The Wind Through the Keyhole | Stephen King

Title: The Wind Through the Keyhole
Author: Stephen King



A story inside a story inside another story sounds like it should be a mess, but somehow The Wind Through the Keyhole isn't. Stephen King's return to the Dark Tower universe--set between the fourth and fifth books--is surprisingly tight and ended up being one of the most enjoyable trips I've taken through Mid-World.

The book starts with Roland and his ka-tet taking shelter from a brutal freezing storm. While they wait it out, Roland tells them about a mission from his youth, when his father sent him and Jamie DeCurry to a small town to investigate a series of murders committed by a shape-shifting creature. Roland would have preferred to take Cuthbert or Alain, but his father chose Jamie instead. We've spent plenty of time with young Roland before, but I enjoyed seeing him dropped in what is essentially a murder mystery. Tracking the creature requires more than being quick with a gun, and the investigation fits surprisingly well into the world King has already built.

Then King goes one layer deeper. While investigating the murders, Roland sits with a young boy who survived one of the attacks and tell shim a story his mother used to tell him. This becomes the real heart of the book: the story of Tim, a boy who ventures into a dangerous forest in search of a cure for his mother's blindness. It's basically a dark fairy tale, full of magic, strange creatures, danger, and all the little bits of lore that make Mid-World feel much larger than the part of it we've actually seen.

I think that's why the book worked so well for me. King doesn't try to manufacture another enormous Dark Tower adventure. Instead, he gives us folklore from this world and lets the stories fill in some of its corners. We also get more of Roland's relationship with his mother, which adds another layer to what we already know about his childhood.

It's an odd little addition to the series, but a very good one. I didn't need another epic here. I was perfectly happy sitting out a storm with Roland and listening to him tell a story.

Four out of five stars.

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