Review: An Enjoyable if Light Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 1, 2011
Mile 81 is a brisk little story, weighing in at just 850 locations on the Kindle with an excerpt of 11/23/61 filling another 200 locations.  For the first time in quite a while we are treated to a pure creature feature from King, in the form of a very hungry car.King's characters as a rule are rich and funny and that is no different in Mile 81.  Over the course of the story we get nine characters, each of which are fleshed out surprisingly well for as short of a tale as this is.  A few times King gets caught in his traditional trap of having single digit kids sound much older than they are, sounding more like teenagers than the four, six and ten year olds they are.  The characters are written with such voice and heart that it is easy to forgive.The monster itself is basically a Chevy Angler fish, tantalizing good Samaritans into looking at the bait and then quite literally feasting on them.  In a short time, King manages to make the nameless station wagon more terrifying than his Buick or Christine.It's a great story and exactly what I was hoping for when Kindle singles were introduced.  It won't be for everyone and certainly feels like it could have been part of Nightmares and Dreamscapes.  If you are looking for a quick hitting creature book though, it will be hard to do much better.