, Martha Clarendon, one of Little Tall Island’s oldest residents, suffers an unspeakably violent death. While her blood dries, Andre Linoge, the man responsible sits calmly in Martha’s easy chair holding his cane topped with a silver wolf’s head…waiting.
Linoge knows the townsfolk will come to arrest him. He will let them. For he has come to the island for one reason. And when he meets Constable Mike Anderson, his beautiful wife and child, and the rest of Little Tall’s tight-knit community, this stranger will make one simple proposition to them all: “If you give me what I want, I’ll go away.”