Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not his best
Review: Has an interesting premise, but the narrative structure is really sloppy---he switches around between numerous characters' POV, all in 1st-person narrative, but there is no clear delineation of each separate character's voice---it sounds like the same person talking all the time, which is confusing. And the ending makes no sense. Not one of his best!
Rating: 
Summary: Just awful
Review: I love Stephen Kings books but this one has to be his worst ever! The whole time I read it I was thinking, "Is this going somewhere!?!" The beginning started out OK but then it just went down hill from there. I feel bad for saying this because King is a favorite writer of mine but this was JUST AWFUL.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thriller with a Scientific Approach
Review: Lately I've read each new Stephen King book with apprehension, not knowing what each will bring. My apprehension was unfounded with this intriguing thriller that combines the threads of human lives with the investigation of a mysterious phenomenon.We meet teenage Ned Wilcox at the very beginning of the story. His father was the late Curtis Wilcox, a state highway trooper with Troop D of the Pennsylvania State Patrol. Ned helps around the barracks, cleaning, sweeping, and talking with the troopers. We immediately identify with Ned, seeing his activities at the barracks as one way of connecting with his lost father, killed in the line of duty. Ned becomes so much a part of the troop that the troop lets him in on a secret they have kept for 20 years; a mysterious, chilling secret. One day, a long time ago, a man in an overcoat stopped at a gas station and asked the attendant to fill the car with gas. The man disappeared around the corner of the gas station to the back where the restrooms are. A long time after filling the car up the attendant realized the man had not come back from the back of the gas station, and went looking for him. The man was no where to be found, and the attendant called the highway patrol. One of the two troopers responding to the call was rookie Curtis Wilcox. Their investigation of the car was anything but routine. The car's engine had many of the correct components, but they were not connected to each other. The configuration of the engine was such that there was no way the car could ever have run. The state highway patrol decides to impound the car. During the initial investigation of the car, Curtis's partner disappears, further compounding the mystery of the car. Curtis Wilcox becomes obsessed with investigating the mysterious car. Soon strange things begin happening; mysterious brilliant flashing lights that accompany electronic disturbances; things come from the trunk; things left in the car disappear from their cage. There is something very wrong with this car. Stephen King has written many horror novels where the villain is a werewolf, a vampire, a spirit, or even Satan. In this novel we never meet the real villain, and we try to understand the nature of that villain from the artifact that the villain created. The car itself is not evil, but what it does is evil, and perhaps where it comes from we might perceive as evil. The troopers treat the car scientifically, investigating the car as methodically as they can. They form theories and test their theories. They record their observations as would any scientist. They are also careful and cautious with their discovery, because they have found that bad things can happen to the unwary. The story of the investigation of the car is told from multiple viewpoints, and in the past and the present; an extended story told to Ned Wilcox about the passion his father had for investigating the car, a passion that Ned was unaware of even as he neared adulthood. The story telling can be a bit confusing if you lose focus on the story, but keeping track of the multiple main characters and their perspective is rewarding to the reader. I liken the story-telling style of this novel to "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke. In that novel Clarke tells the story of humans investigating an alien ship that has entered our solar system. There is speculation as to why the ship is there, where it is going, and the nature of the ship's creators. The story is told in a scientific way that in many respects is boring because there is no "Alien" hiding around the corner, but is still intriguing because these investigators are in a totally unique situation, and they deal with it as best they can. King's approach to this story is similar as he centers the story on a place that most of us would consider an unlikely location for a suspense, thriller or horror novel, a highway patrol barracks. Yet, we find the scientific approach of these officers to be plausible. The story has its slow moments, but I remained intrigued once King intimated the nature of the car. By the last 50 pages I found myself glued to the book to see what was going to happen. This book will not please Stephen King fans expecting a ghost story or something with fangs. For fans with eclectic tastes that run into science fiction, particularly if you enjoyed Arthur C. Clarke's "Rama" books, this novel is a good read. Fans expecting a scaly claw grabbing a victim by the throat and pulling the victim into the car will be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: A lesser King effort
Review: Stephen King's latest non-series novel is a passable but not very exceptional book that captures most of what makes Stephen King books great without actually being great itself. In part, this is due to the book being something of a rehash of his older books, in particular, Christine (evil car), the Tommyknockers (ancient alien artifact) and the Green Mile (a team of law officers holding a secret). Unlike the wholly mediocre Dreamcatcher - another King novel that revisits old themes - this one is at least okay, although it is not much more than that. The story is mostly related as a prolonged flashback about some small town state police who acquire an abandoned car. The man who abandoned it has disappeared and the car itself is distinctly unusual in appearance. Shortly after putting it in storage, one of the officers disappears as well. Over the coming days and years, the car does some strange things, occasionally radiating vast amounts of light or spewing out alien creatures which die quickly. The biggest problem with this current book is that not much goes on. Yes, there is a strange car, and yes, it does strange - and dangerous - things, but it only does a few actions of any significance, and there is rarely a sense of real menace about the car. Most of the story deals with trying to solve the mysteries of the car, which are considerable. Nonetheless, there is also a sense that it's little more than a mild distraction to these characters, kind of like a sleeping tiger in a cage that only represents a threat if you are in the cage with it at the same time it is awake. Otherwise, it is merely interesting. In addition, the characters themselves are almost all blandly benevolent; the few nasty characters which King does so well appear only briefly. There is a saying in the book - used several times - that curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. Unfortunately, the book itself, while peaking my curiosity, did not really satisfy. I will be back, nonetheless. King is good enough to merit additional readings, but I hope that they are better than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing at best
Review: There should be a limit to how many novels an author can write about a supernatural car. King should have stopped after "Christine" which I found to be far better than this current effort.
The only way I made it all the way through this book was on the hope that it would eventually become exciting...it never happened.
I can't believe that this will be King's last novel. He has given me hours of enjoyment and terror with his previous works. It is unfathomable that this is poor effort will be his swansong.
Rating: 
Summary: King has done it again.
Review: From a Buick 8 is a perfectly written novel and a very interesting one at that. Is this plot possible, or is this just another one of Stephen King's brilliant ideas? Can you just picture a "car" that is not really a car, doing things that a, normal car as you would say, would be doing, then just up and stopping all of a sudden? Then start doing it again. All of these problems that come from this car that really isn't a car. It is... I don't know what you could call the car except for what it is, a monster.
Ned Wilcox is a young adult, eager, hard working, and generous. I say he is hard working because he is outside the barracks every day that it snows during the winter busting his but just to snow blow the ten-foot drifts even though he doesn't have to. He mowed the lawn at the barracks; again, when he didn't have to. Why is he there you might ask? It isn't because he works there, it's because his father did work there until he died on duty. Ned Wilcox is not the main reason for the story. What is behind the Troop D barracks is what the story is about. The Buick 8 is a very strange "car" that produces things that are not humanly possible. The "car" has a wooden steering wheel the size of a yacht steering wheel. The dashboard is made of wood. The engine is just plain weird with a glass exhaust system. Stephen King has done it again and done it well. From a Buick 8 was written with such detail that it seems like he lived the story. He did a fantastic job on everything, except that I would have changed the names of the characters in the story. Some of them were difficult to pronounce such as the French name Jacubois. But other than that I loved the detail and ideas in the story. It kept me reading till I fell asleep. It was funny and thrilling at the same time. The novel was exquisite.
Rating:
Summary: From a Buick 8
Review: I enjoyed this book like no other. It has kept me curious and guessing the whole time. The detail and history of this book are extraordinary. All the possibilities and questions you come to while reading are thoroughly explored.
Rating:
Summary: Solid King thriller with an unusual twist
Review: "From a Buick 8" is not King's best novel, but its nowhere near his worst, either. Its an unusual little tale about the nature of our obessesion with dangerous and deadly forces, and about how there aren't always explanations for what we want. I found the book to be creepy, and it has an everpresent sense of dread looming over it. This is not exactly great material for a movie adaption, but a thoroughly enjoyable and spooky novel. Worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: From a Buick 8
Review: This was one of the more enjoyable Stphen King books that he has done lately. I am a true fan, but I never enjoyed the gunslinger series. This is a good read, pretty far fetched at times, and I didnt find some of the creatures very scary, maybe a little silly. Still and all, this book was hard to put down and well worth the cash for the paperback. I would say sit back and enjoy the ride, in a Buick 8!
Rating:
Summary: Horror? No! - Sci Fi? Nah! - Tedious? Yup!
Review: I have always been a Stephen King fan, but his last half dozen books (except "Everything's Eventual") have been disappointing. I have found myself switching to Dean Koontz, who has written quite a few books to rival the great master. This one tries to draw from "Christine", "Tommyknockers", "Dreamcatcher" and even the Dark Tower series, and falls flat. The base line is okay - nightmare car doing nasty things - but it is extremely repetitive, not at all scary, and has some content that reminds you of vintage cheesy sci-fi movies. (Think of misshapen alien things oozing black gooey stuff) I kept turning the pages, hoping for the long lost spinal tingle and goosebumps reminiscent of "IT" and "Pet Sematary", but it just wasn't there. From a promising beginning, it flatlined to one of the most uninspired endings ever. Leave the problem alone and it will go away eventually. If you're a die-hard King reader like me, you'll read this one anyway, but it's not one of his best by any stretch of the imagination.
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