The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Title:  The Wind Through the Keyhole
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  307
Genre:  Fantasy
Publisher:  2012, Scribner
Series:  The Dark Tower, Book 4.5

"I like it.  In fact, I want a bumper sticker that says I Waited Out the Starkblast in Gook."

Synopsis:
In King’s own words: “What happened to Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy between the time they leave the Emerald City (the end of Wizard and Glass) and the time we pick them up again, on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis (the beginning of Wolves of the Calla).  There was a storm, I decided ..."  The Wind Through The Keyhole takes place between books four and five in The Dark Tower series.

We join Roland and his ka-tet as a ferocious storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. As they shelter from the screaming wind and snapping trees, Roland tells them not just one strange tale, but two -- and in doing so sheds fascinating light on his own troubled past.

Time is a keyhole.  Yes, I think so.  We sometimes bend and peer through it.  And the wind we feel on our cheeks when we do - the wind that blows through the keyhole - is the breath of all the living universe.

Review:  It was nice to visit again with my old friends from The Dark Tower series.  This new edition to the series is very good.  It was impossible to put down.  I learned new background on Roland, his mother and, of course, the man in black.

During a storm, Roland tells his friends a true story from his past called 'The Skin-Man'.  During the story, his younger self tells another, much older fairy tale called 'The Wind Through the Keyhole' to a young, scared boy named Billy.  It was an interesting how the two stories intertwined and became part of one larger story.

Before and after the story-telling, a few more details and adventures of Roland and his ka-tet are given and while I do love Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Oy, I think those parts are just padding to be honest.  The real story is....well, the stories.  And they are good stories, too.  They would have been good stories no matter who told them, but since the man in black figures into them, Roland was the man tapped for the job.

Rating:  8.5 / 10