A Novel Critique

Billy Halleck is a man with a belly. He is overweight and unhealthy; his doctor tells him he is edging into "Heart Attack Country." Billy is rich, his over-large stomach symbolic of someone who has sat on his throne of wealth for too long, and needs to be brought down.

The crash comes in the form of an auto accident. Billy's wife, Heidi, has chosen the wrong moment to get a little closer to Billy: while Billy is driving, Heidi decides to give Billy a little manual stimulation (this move is symbolic - the fact that they're in the car represents how fleeting Billy and Heidi's love life has become.) While Billy is distracted, he inadvertently hits an old Gypsy woman, killing her. Later, at the court trial, Billy uses his connections (a policeman, a lawyer, and a judge) to get him off scot-free. On the steps outside the courthouse, another Gypsy, an old, old man with a rotting nose, brushes his finger across Billy's face, whispering thinner.

So begins Billy Halleck's journey, from overweight man to a man steadily and scarily shedding the pounds. At first, he loves the weight loss. Who wouldn't? Eat all you want and still lose weight - great, right? Wrong. For as the weight comes off more quickly and Billy starts being ostracized by all around him, everyone in his world he trusted begins to betray him. And soon enough, Billy is alone.

Eventually, Billy comes to the conclusion that he has been the victim of a Gypsy curse. When he goes to confront the Gypsies in their camp on the edge of town (again symbolic: the Gypsies here are seen as outsiders, interlopers into the superficially peaceful world of the Connecticut suburbs), they scare him off. They may have cursed him, they say, but by killing one of their own, he has cursed them. 'Parparfugade ansiktet," they tell him: the curse of the white man from town.

For the first time in his fat-cat life, Billy Halleck begins to understand how life must be for the Outsiders. For the ostracized, for the outcast. He is now seeing first-hand that his life has been nothing but a sham. Reality lies in those who have been cast out (a popular theme in King's - and Bachman's - work.) That Billy can gain this understanding gives one hope. Maybe the object lesson here will not be lost.

Thinner is a book about loss and redemption. In its own way, the book is a mirror to Misery, which was also supposed to be a Bachman Book. In both novels, a pompous, pretentious man is forced into terrifying circumstances in which he must choose to get better or eventually revert back to his old ways. In Misery, Paul Sheldon eventually learned that reverting would mean certain doom. Billy Halleck may not be that wise.

As with most King novels, Thinner works best on two levels. The first, and perhaps most important, is that of the story. This novel moves swiftly and horrifically, the speed of a good story firing on all engines. The second is the allegory: King's theme of greed in the 1980's is dead-on and almost as scary. In the end, the righteous have triumphed … and the greedy have been punished.

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