The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
First edition cover
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| Author | Stephen King |
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| Cover artist | Phil Hale |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Dark Tower |
| Genre | Fantasy, horror, Science fiction, western |
| Publisher | Grant |
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Publication date
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May 1987 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Gunslinger |
| Followed by | The Waste Lands |
The Drawing of the Three is the second book in The Dark Tower series of novels written by Stephen King and published by Grant in 1987. The series was inspired by Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning. The story is a continuation of The Gunslinger and follows Roland of Gilead and his quest towards the Dark Tower. The subtitle of this novel is RENEWAL.
The book begins less than seven hours after the end of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger after The Man in Black has described The Gunslinger's fate using tarot cards. Roland wakes up on a beach, where he is suddenly attacked by a strange, lobster-like creature, which he dubs a "lobstrosity". He kills the creature but not before losing the index and middle finger of his right hand, and most of his right big toe; his untreated wounds soon become infected. Feverish and losing strength, Roland continues to trek north along the beach, where he eventually encounters three doors. Each door opens onto New York City at different periods in time (1987, 1964 and 1977, respectively) and, as Roland passes through these doors, he brings back the companions who will join him on his quest to the Dark Tower.
The first door (labeled "The Prisoner") brings Eddie Dean, a young heroin addict who is in the process of smuggling cocaine into New York for the drug lord Enrico Balazar. Roland brings Eddie back through the door so he can hide the cocaine and get through a customs inspection, but the agents become suspicious and subject him to a lengthy interrogation and surveillance. Balazar learns of these events and kidnaps Eddie's heavily addicted, older brother Henry in order to force Eddie to deliver the drugs. At Balazar's bar, Eddie claims he can produce the drugs from the bathroom. Eddie is strip-searched and the bathroom torn apart, but while no drugs are found, Eddie is eventually allowed to enter the bathroom completely naked and accompanied by one of Balazar's henchmen to attempt to produce the drugs. In the bathroom, Eddie forcably drags the henchmen into the Gunslinger's world. During the brief scuffle, the henchmen is injured by Roland and then eaten alive by the lobstrosities. Eddie and Roland, re-enter the bathroom and overhearing that Henry has died from an accidental heroin overdose given by Balazar's men, engage in a lengthy but victorious shoot-out. While still mourning the death of his brother, Eddie decides to throw his lot in with Roland. Before the pair return through the door, they acquire some antibiotics Balazar kept in his bathroom for junkies with infected arms. With Eddie tending to him, Roland slowly recovers from his infection.
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