The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Stephen King just cannot seem to get enough of The Dark Tower. Or at least the characters in the book. The very good thing about this book is that one does not need to have read all or any of the seven books of The Dark Tower series. For those that have read the books we are told that one could place this between books four and five as at the end of the book we see the heroes heading off to Calla Bryn Sturgis which becomes the setting for The Wolves of the Calla.

In essence this book becomes simply a book of stories. Told in a unique story within a story within a story method this is a very good book.

The book begins with Roland and his ka'tet, Susannah, Eddie and Jake and the ever loyal Billy Bumbler Oy traveling on their quest to The Dark Tower. Oy on the trip is acting odd, looking always behind them to the North. At last Roland remembers the legends of his youth and realizes that a storm, a starkblast is on the way. A Starkblast is like a Tornado on steroids, one in which the temperature can drop a hundred degrees in ten minutes.

The group stumbles into a town and gets behind shelter in the nick of time. Well fortified with wood to keep warm they settle in and Roland agrees to tell a story. He tells a story of a time of his youth when he and one of his young friends were sent by his father to deal with a problem in a neighboring town. The town was beset by a shape shifter, known as a lizard man who was terrorizing and murdering the citizens.

As this story progresses a time comes where Roland must keep a young boy, named Bill, now an orphan, safe and sound. To pass the time he tells the boy a story. This story is called The Wind in the Keyhole and is the centerpiece of the whole book. This story passed on to Roland from his own Mother tells the story of Tim Ross a young man who lives with his Mother and Father in a happy home. With little material wealth Tim's Father has him recite each night what he has to give his son which is " a plot, a place, my ax ( for he is a woodcutter ) and my lucky coin. Things never seem to stay the same however and when Tim's father is killed by a dragon his life changes forever. This story truly is one of the best I have read of King's. With features of The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit and other famous tales it is truly one can enjoy in a quick evening.

With the story in a story mode as the stories end we come back to Roland his group. With both stories ended, the storm abated and dawn breaking the group gathers and sets off to the tower again.

A very interesting trick by King to garner another story out of these characters and Mid World. Certainly one that we could see him do again. Clearly there are many stories yet to tell.