Trailer Park Tuesday: Revival by Stephen King

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.

Does Stephen King need more than a 16-second trailer for his books?  Or, more to the point, are book trailers completely superfluous when it comes to the Number-One-Bestselling King of Horror?  I mean, people are gonna buy King's semi-annual novel, or they're gonna bypass it on the shelves, and no amount of promotional video will sway them one way or another, right?  This goes right to the heart of the argument for book trailers themselves: what are they good for?  Well, duh, the same thing movie previews and toilet-paper commercials are good for: to plant marketing seeds in the soil of our ever-shrinking attention span.  So, in that light, I'd say, "Yes, the world needs another Stephen King book trailer."  Does the world need something longer than 16 seconds, though?  Again, I'd have to say "Yes."  While the video for Revival (coming November 11 from Simon & Schuster) is well-made, I found myself wanting a little more than the tease of a lightning bolt and the tagline "Not even your faith can save you."  And so, I turn to the publisher's plot synopsis for full satisfaction:

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, 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, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town. Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with 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 Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.

There.  That may have taken me more than 16 seconds to read, but at least now my appetite is sated with this hors d'oeuvre of horror.  Either way, as a long-time King fan, I won't be bypassing Revival on November 11.