Witness the power of

The electrifying new novel from

11th November 2014

A spectacularly dark and powerful novel about addiction,
religion, music and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, in the early 60s, a shadow falls

over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton
looks up to see a striking man, the new minister, Charles Jacobs.
Soon they forge a deep bond, based on their fascination with
simple experiments in electricity.

Decades later, Jamie is living a nomadic lifestyle of bar-band

rock and roll. Now an addict, he sees Jacobs again - a showman
on stage, creating dazzling ‘portraits in lightning’ - and their
meeting has profound consequences for both men. Their bond
becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie
discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to
the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written.
It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.

King. For a reason.

 The following is an extract from
REVIVAL by Stephen King.

This extract is not for sale, quotation or copying.

Used by permission of Hodder.

Not for further distribution.

 
 
 Copyright © 2014 by Stephen King

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Hodder & Stoughton

An Hachette UK company

The right of Stephen King to be identified as the Author of the Work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First Hodder hardcover edition November 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the
prior written consent of the publisher, nor otherwise circulated in any form
of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a
similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance

to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 444 78917 1

Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd, Falkirk, Stirlingshire

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

Hodder & Stoughton policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable
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The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the
environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Hodder & Stoughton

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London NW1 3BH

www.hodder.co.uk
 1
FIFTH BUSINESS. SKULL
MOUNTAIN. PEACEABLE LAKE.

In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies. The main cast
consists of your family and friends.The supporting cast is made up of
neighbors, co-workers, teachers, and daily acquaintances. There are
also bit players: the supermarket checkout girl with the pretty smile,
the friendly bartender at the local watering hole, the guys you work
out with at the gym three days a week. And there are thousands of
extras – those people who flow through every life like water through
a sieve, seen once and never again. The teenager browsing graphic
novels at Barnes & Noble, the one you had to slip past (murmuring
‘Excuse me’) in order to get to the magazines. The woman in the
next lane at a stoplight, taking a moment to freshen her lipstick.
The mother wiping ice cream off her toddler’s face in a roadside
restaurant where you stopped for a quick bite. The vendor who sold
you a bag of peanuts at a baseball game.
But sometimes a person who fits none of these categories comes
into your life. This is the joker who pops out of the deck at odd
intervals over the years, often during a moment of crisis. In the
movies this sort of character is known as the fifth business, or the
change agent. When he turns up in a film, you know he’s there
because the screenwriter put him there. But who is screenwriting
our lives? Fate or coincidence? I want to believe it’s the latter. I want
that with all my heart and soul.When I think of Charles Jacobs – my

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 STEPHEN KING

fifth business, my change agent, my nemesis – I can’t bear to believe

his presence in my life had anything to do with fate. It would mean
that all these terrible things – these horrors – were meant to happen.
If that is so, then there is no such thing as light, and our belief in it
is a foolish illusion. If that is so, we live in darkness like animals in a
burrow, or ants deep in their hill.
And not alone.

Claire gave me an army for my sixth birthday, and on a Saturday

in October of 1962 I was gearing up for a major battle.
I came from a big family – four boys, one girl – and as the
youngest I always got lots of presents. Claire always gave the best
ones. I don’t know if it was because she was the eldest, because
she was the only girl, or both. But of all the awesome presents
she gave me over the years, that army was by far the best. There
were two hundred green plastic soldiers, some with rifles, some
with machine guns, a dozen welded to tube-like gadgets she said
were mortars. There were also eight trucks and twelve jeeps.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the army was the box it came in,
a cardboard footlocker in camouflage shades of green and brown,
with PROPERTY OF U.S. ARMY stenciled on the front. Below
this, Claire had added her own stenciling: JAMIE MORTON,
COMMANDER.
That was me.
‘I saw an ad for them in the back of one of Terry’s comic books,’
she said when I was done screaming with delight. ‘He didn’t want
me to cut it out because he’s a booger—’
‘That’s right,’ Terry said. He was eight. ‘I’m a big brother booger.’
He made a fork with his first two fingers and plugged his nostrils
with them.
‘Stop it,’ our mother said. ‘No sibling rivalry on birthdays, please
and thank you. Terry, take your fingers out of your nose.’

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 REVIVAL

‘Anyway,’ Claire said, ‘I copied the coupon and sent it in. I was
afraid it might not come in time, but it did. I’m glad you like it.’ And
she kissed me on the temple. She always kissed me there. All these
years later, I can still feel those soft kisses.
‘I love it!’ I said, holding the footlocker against my chest. ‘I’ll love
it forever!’
This was after breakfast, which had been blueberry pancakes and
bacon, my favorite. We all got our favorite meals on our birthdays,
and the presents always came after breakfast, there in the kitchen with
its woodstove and long table and our hulk of a washing machine,
which was always breaking down.
‘Forever for Jamie is, like, five days,’ Con said. He was ten, slender
(although he bulked up later), and of a scientific bent, even then.
‘Nice one, Conrad,’ our father said. He was dressed for work in a
clean coverall with his name – RICHARD – stitched in gold thread
on the left breast pocket. On the right breast it said MORTON
FUEL OIL. ‘I’m impressed.’
‘Thanks, Daddy-O.’
‘Your silver tongue wins you the opportunity to help your mother
clean up breakfast.’
‘It’s Andy’s turn!’
‘It was Andy’s turn,’ Dad said, pouring syrup on the last pancake.
‘Grab a dishtowel, Silver Tongue. And try not to break anything.’
‘You spoil him rotten,’ Con said, but he grabbed a dishtowel.
Connie wasn’t entirely wrong about my concept of forever. Five
days later, the Operation game Andy gave me was gathering dust
bunnies under my bed (some of the body parts were missing, anyway;
Andy got it at the Eureka Grange rummage sale for a quarter). So
were the jigsaw puzzles Terry gave me. Con himself gave me a
ViewMaster, and that lasted a little longer, but it eventually wound
up in my closet, never to be seen again.
From Mom and Dad I got clothes, because my birthday falls near

3
 STEPHEN KING

the end of August, and that year I was going into first grade. I found
new pants and shirts about as exciting as a TV test pattern, but tried
to say thanks with enthusiasm. I imagine they saw through that with
no trouble; false enthusiasm does not come easily to six-year-olds . . .
although, sad to say, it’s a skill most of us learn fairly rapidly. In any
case, the clothes were washed in the hulk, hung on the clothesline in
the side yard, and finally folded away in my bureau drawers. Where,
it’s probably needless to add, they were out of sight and mind until
September came and it was time to put them on. I remember there
was a sweater that was actually pretty cool – it was brown with
yellow stripes. When I wore it I pretended I was a superhero called
the Human Wasp: evildoers, beware my sting!

But Con was wrong about the footlocker with the army inside.
I played with those guys day in and day out, usually at the edge
of the front yard, where there was a dirt strip between our lawn
and Methodist Road, which was itself dirt in those days. With the
exception of Route 9 and the two-lane leading to Goat Mountain,
where there was a resort for rich people, all the roads in Harlow
were dirt back then. I can remember my mother on several occasions
weeping about all the dust that got into the house on dry summer
days.
Billy Paquette and Al Knowles – my two best friends – played
army with me on many afternoons, but on the day Charles Jacobs
appeared in my life for the first time, I was on my own. I don’t
remember why Billy and Al weren’t with me, but I do remember
I was happy to be by myself for a change. For one thing, there was
no need to split the army into three divisions. For another – this
was more important – I didn’t have to argue with them about
whose turn it was to win. In truth, it seemed unfair to me that I
should ever have to lose, because they were my soldiers and it was
my footlocker.

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 REVIVAL

When I advanced this idea to my mother one hot late-summer

day shortly after my birthday, she took me by the shoulders and
looked into my eyes, a sure sign that I was about to receive another
Lesson in Life. ‘That it’s-mine business is half the trouble with the
world, Jamie. When you play with your friends, the soldiers belong
to all of you.’
‘Even if we play-fight different sides?’
‘Even if. When Billy and Al go home for their dinner and you
pack the soldiers back into the box—’
‘It’s a footlocker!’
‘Right, the footlocker. When you pack them away, they’re yours
again. People have many ways to be lousy to one another, as you’ll
find out when you’re older, but I think that all bad behavior stems
from plain old selfishness. Promise me you’ll never be selfish, kiddo.’
I promised, but I still didn’t like it when Billy and Al won.

On that day in October of 1962, with the fate of the world

dangling by a thread over a small tropical spit of land called Cuba,
I was fighting both sides of the battle, which meant I was bound to
come out on top. The town grader had been by earlier on Methodist
Road (‘Moving the rocks around,’ my dad always grumbled), and
there was plenty of loose dirt. I scraped enough together to make first
a hill, then a big hill, and then a very big hill, one that came up almost
to my knees. At first I thought of calling it Goat Mountain, but that
seemed both unoriginal (the real Goat Mountain was only twelve
miles away, after all) and boring. After consideration, I decided to call
it Skull Mountain. I even tried to poke a couple of eye-like caves in
it with my fingers, but the dirt was dry and the holes kept caving in.
‘Oh, well,’ I told the plastic soldiers tumbled in their footlocker.
‘The world is hard and you can’t have everything.’ This was one of
my father’s favorite sayings, and with five kids to support, I’m sure he
had reason to believe it. ‘They’ll be pretend caves.’

5
 STEPHEN KING

I put half of my army on top of Skull Mountain, where they made

a formidable crew. I especially liked the way the mortar guys looked
up there. These were the Krauts. The American army I arranged at
the edge of the lawn. They got all the jeeps and trucks, because they
would look so groovy charging up the steep slope of the mountain.
Some would turn over, I was sure, but at least a few of them would
make it to the top. And run over the mortar guys, who would
scream for mercy. They wouldn’t get it.
‘To the death,’ I said, setting up the last few of the heroic Americans.
‘Hitsmer, you are next!’
I was starting them forward, rank by rank – and making comic-
book-style machine-gun noises – when a shadow fell over the
battlefield. I looked up and saw a guy standing there. He was
blocking the afternoon sun, a silhouette surrounded by golden light
– a human eclipse.
There was stuff going on; at our house on Saturday afternoons,
there always was. Andy and Con were in our long backyard, playing
three-flies-six-grounders with a bunch of their friends, shouting
and laughing. Claire was up in her room with a couple of her
friends, playing records on her Imperial Party-Time turntable: ‘The
Loco-Motion,’ ‘Soldier Boy,’ ‘Palisades Park.’ There was hammering
from the garage, too, as Terry and our dad worked on the old ’51
Ford Dad called the Road Rocket. Or the Project. Once I heard
him call it a piece of shit, a phrase I treasured then and still use
now. When you want to feel better, call something a piece of shit.
It usually works.
Plenty going on, but at that moment everything seemed to fall
still. I know it’s only the sort of illusion caused by a faulty memory
(not to mention a suitcase loaded with dark associations), but the
recollection is very strong. All of a sudden there were no kids yelling
in the backyard, no records playing upstairs, no banging from the
garage. Not a single bird singing.

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 REVIVAL

Then the man bent down and the westering sun glared over his
shoulder, momentarily blinding me. I raised a hand to shield my eyes.
‘Sorry, sorry,’ he said, and moved enough so I could look at him
without also having to look into the sun. On top he was wearing a
black for-church jacket and a black shirt with a notched collar; on
the bottom blue jeans and scuffed loafers. It was like he wanted to be
two different people at the same time. At the age of six, I put adults
into three categories: young grownups, grownups, and old people.
This guy was a young grownup. He had his hands on his knees so he
could look at the opposing armies.
‘Who are you?’ I asked.
‘Charles Jacobs.’ The name was vaguely familiar. He stuck out his
hand. I shook it right away, because even at six, I had my manners.
All of us did. Mom and Dad saw to that.
‘Why are you wearing that collar with the hole in it?’
‘Because I’m a minister.When you go to church on Sundays from
now on, I’ll be there. And if you go to Thursday night MYF, I’ll be
there, too.’
‘Mr Latoure used to be our minister,’ I said, ‘but he died.’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay, though, because Mom said he didn’t suffer, only went
straight to heaven. He didn’t wear a collar like that, though.’
‘Because Bill Latoure was a lay preacher. That means he was sort
of a volunteer. He kept the church open when there was no one else
to do it. That was very good of him.’
‘I think my dad knows about you,’ I said. ‘He’s one of the deacons
in the church. He gets to take up the collection. He has to take turns
with the other deacons, though.’
‘Sharing is good,’ Jacobs said, and got down on his knees beside
me.
‘Are you going to pray?’ The idea was sort of alarming. Praying
was for church and Methodist Youth Fellowship, which my brothers

7
 STEPHEN KING

and sister called Thursday Night School. When Mr Jacobs started it

up again, this would be my first year, just like it was my first year at
regular school. ‘If you want to talk with my dad, he’s in the garage
with Terry. They’re putting a new clutch in the Road Rocket. Well,
my dad is. Terry mostly hands him the tools and watches. He’s eight.
I’m six. I think my mom might be on the back porch, watching
some guys play three-flies-six-grounders.’
‘Which we used to call rollie-bat when I was a kid,’ he said, and
smiled. It was a nice smile. I liked him right away.
‘Yeah?’
‘Uh-huh, because you had to hit the bat with the ball after you
caught it. What’s your name, son?’
‘Jamie Morton. I’m six.’
‘So you said.’
‘I don’t think anyone ever prayed in our front yard.’
‘I’m not going to, either. What I want is a closer look at your
armies. Which are the Russians and which are the Americans?’
‘Well, these ones on the ground are Americans, sure, but the ones
on Skull Mountain are Krauts. The Americans have to take the
mountain.’
‘Because it’s in the way,’ Jacobs said. ‘Beyond Skull Mountain lies
the road to Germany.’
‘That’s right! And the head Kraut! Hitsmer!’
‘The author of so many evils,’ he said.
‘Huh?’
‘Nothing. Do you mind if I just call the bad guys Germans? Krauts
seems kind of mean.’
‘No, that’s great, Krauts are Germans and Germans are Krauts. My
dad was in the war. Just the last year, though. He fixed trucks in Texas.
Were you in the war, Mr Jacobs?’
‘No, I was too young. For Korea, too. How are the Americans
going to take that hill, General Morton?’

8
 REVIVAL

‘Charge it!’ I shouted. ‘Shoot their machine guns! Pow! Budda-

budda-budda!’ Then, going down way low in my throat: ‘Takka-
takka-takka!’
‘A direct attack on the high ground sounds risky, General. If I
were you I’d split your troops . . . like so . . .’ He moved half of the
Americans to the left and half to the right. ‘That creates a pincers
movement, see?’ He brought his thumb and forefinger together.
‘Drive on the objective from both sides.’
‘Maybe,’ I said. I liked the idea of a head-on attack – lots of bloody
action – but Mr Jacobs’s idea appealed to me, just the same. It was
sneaky. Sneaky could be satisfying. ‘I tried to make some caves, but
the dirt’s too dry.’
‘So I see.’ He poked a finger into Skull Mountain and watched the
dirt crumble and bury the hole. He stood up and brushed the knees
of his jeans. ‘I’ve got a little boy who’d probably get a kick out of
your soldiers in another year or two.’
‘He can play right now, if he wants to.’ I was trying not to be
selfish. ‘Where is he?’
‘Still in Boston, with his mother. There’s lots of stuff to pack
up. They’ll be here Wednesday, I think. Thursday at the latest. But
Morrie’s still a little young for soldiers. He’d only pick them up and
throw them around.’
‘How old is he?’
‘Just two.’
‘I bet he still pees his pants!’ I yelled, and started laughing. It
probably wasn’t polite, but I couldn’t help it. Kids peeing their pants
was just so funny.
‘He does, at that,’ Jacobs said, smiling, ‘but I’m sure he’ll grow out
of it.Your father’s in the garage, you say?’
‘Yeah.’ Now I remembered where I had heard the man’s name
before – Mom and Dad at the supper table, talking about the new
minister that was coming from Boston. Isn’t he awfully young? my

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 STEPHEN KING

mother had asked. Yes, and his salary will reflect that, my dad replied,
and grinned.They talked about him some more, I think, but I didn’t
pay any attention. Andy was hogging the mashed potatoes. He
always did.
‘You try that enfilading maneuver,’ he said, starting away.
‘Huh?’
‘Pincers,’ he said, tweezing his thumb and finger together again.
‘Oh.Yeah. Great.’
I tried it. It worked pretty good. The Krauts all died. The battle
wasn’t what I’d call spectacular, though, so I tried the frontal
assault, with trucks and jeeps tumbling off the steep slope of Skull
Mountain, plus Krauts tumbling off the back with deathcries of
despair: ‘Yaaaahhh!’
Mom, Dad, and Mr Jacobs sat on the front porch while the
battle raged, drinking iced tea and talking about churchy things –
in addition to my dad being a deacon, my mom was in the Ladies
Auxiliary. Not the boss of it, but the next-to-boss. You should have
seen all the fancy hats she had in those days. There must have been a
dozen. We were happy then.
Mom called my brothers and sister, along with their friends, to
meet the new minister. I started to come, too, but Mr Jacobs waved
me back, telling Mom we’d already met. ‘Battle on, General!’ he
called.
I battled on. Con, Andy, and their friends went out back again and
played on. Claire and her friends went back upstairs and danced on
(although my mother told her to turn the music down, please and
thank you). Mr and Mrs Morton and the Reverend Jacobs talked on,
and for quite awhile. I remember often being surprised at how much
adults could yak. It was tiring.
I lost track of them because I was fighting the Battle of Skull
Mountain over again in several different ways. In the most satisfying
scenario – adapted from Mr Jacobs’s pincers movement – one part of

10
 REVIVAL

the American army kept the Germans pinned down from the front
while the rest looped around and ambushed the Germans from behind.
‘Vat is zis?’ one of them cried, just before getting shot in the head.
I was starting to get tired of it and was thinking of going in for
a slice of cake (if Con and Andy’s friends had left any), when that
shadow fell over me and my battlefield again. I looked up and saw
Mr Jacobs, holding a glass of water.
‘I borrowed this from your mother. Can I show you something?’
‘Sure.’
He knelt down again and poured the water all over the top of
Skull Mountain.
‘It’s a thunderstorm!’ I shouted, and made thunder noises.
‘Uh-huh, if you like. With lightning. Now look.’ He poked out
two of his fingers like devil horns and pushed them into the wet dirt.
This time the holes stayed. ‘Presto,’ he said. ‘Caves.’ He took two of
the German soldiers and put them inside. ‘They’ll be tough to root
out, General, but I’m sure the Americans will be up to the job.’
‘Hey! Thanks!’
‘Add more water if it gets crumbly again.’
‘I will.’
‘And remember to take the glass back to the kitchen when you
finish the battle. I don’t want to get in trouble with your mother on
my first day in Harlow.’
I promised, and stuck out my hand. ‘Put er there, Mr Jacobs.’
He laughed and did so, then walked off down Methodist Road,
toward the parsonage where he and his family would live for the
next three years, until he got fired. I watched him go, then turned
back to Skull Mountain.
Before I could really get going, another shadow fell over the
battlefield. This time it was my dad. He took a knee, being careful
not to squash any American soldiers. ‘Well, Jamie, what did you think
of our new minister?’

11
 STEPHEN KING

‘I like him.’
‘So do I.Your mother does, too. He’s very young for the job, and
if he’s good, we’ll only be his starter congregation, but I think he’ll
do fine. Especially with MYF.Youth calls to youth.’
‘Look, Daddy, he showed me how to make caves.You only have to
get the dirt wet so it makes kinda almost mud.’
‘I see.’ He ruffled my hair. ‘You want to wash up good before
supper.’ He picked up the glass. ‘Want me to take this in for you?’
‘Yes, please and thank you.’
He took the glass and headed back to the house. I returned to
Skull Mountain, only to see that the dirt had dried out again and the
caves had collapsed. The soldiers inside had been buried alive. That
was okay with me; they were the bad guys, after all.

These days we’ve become gruesomely sensitized to sex, and no

parent in his or her right mind would send a six-year-old off in the
company of a new male acquaintance who was living by himself
(if only for a few days), but that is exactly what my mother did the
following Monday afternoon, and without a qualm.
Reverend Jacobs – Mom told me I was supposed to call him
that, not Mister – came walking up Methodist Hill around quarter
to three and knocked on the screen door. I was in the living room,
coloring on the floor, while Mom watched Dialing for Prizes. She
had sent her name in to WCSH, and was hoping to win that month’s
grand prize, an Electrolux vacuum cleaner. She knew the chances
weren’t good, but, she said, hope springs infernal. That was a joke.
‘Can you loan me your youngest for half an hour?’ Reverend
Jacobs asked. ‘I’ve got something in my garage that he might like to
see.’
‘What is it?’ I asked, already getting up.
‘A surprise.You can tell your mother all about it later.’
‘Mom?’

12