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- Title: Duma Key: A Novel
- Author: Stephen King
- Narrator: John Slattery
- Length: 23:00:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 22/01/2008
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Horror, Suspense
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
There’s something about listening to a Stephen King novel while driving through unfamiliar territory that makes the miles dissolve. I remember crossing the Arizona desert at dusk when the first eerie whispers of Duma Key began playing through my rental car’s speakers. The crimson horizon mirrored Edgar Freemantle’s painted visions as John Slattery’s voice made the desert highway feel like the causeway to King’s haunted Florida key. It was one of those perfect alignments of story and setting that audiobook lovers live for.
Stephen King’s Duma Key is fundamentally about place as both healer and predator. After losing his arm and marriage in a construction accident, Edgar Freemantle retreats to the titular Florida island where his artistic awakening coincides with supernatural horrors. King masterfully explores how trauma reshapes our relationship with physical spaces – a theme that resonates deeply with me as someone who’s witnessed how landscapes absorb human pain during my travels through post-conflict regions. The abandoned fishing shacks and overgrown orange groves of Duma Key become characters themselves, as vividly rendered through King’s prose as the Chilean ghost towns I’ve documented.
John Slattery’s narration is nothing short of alchemical. His performance reminds me of those evenings in Oaxaca listening to abuelitas spin tales – he understands the power of silence between sentences, the weight a well-placed sigh can carry. His Edgar Freemantle has the gravelly vulnerability of a man whose body has betrayed him, while Elizabeth Eastlake’s voice carries the brittle dignity of old Southern aristocracy crumbling like Duma Key’s weathered docks. When Slattery voices Wireman, Edgar’s philosophical caretaker friend, you can practically smell the coconut oil and rum on his breath.
The audiobook’s 21-hour runtime allows King’s signature slow-burn horror to unfold with delicious tension. What begins as a meditative novel about artistic rebirth gradually tightens its grip until you’re white-knuckling the steering wheel during Edgar’s midnight painting sessions. King’s descriptions of the creative process are so visceral they transported me back to watching woodcarvers in Bali enter near-trancelike states – that sacred, dangerous space where art bleeds into something more.
Some listeners might find the first third’s deliberate pacing challenging, but like the humid Florida air King describes, the atmosphere needs time to saturate your senses. The payoff is worth it – when the supernatural elements fully manifest, they carry the weight of all that carefully constructed realism. The climax delivers one of King’s most chilling creations since Pennywise, made even more terrifying by Slattery’s controlled delivery.
Compared to other King audiobooks, Duma Key stands out for its mature exploration of aging and artistic legacy. While it shares DNA with Bag of Bones (another author-narrator collaboration about creative types confronting ghosts), Slattery’s performance gives it a distinct character. His background as an actor shines in the dialogue-heavy scenes where Edgar’s makeshift family confronts the island’s darkness.
For travelers like myself who appreciate how places hold memory, Duma Key offers a masterclass in environmental storytelling. King’s descriptions of the Florida light – “the kind that makes everything look like it’s been dipped in liquid gold” – rival my own travel journals. The audiobook format enhances these sensory details, making you feel the salt crust on your skin and hear the shells crunch underfoot.
If you’re new to King’s non-supernatural horror, this serves as an excellent gateway. The themes of physical recovery and artistic obsession ground the fantastical elements in deeply human struggles. And for longtime fans, it’s a rewarding return to the author’s strengths – complex character studies wrapped in creeping dread.
The production quality maintains Simon & Schuster Audio’s high standards. There’s a warmth to the recording that suits the Florida setting, with none of the over-compression that plagues some audiobooks. At no point did I need to adjust volume between narration and the subtle atmospheric effects during chapter transitions.
My only critique is that some of Edgar’s art world encounters feel slightly dated in today’s context, though this reflects the novel’s mid-2000s setting. And while Slattery nails most characters, his few female voices occasionally blend together. These are minor quibbles in an otherwise outstanding listening experience.
May your journeys through story and landscape always lead you somewhere unexpected,
Marcus
Marcus Rivera
