Bear in mind, for a Stephen King book "Revival" is docile, the F-word is present on occasion, and a 6-year-old boy denounces the Christian son of God, Jesus.
True to its inside jacket, "Revival" released on the 11th day of this month spans into five decades for the focal characters. The slow start to the story drags and teeters on boring, but there is a powerful punch throughout the conflicts, resolutions and untimely deaths.
Jamie Morton is a mere boy in the early 60s when he first meets the new Reverend, Charles Jacobs and his beautiful wife. Reverend Jacobs is down to earth, and a very likable fellow. His faith in the Christian God is strong while he takes over the small towns church and Sunday masses are full again, thanks to him. His love and faith for the white man's God immediately fades away when his 23-year-old wife and 2-year-old son are killed in a car crash.
In the Reverends last sermon before he is banished from the church, explains the flaws and Christianity's ridiculously rigid rules. Hard core Christians for example tell their toddler aged children they will burn in hell for all eternity for simply lying about how their new shoes got wet. Jacob's concludes that death is the only way to know all the answers to everything, especially why evil, pain and suffering have been around for as long as time itself. He also points out, heaven is some sort of sick punch line to life on Earth.
Is it true that some people put aside what brains they have left and put their faith in a gigantic and fraudulent insurance company called religion? At the age of six, Morton no longer has faith in Christian fantasy. By the time he is 14-years-old he has not seen or heard from Reverend Jacobs in eight years and with his parents permission begins touring with his older band mates. "Chrome Roses"
Before the plot thickens, humor is littered throughout this book. Morton, at the age of 14, made a promise to his mom he would not smoke cigarette's, marijuana or drink alcohol. At 16, he is smoking pot, but not partaking in the other two. He remembers the promise he made to his mother, and reason's to himself that he's still batting .666. If you know baseball at all, a .300 batting average is all star material.
As Morton and his brother are getting older, they talk about the importance of getting a prostate exam;
"It's no big deal, just a finger up... You only have to worry if in the middle of the exam, the doctor has both of his hands on your shoulders."
As the story progresses, Morton's sister Claire, beautiful and bright is killed by her abusive husband. After three years of abuse, she finally divorces one of God's creation, and he shots her dead, them himself. When Jamie is in his 30s, he's a heroin addict with a leg full of metal pins from a motor cycle accident and has played guitar in numerous bands. It's in this era of his life that he reunites with Reverend Jacobs again whose got a renewed faith in God.
Like a round boulder on a steep incline, the story really gets rolling as the Reverend is touring the world and actually healing people. He uses shock treatment that is 100 percent different from what was witnessed in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." He cures Morton of his 'Madam H' addiction as well as his leg. King claims 'Madam H' is another name for heroin.
Some of the people Jacobs heals, kill themselves by jumping of tall bridges and gluing their mouth and nostrils shut with crazy glue. Shortly after Morton was cured of his Madam H addiction, he wakes up from a sound sleep with a tourniquet tied so tight around his arm, it's white and he is stabbing the arm with a fork as blood from the arm oozes onto his kitchen floor. Jacobs indeed has the power to heal both physical and mental aliments, but the side affects are intense to say the least.
According to "Revival," the book "De Vermis Mysteries" is in the possession of Jacobs, very intriguing since only six copies exist in the entire world. The book is known as a grimoire in the world of occultist. "De Vermis Mysteries" is a book on how to acquire vast power via science, mathematics and some nasty occult rituals.
When a woman named Mary Fay dies, Jacobs wants to bring her back to life to learn exactly what is on the other side. Morton is lured into aiding Jacobs because the reverend threatens to kill his first love, Astrid Soderberg. Morton knows he can do so without even being near her.
I've revealed a lot about the story, but believe me, I left out many vital details of this three and half star book. Death is indeed coming for us all and when it does...
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