The Tommyknockers
First edition cover
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| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | One Plus One Studio |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | November 10, 1987 |
| Publisher | Putnam |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 558 |
| ISBN | |
The Tommyknockers is a 1987 science fiction novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction for King, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.
King would later look back on the novel unfavorably, describing it as "an awful book."
While walking in the woods near the small town of Haven, Maine, Roberta (Bobbi) Anderson, a writer of Wild West-themed fiction, stumbles upon a metal object that turns out to be a protrusion of a long-buried alien spacecraft. Once exposed, the spacecraft begins to release an invisible gas into the atmosphere that gradually transforms people into beings similar to the aliens who populated the ship. The transformation, or "becoming," provides them with a limited form of genius which makes them very inventive but does not provide any philosophical or ethical insight into their inventions. The spacecraft also prevents those affected by it from leaving town, provokes psychotic violence in some people, and causes the disappearance of a young boy, David Brown, whose older brother Hilly teleports him to the planet referred to as Altair 4 by the Havenites.
The book's central character is James Eric Gardener, a poet and friend of Bobbi Anderson, who goes by the nickname "Gard". He is somewhat immune to the ship's effects because of the steel plate in his head, a souvenir of a teenage skiing accident. Gard is also an alcoholic and is prone to binges that result in violent outbursts followed by lengthy blackouts. As Bobbi is almost totally overcome by the euphoria of "becoming" one with the spacecraft, Gard increasingly sees her health worsen and her sanity disappear.
Seeing the transformation of the townspeople worsen, the torture and manipulation of Bobbi's dog Peter, and people being killed or worse when they pry too deeply into the strange events, Gard eventually manipulates Bobbi into allowing him into the ship. After he sees that Bobbi is not entirely his old friend and lover, he shoots and kills her; before she dies, she telepathically calls to the townspeople who then swarm to her place, intent on killing him. Ev Hillman, David and Hilly's grandfather, helps Gardener escape into the woods in exchange for saving David Brown from Altair-4. Gard enters the ship near death after his struggle with the townspeople. With his last ounce of strength, he activates the ship and telepathically launches it into space. This results in the eventual deaths of nearly all of the changed townspeople but prevents the possibly disastrous consequences of the ship's influence spreading to the outside world. Very shortly afterward, agents from the FBI, CIA, and "The Shop" invade Haven and take as many of the Havenites as possible, killing nearly a quarter of the survivors and a few of the devices created by the altered people of Haven.
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