Rating: 
Summary: If it was a short story then....
Review: it would of been better. This is a good novel, but King (my most favorite novelist) just drags on and on throughout the novel. Unlike most King novels where he put vampires, aliens, the devil in disguise, and evil beings stalking us, this is different.
I am not saying this is his best novel (that is The Stand) but it is good. Also to note, this is NOT his last novel, he is planning to write sequels for all his novels.
The story goes around a rural Police department in Pennsylvania (Most of the stories beside the Dark Tower, Misery, and some parts of The Stand take place in Maine, all of his books take place in Maine. That is his most favorite place to write because he loves the state and he knows it.) and Ned's father gets run over making a traffic stop. Now he goes to the police department and becomes part of the "family" as King puts it. Then one day, he discovers the "car". Now the "family" decides to tell the tale of the "car".
Ned's father discovers the car after it gets left by a mysterious stranger in a gas station, the driver never comes back to claim it, he is GONE! Now Ned's father brings it to the police station, and sets it in the barrack behind the Police station.
Now things start happening, the "car" starts spitting out weird creatures, and Ned makes his basement into a lab for dissecting the creatures. One day, one of the police officers gets trapped in there, and he is gone. It is a mysterious world in the car, but King does not bring us into that world, I wish he did, but he didnt.
Now the thing about the "car", it puts on light shows, I am talking about blinding white light, and it has done this since they had the "car". The ending is good, but like I said, if King made this into a short story, then I would of given it five stars, but since it is a novel, then it is good, not the best, but good.
Rating: 
Summary: Just proves they'll publish anything...
Review: Ah, to get back the days I wasted reading this pointless excuse of a horror novel. As a lifelong and devoted King fan, I eagerly purchased the book when I saw it on the bargain cart at Barnes & Noble (oh, the better things I could have done with that $5), and dug in."From A Buick 8" is a fine example that shows being a "name" in literature will get your worst ideas published. I bet if Steve were to write a longwinded novel about his favorite cheeseburger it would get released to rave reviews. This is a major waste of any reader's time. I have always loved the way King's stories made me jump at shadows and rethink whether or not there was a monster under my bed. That was definately not found here. I got so bored with the book it ended up on the shelf in the bathroom, read only when I was taking a... bath. Ignore this book. If you receive it as a gift, return it for something better, like any of the Dark Tower series.
Rating: 
Summary: A King masterpiece
Review: "From a Buick 8" is vintage King, and I'd give it 6 stars if I could. Don't think that because both "Christine" and this book are about cars that they share any similarity - they don't. This Buick Roadmaster is not really a car, although the state troopers of Pennsylvania Troop D, who found it abandoned at a gas station and stored it out back of the barracks in Shed B, are not sure exactly what it really is. But whatever it is, it produces some astounding and frightening phenomena, many of which stretch the reader's imagination to its limits. The story line alternates between the present and flashbacks to the past as told by members of Troop D to Ned Wilcox, the son of a trooper who died in the line of duty. Ned has peeked in the windows of Shed B and has seen the Buick do one of its tricks, and now he wants to know its history. King demonstrates his mastery of characterization as the reader hears each part of the story in the distinctive voice and viewpoint of its narrator. Through the narrative, not only does the tale of the Buick unfold, but so does the story of the troopers themselves. The reader learns of their lives, their troop camaraderie, their fears, and their hopes. It is comforting to know that if Stephen King adheres to the statement that he will write a few more Gunslinger books and then retire, at least he is going out in style with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Worthless!
Review: This book is pure garbage. Don't waste your time. Even if you're a Stephen King fan. Awful!
Rating:
Summary: King at his finest
Review: Some may be disappointed at the lack of a "Boogie Man" men, or thing in this book. But they are wrong.. Readers of King will recognize the oft used axim that "Curiosity Killed the Cat, satisfaction brought him back". That curisoity is the nemesis in this book, the curiosity that resides in the back of all our minds, and it is that very curiosity that will keep the pages turning and turning. It's one of those books I kept on my coffee table for a week or so after finishing. I was as reluctant to put it away as one is to shelving a great friendship.
Rating: 
Summary: A bad way for an amazing author to end his career
Review: Now i picked this book very happy this was reportedly King's last novel and i wanted to know how King bowed out but this novel which is decent but far from his best work, had little action characters without much personality and a not so great story line. Could have definetly been worse could have been a lot worse though! Thank god we still have the 2 final dark tower books to look forward to!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not Much Action
Review: I did like this book better than 'Christine'though. I liked the setting the story was in and the characters were more likeable as well. However, while there were supernatural elements, the story itself was pretty slow going. There were only a few scenes that had you biting your nails. This isn't one of King's scariest.
Rating:
Summary: Better than a lot of his most recent work
Review: To begin with, "From a Buick 8" is by no means a perfect novel. It lacks depth and the story pretty much stays on a straight course without becoming mired in detail. However, it is most certainly entertaining, and at <400 pages, the story moves along very quickly. I'm not quite sure what many reviewers are expecting from Stephen King (another "The Stand"?), but I personally enjoy a straightforward horror story. He hasn't written anything like this in years, and I personally am very happy with this as the last novel that he ever writes. An unusual object with strange behavior. Monsters spewing forth from another dimension. What else do you want? After laying the eggs "Everything's Eventual", "The Black House", and (god help us) "Bag of Bones", I would think that long-time Kings fans would gobble this book up. I guess that shows how very different people are. The good news for all the nay-sayers is that King has said that he will not write any more novels after this. This may or may not be true, but I would definately bet that he won't write any more horror books. The bad news is that we are now stuck with Dean Koontz. Again, God help us.
Rating:
Summary: doesn't stephen king have enough money yet?
Review: he was my favorite author for a number of years. i still consider the shining the most frightening book i have ever read and the stand simply one of the best. but at a certain point his work began to become somewhat derivative - i think it was around "needful things", which itself is now pretty far back, and i stopped buying his books, although i would still get them out of the library. now i read them if they happen to catch my eye while i'm there. i don't mean to make light of his contribution to american fiction - he has created many masterful works centered around truly unique and fascinating ideas (the langoliers comes to mind immediately) and deserves the title of a master of the genre. but it is disappointing that he didn't choose to go out while on top of the game, although from what i read here i guess he is calling it quits. this novel certainly takes on a more cerebral tone, in a way, than many of his others, and there's nothing wrong with that. however, it reads as a forum for his indulgence in the idea that there are mysteries which will forever go unexplained; that there are limits to the extent of human perception. yes, so? nothing groundbreaking there. it's not badly written, but it's ponderous and repetitive - the phenomena occurring in and around the car are basically of the same type, so it seems as though you are essentially reading the same passage over and over. while he interweaves character development and introspection around these instances, the two aspects don't gel to create a satisfying whole. the story is simply not very interesting, and it's not very interesting for a span of, 20 years, i guess, and hundreds of pages. real life is sometimes not very interesting, and things can drag on without dramatic denouement(s). but a novel which remains true to that premise doesn't deliver entertainment, and this one doesn't even deliver original food for thought as compensation. some of the reviews that i've read express a contrary view, and i believe people who have that view would say i've "missed the point." i don't believe that's the case. there isn't really a point. he's an immensely talented author overall, but he wrote this book to hear himself talk, and, unfortunately, with not a whole lot to say.
Rating:
Summary: The writing makes it good
Review: I have read many reviews on this site, but never felt compelled to write one until now. I felt the need to defend this book and one of the best writers around today. I'll admit that this is not an edge of your seat horror/thriller like some of King's past books, but for me the thrill of his books has never been about that. The thrill comes from King's amazing story-telling ability. I know a lot of people who refuse to read a Stephen King book no matter how much I push it, simply because they don't like the horror genre, and I feel sorry for them. They are truly missing out. This man knows how to tell a story!! I've never found another author who makes me feel like I know his characters or am part of his story like Stephen King does. He really is a master at his craft.
I don't feel the need to go into what this book is about; that's been done enough here. I simply want to say, if you're looking for a great story pick up this or any other Stephen King book. You won't be sorry (a little spooked maybe, but not sorry.)
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