When a friend of mine first told me that Stephen King was doing a set of six “serial” books I was skeptical at best. After all, serial books had not been done in years. It seemed to be just a marketing scheme to get me, one of King’s “constant readers,” to part with my hard earned cash.

However, sucker that I am, bought the first installment, The Two Dead Girls, when it was released. Much to my surprise and delight, I soon found that Stephen King was once again at his best. This is King doing what King does like no one else, pulling up a chair and telling a story. From the start I was hooked, I waited anxiously for each new installment to be released and bought most of them on the first day they were available.

The story is set on death row in 1932 at a prison called Coal Mountain, “Old Sparky” is still being used. The narrator for the tale is Paul Edgecombe, the head guard for E block, or The Green Mile as it was called because of the green tiled floor on death row. He is writing his memoirs of 1932 from a nursing home, years later. Things are fairly routine in E block until a new prisoner, John Coffey, “like the drink, only not spelled the same way,” is sent to Coal Mountain to be executed for a brutal double murder.

These things we find out in the first chapter, and from there on it’s full speed ahead. It is a great read and as I said, King at his best.

To order the set of books or the audio tapes, click on the appropriate link below:

The Green Mile : The Complete Six Part Novel; Stephen King; Mass Market Paperback; $17.05

The Green Mile : Coffey on the Mile, Night Journey, the Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix, Coffey's Hands, the Mouse on the Mile, the Two Dead Girls; Frank Muller, Stephen King; Audio Cassette; $35.96;

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