The Green Mile
by Stephen King

Pocket Books (New York): 1996. Paperback: 536 pages. ISBN-10: 0-671-04178-9 Suggested retail price: $7.99 (US) Award: 1996 Brah Stoker Award Tags: cancer; capitol punishment; death penalty; healing; made into movie; Mystery; prison Tactical strength: [6/10]

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Is this the same Stephen King that wrote all those horror books in the '70s and '80s? If you had handed me an unattributed copy of The Green Mile, I would never have deduced that Stephen King had written this novel. He has left behind many of his trademark writing habits -- such as using brand-name products for characterization -- and written a novel with an interesting story and invisible prose. And you don't have to spend a lot of time wondering who King will kill off -- everyone who dies resides on the Green Mile -- death row at the Cold Mountain state penitentiary.

Paul Edgecombe, the head prison guard for the death-row prison block, has overseen more than 70 executions, but never before has he seen a prisoner like John Coffee, a giant black man who seems to have the ability to heal. Edgecombe starts looking into Coffee's case, but not many people in the Depression-era South seem to have any real interest in Coffee's case, guilty or not.

King tells an intriguing mystery story that pulls you along at a good pace and keeps you guessing right up to the end. Originally, King published The Green Mile as six separate separate serialized volumes. The only real annoyance in this combined version come from the repeated material between the separate volumes.

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