PositivePittsburg Post-GazetteA love letter to the transformative effects of putting words on paper that masquerades as a boilerplate action-thriller, the novel doesn’t always fire on all cylinders, but the impassioned argument Mr. King makes for the role of writing in healing traumas is heartfelt and affecting ... There wouldn’t be much of a novel if everything went off without a hitch, of course, and what unfolds both during and after that climactic moment is fast-paced and cleverly constructed, even if it isn’t entirely original — there’s a whole lot of Luc Besson’s 1994 cerebral action film The Professional here, and maybe even more of Antoine Fuqua’s 2014 vigilante movie The Equalizer ... Even if the capital \'T\' thriller portions of the book feel a bit derivative, they are still written with Mr. King’s legendary eye for detail, and his ability to immerse readers in the mindsets of fictional characters serves the story well. The fans he refers to as Constant Readers may also find themselves smiling at some late-book references to a certain haunted hotel in Colorado ... There are some missteps: for example, Mr. King occasionally tosses in foreshadowing about COVID-19, even though it has no bearing on the plot and none of the book actually takes place during lockdown, which is puzzling. On the other hand, the book shines the most when it talks about the act of writing. Billy is able to process his myriad traumas through the act of remembering his past and writing about it, and witnessing this deeply-scarred man discover a new way of seeing himself and his place in the world is beautifully resonant. Mr. King’s sheer pleasure in the alchemy of turning mere words into entire universes is on full display here, and it is contagious — not just for Billy, but perhaps for Constant Readers as well.
