“Some guys-- a lot of guys---don't believe what they are seeing, especially if it gets in the way of what they eat or drink or think or believe. Me, I don't believe in God. But if I saw him, I would. I wouldn't just go around saying 'Jesus, that was a great special effect.' The definition of an asshole is a guy who doesn't believe what he's seeing. And you can quote me.” Richie “The Hammer” GinelliWilliam Halleck is a damn fine lawyer, a rising star in his firm, and well liked by judges [...]

And I thought the Atkins Diet sounded unhealthy…William Halleck is a successful lawyer living in upper middle class splendor in a Connecticut suburb with his wife and daughter, and his biggest problem is that he’s overweight. His perfect life is upset when he accidently run over an old Gypsy woman when he was *ahem* distracted behind the wheel. Since Billy is one of the solid taxpayers who plays golf with all the right people the whole mess is quickly tidied up in court without him getting s [...]

Loved it, it's every bit as good as I remembered and more. One of my favourites of all time and one of the best / creepiest audiobooks. Highly, thoroughly and totally recommended.

The premise really prompted me to read this novel. Aside from the fact that King wrote this, the premise really made me curious as to what the novel was all about. It was about a man who got cursed, and now he's losing weight everyday, and he fears that it will come to a point where he'll turn into nothing.Everything was good, but nothing was great. That's the main problem of the novel for me. While the start of the novel was batshit amazing and fast paced, the middle and the end was a huge drag [...]

This was an addicting and enjoyable book to read!It’s a great revenge novel and I enjoyed reading about how Billy Halleck goes from a big, fat man to something rather morbid.Billy Halleck, an upscale attorney accidentally hits and kills an old gypsy woman in his car when she steps out from the sidewalk. Now is he guilty of vehicular manslaughter or not? Unfortunately for Billy, an old gypsy man believes he is and puts a curse on him. The old gypsy man touches his check and says "THINNER".Or di [...]

Overweight lawyer William Halleck strikes and kills a gypsy woman who is crossing the street. He is acquitted but a relative of the woman touches Halleck's cheek and curses him. Now he's losing three pounds a day with no end in sight. Can he track down the gypsy man and get him to remove the curse or will he waste away to nothing?What's so scary about a fat guy losing weight? A lot, it turns out. Never has getting a tug job in the car from your wife gotten someone into so much trouble. I felt fo [...]

There is a certain directness, a freight train coming down the tracks quality about Stephen King’s early Richard Bachman books that I very much enjoy. King writes an unrelenting cause and effect that is terrifying because it does not jump out and yell BOO! but rather walks quietly up to you with a mask on and a butcher knife, like John Carpenter’s Michael Myers, a slow-motion dream scape of fear.Thinner shares these qualities with other of King / Bachman books like The Running Man and The Lo [...]

I first saw the movie for this back in the 90s, long before I read this book. And if you've never seen the film, believe me when I say, it's bad. It’s AWESOMELY bad. Overacted, terribly-paced, full of dumb effects and the worst “fat suit” I’ve ever seen. But, for some reason, I can't help but love it. I’ll watch it over and over again on Netfilx like it was reruns of The Office. Maybe I just like terrible movies. I don’t know.But, that said, I've never read this book. Never even thou [...]

The older Stephen King novels continue to amaze meis one grabbed me from page one and did not let go! When grossly overweight attorney Billy Helleck unintentionally hits (view spoiler)[and kills (hide spoiler)] an old gypsy woman who darts out into the street, (view spoiler)[(while being "hand serviced" by his wife) (hide spoiler)] the incident is not properly investigated, and soon after, he, his buddy Judge Cory who presided plus friend, Officer Hopley are "touched" and "cursed" by a super old [...]

Billy Halleck is living a good life. He's an up-and-coming lawyer, has a wife and a teenage daughter, and a nice home. He is also overweight, a fact which his doctor is always reminding him of. One day while driving, Billy accidently sideswipes an old gypsy woman who is crossing the street and kills her. Billy is cleared of any charges for this incident, as he is good friends with the police and the judge. There's also no love lost between law enforcement and the gypsies, since the police just w [...]

3.5 stars. This was my first Stephen King novel. I thought that it was good enough but not like great or anything. I had two main problems with it. The first problem was with the pacing of the novel. The first half was good but when I reached the halfway point, I was confused because I felt like the conclusion should have been coming. The story was slowly building up from page one and it was creepy, ominous and eerie but then a good 25% of the novel just dragged on and on. I just thought the roa [...]

Some guys-- a lot of guys---don't believe what they are seeing, especially if it gets in the way of what they eat or drink or think or believe. Me, I don't believe in God. But if I saw him, I would. I wouldn't just go around saying 'Jesus, that was a great special effect.' The definition of an asshole is a guy who doesn't believe what he's seeing. And you can quote me. And I just did, Ginelli.4.5Phew this has been a ride. I started reading Thinner back in April of 2017, and I finished it almost [...]

I have been obsessed with Stephen King's work for about seven years, from the first moment I checked out "Carrie" from my high school's library. "Thinner" certainly did not disappoint! The stellar writing and the character's complexities brought me back to that feeling I got when I first picked up a King novel: the belief that, although the plot seems outrageously far-fetched, it still somehow feels real.

Buen libro. Su idea es muy interesante: una persona obesa que va perdiendo peso por un maleficio hecho por una gitana. Empieza bastante lento; al menos a mí no me enganchó desde la primera página. Tengo que decir que cuando lo empecé quería dejarlo. Y lo dejé. Sin embargo, en el segundo intento lo pude terminar. El mundo es un montón de mierda. Pero muchas veces puede ser muy hermoso.Es un libro que en varias partes se me hizo denso. En una novela más larga quizás no me importe tanto, p [...]

3.5*This was a first read for me and I have not seen the movie. I knew what it was about, though. Someone said this book was like a Lay's chip, hard to put down. She was right! I don't know what it was about this book but I read a ton in the last 2 days. The story is ok, enough to keep you hooked but not terribly suspenseful. I'd say most people know what the story is about before picking up the book. The dreams Billy has are pretty scary and what happens to his friends. the book really picks up [...]

2 stars because it's a well-constructed story with an interesting concept. I just didn't enjoy it at all. I'm not fond of the way it's written, or of the concept of a 'gypsy curse' and how those people are portrayed in the story. I also found it to be strangely triggering for eating disordered thoughts so do be aware.

'Thinner,' the old Gypsy man with the rotting nose whispers to William Halleck as Halleck and his wife, Heidi, come out of the courthouse. Just that one word, sent on the wafting, cloying sweetness of his breath. 'Thinner.' And before Halleck can jerk away, the old Gypsy reaches out and caresses his cheek with one twisted finger. His lips spread open like a wound, showing a few tombstone stumps poking out of his gums. They are black and green. His tongue squirms between them and then slides out [...]

Agobio, horror y desear la muerte.Así me he ido sintiendo con este espectacular libro.Es realmente agobiante ver que cada dia pierdes peso y no puedes hacer nada para remediarlo, sabes que vas a morir, y nadie ni nada puede hacer algo.Y ese final es muy bueno.Como siempre, en cada novela suya hay una parte de él en el protagonista, y sus miedos al tabaco y al cancer siempre queda reflejado. Porque sabe muy bien lo que es horror y no terror, y el saber que te mueres y no poder hacer NADA para r [...]

Truth be told, I've not looked forward to writing this review. I find writing reviews for 3-star books almost tedious, and certainly not enjoyable. It's fun writing about books I love, and it's fun ripping to shreds books I hate. Books that warrant an average rating are just that — average. And I struggle with reviews of them. Never before has that been more true than in the case of Thinner, by Richard Bachman/Stephen King. That makes me a little sad, too — I've enjoyed writing every review [...]

I really enjoyed this book. It's dark and has a kind of bitterness, and I liked that quality a lot. But first, the thing that I thought didn't really work: Billy's starting weight of 246 lbs. Billy is 6'2, so while 246 lbs on that frame would make him overweight, it is by no means the "pig fat" obese weight that we're supposed to feel like it is. His doctor and his wife and daughter all have this "Ohmigod, you will have a heart attack and DIE, Billy!" panic about his weight, so when he starts lo [...]

"In many ways the world is nothing but a pile of shit. But it can also be very beautiful."A relatively quick read, this book! Quite a fun and original idea for a book. I was excited to see where King would go with it.Thinner is a story about Billy Halleck who accidentally knocks down and kills a gypsy woman. Unfortunately, it gets much worse as he is left with a terrible curse set upon him by the deceased's father. A curse where he begins to lose a lot of weight and it shows no sign of slowing d [...]

Μπορεί να φταίει που το διάβαζα στο τάμπλετ τα βράδια,πριν με πάρει ο ύπνοςΜπορεί να φταίει που την ίδια περίοδο διάβαζα βιβλία απανωτά,και ήταν όλα πιο ενδιαφέροντα από το συγκεκριμένοΜπορεί να ήμουν κουρασμένηΉ μπορεί να μην άξιζε για μένα πάνω από 3 αστεράκια!Ο Μπάκμαν ε [...]

This is a fairly short and tight read, just what you'd expect from an early Stephen King. The premise is simple: an overweight man gets cursed by a gypsy and starts to lose weight. The characters are well developed, the plot moves fast and is interesting throughout. It's a great premise and a solid book but definitely not his best. Recommended to all King fans, of course.

E' stato uno dei primi incubi del Re (qui ancora sotto pesudonimo) da me letti, e del tipo che adesso non scrive più. Era questo il vero Stephen King, il maestro della favola d'orrore capace di incupire anche il lettore più scettico e tranquillo. "L'occhio del male" appartiene ai capolavori della sua prima fase, anche se resta, rispetto ad altri titoli come "It" e "Shining", meno conosciuto; vi si trovano comunque alcuni dei temi che l'autore svilupperà nelle successive opere maggiori, dalla [...]

Audiobook - Narrated by Joe Mantenga – Good narration for the most part.Joe Mantenga, who played Richie Ginelli in the novel's film adaptation, narrates the book. He has a wonderful reading voice and his male characters, especially those of the gypsies are excellent, but his female characters left a lot to be desired. They came across as pathetic and whiny. In fact, every time Heidi opened her mouth I wanted to choke her. But, if you can get passed that he does a great job.***Ebook:It’s been [...]

4.5 stars246 . . . 188 . . . 172 . . . 156 . . . 137—How low can you go?172 . . . 156—How low can you go . . . 137 . . . before . . . Death!This is the question that the “big, fat hog” protagonist Billy Halleck faces in this “last” Bachman novel. And interestingly, with his last, (before his resurrection, that is), a kind of shift occurs.As the Bachman writing persona affected the Stephen King writing persona in previous works, with Thinner, the King writing persona seems to affect t [...]

Crap, King. Why do you always do this to I? The back of the book makes the whole thing sounds rather interesting. You start off with a nice push; sentences, paragraphs that make me think "Great Gatsby, I think he's done it!" But in the end, you disappoint me yet again and make me think, "Next time, I won't even bother."The beginning was good: compelling page-turning that grasped my attention! He's losing weight rapidly! Curses and stuff! But after the first few chapters Bleh, just dull and rambl [...]

Thinner is the last of the Bachman books before the world officially knew that Richard Bachman was actually Stephen King (although by this point most fans were at least 90% sure.) As such, this novel is more in the style of king than in the more raw style that I found in the other earlier Bachman books.Thinner is a great "revenge" novel. The story moves quickly and the main character's race against time keeps the pages turning at a fairly rapid pace. The nice thing about this one is that, in tru [...]

So glad I finally read the book after seeing the movie quite a few times. The book was 10 times better than the movie. Usually books are but this one was definitely one of them.

I'm catching up. Now I'm only 32 years behind in my Great Stephen King Re-read.I still remember seeing this hardcover in the Oshawa Centre mall on my weekly visits to the various bookstores. It sat, tempting me, on the second-from-bottom shelf, and I'd picked it up a couple of times, that stark black cover with the lurid red handprint and thin lettering. But each time, I put it back down. It was a hardcover and it was kind of expensive for a kid not making much money.Then the rumours broke that [...]