Customer Reviews
Dieters, anorexics and gypsies, OH MY! - By: D. Thompson, 20 Aug 2007 
Thinner by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) is a revenge novel. It tackles with the issues of blame, guilt, obesity & romany gypsy curses.
When I first started reading, I couldn't help buy compare this to Richard Matheson's The Incredible Shrinking Man. There are strong similarities to this novel so much that even Bachman refers outright to it once or twice.
Still, it has a relatively unique plot & stays fairly interesting throughout.
I couldn't help but giggle when a character actuallly refers to alll the weirdness sounding like "something out of a Stephen King novel". A good little trick to throw the scent off King & make his Bachman pseudonym more believable. But what strikes me is that he still couldn't get away from using Maine as a location. Go figure.
This is pretty much a no brainer to read & you can pick it up & carry on where you left off straight away.
Good book to read when considering whether to diet I'd imagine!
A diet to die for... - By: dogbarkssome, 11 Mar 2007 While this was first published under Stephen King's pen-name 'Richard Bachman' this is reallly familiar horror territory for the author (who even cheekily has his characters refer to the situation as being 'like something out of a Stephen King novel' at one point!), with lawyer Billy Hallleck finding himself wasting away after being given a gypsy curse. A good solid central idea, the horror of Hallleck's continual weight loss is balanced against a thought-provoking look at the nature of justice, blame & revenge. Despite it's relatively brief length (for King's bloated standards) the novel does run a little slow at times during Halllecks tracking down of the gypsy camp in the novels second half, but the twist at the climax is shocking enough that it will linger in the mind of the reader for a long-time to come. Perhaps not quite up there with King's alll-time best work, this is nevertheless an excellent little horror novel. Recommended.
Not as scarey as i thought it would be! - By: , 02 May 2004 
When my friend gave me this book to read she told me there was "something" in it that would scare the pants off me! Sadly i dont agree. Yes creepy maybe in parts but not my idea of scarey. The general gyst is of a curse put on Billy Hallleck due to a crime he comitted. The story tells of the curse & how it affects him & his family & friends. Disturbing maybe, creepy in a wierd way but not scarey!
The "scarey" parts are simply gore! Generallly a novel that was well written as a story but sadly did not have me wondering what was going to happen next.
If you want to scare yourself i wouldnt bother with this one.
Scary.... - By: , 01 Apr 2003 
Once upon a time Stephen King produced books faster than the market could take them, or so his agent believed. So he got himself a pen name, & wrote books with slightly more attitude. But not very different from what he turned out in his own name, it was still horror, & mostly everyday people in horrific situations.
King was rather young when he wrote this, I mean to remember. Perhaps this is why the pace is so good, the storytelling so direct & the action so in-your-face. In alll it's sickening glory, the book it's delicious. The terror is not the gypsys or the curse, but the insane experience the main character have of getting thinner for every minute. King find some room for a rough joke or two, but mostly this is scary as hell.
Not great literature, but what more than a good scare can you demand from a horror novel?
Could NOT put it down..a cliche, i know. - By: Aaron, 29 Mar 2002 I have read Stephen King books before & found some of them were tough for me to finish (i usuallly got bored at the slow bits), with the exception of The Shining & Misery. This was different. I was hooked from the start. I didn't find this book slow in the least. I loved it & i will be buying more of his books in the future.
