Revival (novel)
Revival is a novel by American writer Stephen King, published on November 11, 2014 by Scribner. Background information The novel was first mentioned by King on June 20, 2013, while doing a video chat with fans as part of promoting the then-upcoming Under the Dome TV series. During the chat King stated that he was halfway through writing his next novel, Revival. The novel was officially announced on February 12, 2014. An excerpt was included at the end of the paperback edition of King's Doctor Sleep, published on June 10, 2014 (). In an interview with Rolling Stone, King stated that Revival was inspired by Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and, like several of King's preceding novels, he has had the idea for this novel since childhood. Plot When Charles Jacobs, a new Methodist minister, comes to town, young Jamie Morton is excited. Almost everyone in the small town of Harlow, Maine comes to love Jacobs, his beautiful wife, and their young son Morrie. Jacobs runs weekly Ministry Youth Fellowship sessions for the town’s children where he shares his interest in electricity and inventions with them, his wife plays music for them and they play with Morrie (although Jamie is clearly favored over all the other children by Jacobs). When Jamie’s older brother, Conrad, also known as "Con", is injured in a skiing accident, leaving him unable to speak and causing distress in the family due the costs of treatment, Jacobs asks Jamie to bring him over as he may be able to help him. When Jamie and his older sister Claire do so, Jacobs places a low-voltage belt around Con’s neck and to everyone’s amazement, Con is able to speak again almost immediately. Things change all too suddenly when Mrs. Jacobs and her child die in a gruesome auto accident. Stricken with grief, the reverend denounces God and religion during a sermon and is banished from town. Jamie, devastated that Jacobs will be leaving, goes to see him before he leaves town, where he thanks him for what he did for Con but Jacobs claims it was purely a placebo effect. Jamie grows up to become a musician and starts using heroin. While on tour, his band abandons him at a hotel after he misses several of their concerts due to his addiction. He goes to the hotel reception to try to pay for another night at the hotel, but his card is maxed out. That night, he goes to a state fair in search of drugs but instead finds Charles Jacobs performing an act in front of a large audience called “Portraits in Lightning”. Jacobs asks a young woman named Cathy Morse to volunteer for the act, where she sits in a chair blindfolded while he takes her photograph and after a blue burst of light flashes all around the stage, a portrait of her appears on a plate. He then offers do the same for anyone else for a small price. Jacobs