mass market paperback, 282 pages
English language
Published Nov. 20, 1991 by New English Library.
'THINNER' - the old gipsy man barely whispered the word. Billy felt the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.
Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered, then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The court had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.
Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor had ordered. His wife was pleased - as he should have been.
But...'THINNER' - the word, the old man's curse, had lodged in his mind like a fattening worm, eating away at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, came violence. --back cover
This should have been a short story, if it had to be a story at all. Nothing about this book clicked with me, from the unsympathetic characters to the tedious "action", and King Bachman's treatment of the Romany seemed particularly tone deaf. Usually I enjoy King's work, but I admit I had to skim a lot of this just to make it through. Would not recommend.
