Book Review: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

The story within a story within a story format is something that would put me off a book, yet it works so perfectly in The Wind Through the Keyhole. In what is effectively an additional backstory book within The Dark Tower series, we learn of another story from Roland’s younger years, of when Jamie De Curry and himself are sent to a town called Debaria to look into what has become known as The Skin-Man.

“The stories we hear in our childhood are the ones we remember all our lives.”

The Skin-Man is absolutely terrifying, a shapeshifter who takes on the form of numerous animals and goes on murderous rampages, easily wiping out entire families without breaking a sweat. I love these parts of the story, as Roland and Jamie try to narrow down who the culprit could be.

Within this back story, Roland then tells a different story to a young kid as they are waiting in a jail cell - and this is the story given the name of The Wind Through the Keyhole. And it’s yet ANOTHER fascinating story that is essentially a dark fairy tale, full of magic and adventure. It actually reminds me a lot of The Eyes of the Dragon by King, although I would enjoy this one more!

The format of this book works surprisingly well, and it helped that I was fully invested in all the different tales that were being told. Although this novel is not necessarily crucial to the main storyline of the series, it does of course teach us more about Roland, and I love the poignancy of the story with regards to Roland’s relationship with his mother. It always brings a tear to my eye.

I also loved revisiting this at the end of the series. It was such a joy to be reacquainted with the ka-tet, even if only for a short spell, and it has really beautifully rounded off my reread of the series this year. 4.5 stars.

Johann

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