Rating: 
Summary: Not exactly a rousing finale for King
Review: According to Stephen King, this is his last original novel, (although there are two more installments of his Dark Tower series on the way.) With this book, he's really not leaving with much of a bang. There are a few problems with this work.
One, the structure of the book slows down the pace of the plot. The narritive is told by different characters. The plot moves at a frustrating pace because the story is stopped so frequently to change narrators.
Two, the setting is boring. This story might have been a creepy tale had it been set in Maine. However King chose the location to be a state police barracks in upstate Pennsylvania. The story suffers because of this. It's not scary, it's just dull. Mr King is out of his element.
Finally, there's just not enough action. It is about 3/4 through the book before there's genuine horror thrills. Up until that point, it's just waiting for the really good stuff.
That said, there were some good qualities. The theme was well conceived, the ending is smartly written. However this work is not in the same league with classic novels like BAG OF BONES, IT or MISERY. It's an ok read for fans but not a reccomended choice for new King readers. Also, it's not a great final novel. Sorry Stephen.
Rating:
Summary: Hearts of Atlantis, Christine, Buick 8...
Review: Stephen King has written some of the best literary works I have ever had the priviledge to enjoy...The Stand, It, and yes...even Pet cemetary.
"From a Buick 8", is nothing but a recollection of memories from the point of many individuals.
It lacks the mind games, which King is so good at playing.
King has reduced his talent to protraying the twisted personalities of inanimate objects, and Buick 8 is the ultimate low point. It has no plot...no intrigue...no Heart...nothing to capture the imagination, and send us off on one of the imaginary journeys he is so capable of creating.
A word of advice to Mr. King. Go back to your roots and stretch your imagination, rather than dredging up the same old bad car...good car stories, such as this...They are becoming very boring.
I look forward to the next creative masterpiece Mr. King is so very capable of producing.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: All that I can say is that this was the worst Stephen King book that I have ever read. I only skimmed through the last third of the book because it just did not seem like it was going anywhere. I felt that it was a waste of my time. I know that he can do better than this.
Rating: 
Summary: A cuddly King
Review: The troopers of Troop D, Pennsylvania State Patrol, have picked up a strange car. At first glance it looks like a Buick, except it won't run, and tests soon prove it's anything but a normal car. Then it starts chucking things out its doors and trunk, flashing brilliant lights, changing the temperature in its shed, and committing a variety of other Stephen King shinanigans. Rumor has it, it's even eaten a man. Add to this mix a teenager obsessed with his father's death in the line of duty, and thus obsessed with this car.After dabbling through portions of THE STAND and THE DARK HALF, FROM A BUICK 8 felt like stepping off an airplane in Florida -- warm and pleasant and safe. Yes, icky things materialize from this car and the poor dog doesn't have a fighting chance, but King spent so much time detailing life as a trooper that he seemed to have forgetten he was supposed to be writing horror. What I found here was only strange. If you love King, FROM A BUICK 8 may be one of his last freestanding novels, so by all means grab it. The writing is good, the details impeccable, the boy's hero worship touching. But the horror? Well, suffice to say, dear reader, you can curl up in bed with this one. It won't bite.
Rating:
Summary: Great read, left me with the chills
Review: I haven't read a Stephen King novel in over a year, and it's been about 7 since I first started reading his books, but the look of that Buick Roadmaster on the cover, it's headlamp looking like some psychotic alien eye, and it's grille looking like spiked and hot gleaming fangs made me pick it up. Ned Wilcox is the young man of our story. His father was hit by a drunk driver (in a Buick no less, but not the same as the one in the title). Ned has been struggling for a year to figure out what his direction in life is, and soon finds himself joining the officers who his Dad worked with, in their station aptly named 'The Barracks.' One day out back, Ned finds shed B, and inside, he finds the vintage Buick 8, sitting there like some odd display piece. when he inquires to his Dad's friends and co-workers about it, they begin to tell Ned that this Buick is not what it seems. King then begins to go into flashback mode, which almost killed 'Dreamcatcher,' and was used sparingly but well in 'The Green Mile.' ..The pace of the book starts at a very leisurely, almost languid pace, but once the Buick 8 arrives on the scene, I was hooked. I don't know what it is about strange automobiles ('Christine' had meup for 20 minutes before I dared to turn off the lights) and the pulse-pounding storylines that were told about what this Buick 8 was doing had me read it entirely in one day, which was not easy. this book is best to be read with only one light on and not normally in teh vicinity of lots of people. There is an intimacy about it that can bring out some of the terror in the book and make certain items even more clarified.
Rating:
Summary: A real page-turner!
Review: Since I was 14, I have loved Stephen King's works. There is just something about a King work that is powerful. This book will draw you in, page after page, just as the Buick draws the characters in the novel. For the true King fan (a.k.a. Constant Reader), this book will not dissapoint. The characters are memorable and the story is interesting. And just like every other work by Stephen King, there are several lessons behind the horror. Let me say this one last thing if you're still not convinced to read this book. I just had a baby 4 months ago and still finished this book in about a week's time!
Rating: 
Summary: Ranks as one of his worst
Review: SK is still the master and this book is still a decent read, but it is not one of his best and I would only recommend it to SK fans. If you are just getting into the world of SK, please put this at the bottom of your list and read "The Shining" "Salem's Lot" "The Stand" "The Dead Zone" "Carrie" and the "The Talisman" before this one!
Rating:
Summary: There's Just Something About This Book.....
Review: that never really got me into it. I love Stephen King, he's the greatest author of modern time but the story and characters never interested me. If you want classic King buy the Green Mile, Stand(if your up to reading that much), or the Dead Zone.
Rating:
Summary: Hopefully not King's last novel...
Review: As a longtime fan and Constant Reader, I hope "From a Buick 8" doesn't turn out to be King's last stand-alone novel. Not because it isn't one of his best (though, to be honest, it isn't) but rather because it does manage, at moments, to offer glimpses of just how good a storyteller Stephen King can be. There's a familiarity of voice and narrative ease at the beginning of the novel that promises an enjoyable and even transcendent reading experience. It's a promise, unfortunately, that "From a Buick 8" has a hard time keeping. Stephen King publicly prophesied before it was published that "From a Buick 8" would be seen as a retread of his earlier haunted car novel, "Christine." It isn't, though. Although both novels feature an old, menacing gas-guzzler at the center of the action, it can be argued that neither book is actually about the car. "From a Buick 8" is set in a Pennsylvania State Police barracks and tells of a bizarre secret that has been kept by the men and women of Troop D for just over twenty years. It all begins in the summer of 1979 when a vintage Buick Roadmaster is found abandoned at a gas station and towed back to the barracks. The Buick has to be towed because the engine doesn't work and, as further examination will prove, it isn't really a car at all, but some unknown thing trying very hard to look like a car. Most intrigued by this baffling find is Curtis Wilcox, a rookie trooper who has more than a little healthy curiosity about the unknown. Over the years, Curt's curiosity gets warped into a dangerous, eventually lethal obsession. In the present day, after Curt's untimely death, his son Ned comes to volunteer at Troop D, hoping to learn something about his father from the men and women who knew him best. Sandy Dearborn, his father's closest friend, decides it's finally time to break the silence and spill the secret the troop has been keeping for so long. King tells the story of the big bad Buick in a series of flashbacks, recounted, Faulkner-style, through multiple first-person narrators. The jumping back and forth in time and point of view unfortunately only serves to dilute the novel's momentum. The best parts of the book end up as isolated bits of fluid story that never get the chance to gel into a cohesive whole. Problems of pacing and plot movement notwithstanding, King does manage to touch on some interesting notions. His characters are like lemmings, drawn hypnotically to the edge of the cliff, forced, against their better judgement, to stare into the void. King has always had a talent for giving everday ojbects an ominous frame of reference. In this case, the Buick, with its menacing chrome grin, stands in for the unknowable in life. It's death or it's fate or it's the heart of the person that shares your bed. "From a Buick 8" has some great parts under its hood, but none of the wiring is connected and, like the title character, it never goes anywhere. Longtime King fans should give this one a test spin, but casual readers might want to look for a ride elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A Buick ate my aliens
Review: I've always thought of Stephen King as a great storyteller consistently unable to wrap up his yarns. He often seems to write without knowing where it will lead him, and it shows. His strong points are characterization and description, but many of even his best novels (The Stand and It come to mind) meander through a chilling landscape to a prosaic conclusion.
In From a Buick 8, King wisely abandons conclusions. He gives himself over to atmosphere and character, and at long last stops trying to tie everything together in the end. King doesn't KNOW what the car is, and it doesn't matter. (He didn't KNOW what IT was, and it did matter, spoiling a long and very chilling book. I sometimes think the only novel he ever wrote with its ending in mind was Pet Sematary.) In King's world, weird things happen to nice people. If you're looking for more in a book, why in the world are you reading King?
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