Review: A Nice Salute to "Duel"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2012
This short story is well-crafted in the clean style of King's other pieces of work, even if there is a slightly different feel to it, most likely from the input of his son, Joe Hill.  Regardless, it reads and flows well.This story is a salute to Richard Matheson's "Duel," with many of the same literary devices being used.  In itself, it is a story of the "Tribe," a mostly aging motorcycle gang, and an anonymous truck driver.  The Tribe had pulled into a diner parking lot after returning from a meth lab where things had gone pretty wrong, and the truck driver parked there may or may not have overheard what had transpired.  After the Tribe ate, they got back on the road only to have the truck driver show up and start his assault on the gang.No one in this story is a "good guy."  The Tribe's members are criminals, and they have done some horrific things.  There is conflict between the members themselves.  And the truck driver is really only an arm with "Death Before Dishonor" tattooed on it, hanging out the open window.The prose is crisp and direct, the action well-described.  Characterization does not suffer as it sometimes does in other short stories.I did have two issues with the story, one major and one minor.  The minor one is a pet peeve of mine.  A grenade pin really cannot be readily pulled out with a person's teeth.  This is pure Hollywood.  The major issue is the fact that a Peterbuilt truck can overtake large motorcycles.  In "Duel," the car being driven was a Plymouth Valiant, so yes, it was conceivable that that story's Peterbuilt could do what it did.  But in "Throttle,"  I am not sure any truck could really not only keep up, but track down powerful bikes. I realize that the truck had to be able to do this for the story to work, but it still bothered me.Overall, I think this was a fine read, and a fitting salute to Matheson's short story.  I recommend it.