Form is temporary, class is permanent. A little simplistic, perhaps, but for me it neatly encapsulates both the book, a fascinating time-travel yarn based on the assassination of JFK, and the theme of King's career over the past three decades.
In cricketing terms, King was Don Bradman between the years of 1977 and 1987. His run of The Shining, The Stand, Cujo, Christine, It and Misery was the equivalent of averaging 100 with the bat, and that he later revealed he was writing in a semi-permanent drunken (and drugged) state is only a minor detail.
He gave the world some of the most inventive and memorable stories in the history of horror/thriller fiction, sold millions of copies, became a cult hero and helped produce a series of (mostly awful) movies.
King was, well, the king. And then he seemed to lose his way, like a golfer getting the putting yips.
Rose Madder, Desperation, Bag of Bones, From a Buick 8, Lisey's Story - these were a mix of disappointing, difficult and awkward. The years of hearing critics slate him for not being a "proper" writer, followed by the accident that nearly killed him, seemed to have taken their toll on King. Or maybe sobriety didn't agree with him.
Even some of his most loyal Constant Readers wondered, as they aged, if their former favourite had done his chips.
Then, like the master batsman digging his way out of a slump with a gritty 50 here and a surprising 82 there, King came back. Duma Key, in 2008, was a fine return to form, and with 11.22.63, his 49th novel, he is back to his Bradmanesque best.
Too often labelled a horror writer, or the master of the macabre, King has always been about much more than blood and terror, though he does that superbly well.
He is a master storyteller, and the book - the title of which refers to the date, American-style, Kennedy was shot in Dallas - gives him an opportunity to really spread his wings.
It tells the story of a teacher called Jake Epping, a relatively ordinary man who gets a chance to do something extraordinary when he is introduced to a portal that takes him back to 1958.
Urged by a dying old man to use this gift to prevent Lee Harvey Oswald gunning down JFK, he embarks on a roaring journey of tension, intrigue and love.
King, as always, does a superb job in evoking the period, in this case America as the 1950s turn into the 1960s, and draws some particularly memorable characters. He also gets a chance to throw around some interesting questions about the value of being able to tinker with the past.
There are some genuine "chill moments", too, when real-life people like Oswald and Kennedy make their appearances.
Perhaps 11.22.63 is a tad long, but this is Stephen King; he has never seen the point of writing 500 pages when he can do 800.
- Hayden Meikle is the Otago Daily Times sports editor.
