Summer of Stephen
Title: “Uncle Otto’s Truck”
Publishing Date: 1985 Length: 17 pages Start Date: November 17, 2018 End Date: November 18, 2018 This short story has two items that King fans will recognize: the town of Castle Rock and an inanimate object trying to murder someone. In this case, the murderous object is the titular truck. Uncle Otto, also from the title, used the truck to kill his fellow businessman, crushing him beneath the rundown vehicle. Now, consumed by guilt, Otto becomes obsessed with the truck, certain that it is moving on its own and planning to kill him. Otto lives across the road from the truck and shuts himself off from society as his guilt slowly drives him insane. Eventually the narrator, Uncle Otto’s nephew, comes to the house to find Otto dead. The death is ruled a suicide, but oddly enough, Otto has been drowned with motor oil and there is a spark plug jammed in his throat. Despite how crazy he knows it seems, the nephew starts to let his own mind wander with suspicion about who, or what, could be responsible for his uncle’s death. Overall, this story was just kind of okay. I assume King was trying to remind people of the success of Christine, but in my opinion, he falls short. My main reason for thinking this is believability. I can suspend my disbelief long enough to go along with a car running people over and crashing into things in order to inflict maximum damage. But even my fantasy-loving mind can’t really get behind a truck developing the dexterity to pour motor oil down someone’s throat and then shove a spark plug in after it.
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Jacinta M. CarterProfessional Book Nerd Archives
July 2019
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