Throttle
Joe Hill/Stephen King
I don’t know if any of you reading this have ever owned a motorcycle, but this story brought back some memories. I haven’t rode a bike in many years but parts of this tale really captured the feeling of an open throttle on an open road. Sons of Anarchy is starting it’s final season in a few days, so I figured this would be a good time to review Throttle.
This is a Kindle single, a novelette of approximately 50 pages, by a father and son team about, among other things, a relationship between father and son. The very first page of the story makes an interesting acknowledgement; A story inspired by Duel by Richard Matheson. The difference here is, it’s a gang of bikers on the run that are being chased and crushed by a crazy trucker.
If anyone has not read any of Joe Hill’s fiction, I would strongly recommend it. He captures some of the best qualities of his father without going off on a tangent in the middle like so many of King’s stories. Hill also has the advantage of a younger person’s views and tapping into the mindset of younger generations. Possibly even better than the two authors separate stories is when they work together. Throttle is a fast and tense story that will get your heart racing. It’s the kind of story that is hard to put down once you’ve started and you may find yourself finishing it in one sitting. You’ll be thrilled by every point of action and every reveal of secrets held by this band of bikers known as, The Tribe.
If you are into bikes, the open desert road, and maniacal truckers hell-bent on murder, this story will hit all the entertaining sweet spots. It’s a short but engaging read.
This was first released in a commemorative anthology honoring Richard Matheson in 2009 along with a dozen A-list authors such as Ramsey Campbell, F. Paul Wilson, William F. Nolan and Joe R Lansdale. The book was titled, He is Legend and each story in the book is based on a Matheson original. Then it was in the Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, edited by Stephen Jones. Then in 2012, it was adapted into a Comic Book by IDW Publishing as Road Rage and seems to have at least 4 issues.
I definitely intend to purchase and review He is Legend in the near future.
Throttle Kindle Single – http://www.amazon.com/Throttle-Kindle-Single-Joe-Hill-ebook/dp/B007QXV9S6
Weird story, but I don’t think I’ll ever ride a motorcycle in my life. I’m really close with my grandma and I promised her that I wouldn’t when I was younger so I’d feel like complete shit if I ended up buying one someday. I’m a big fan of SOA though…
…with the exception of the last season. I did not find myself getting excited for it to come on each week and found a lot of the episodes disappointing. Throttle sounds like a damn good read and I love the concept of it. Nice review as always dude!
The first 2 seasons of SOA I enjoyed, but they keep killing off the main characters. I didn’t even watch last season.
Hey, I have nominated you for a Liebster Award. If you choose to accept, check out my blog here: http://wp.me/p3RBLX-26W I hope you accept and look forward to more horror from you and your site.
Thanks so much, I appreciate the acknowledgement 🙂
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I think my library has the trade graphic novel of this King / Hill story from IDW. Looking forward to checking it out! Will check the short out as well, Thanks!
This sounds good too! The other sounds a little more my thing. Hmm… I do have a Kindle. I guess I’ll have to remind myself how the thing works. ; ) lol