Not content with making his first excursion into hard-boiled detective fiction with Mr Mercedes, Stephen King has announced that he will publish a second novel this year.The author's website stole a march on his publishers by revealing that his latest novel would be called Revival, and would feature a charismatic preacher and a small-time rock musician.
It said: "In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church … When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
"Jamie has demons of his own. In his mid-30s – addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate – Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings."
Revival will be published on November 11 by Scribner in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in Britain. Mr Mercedes, about a retired policeman being taunted by a murderer, will be published in June. – © Guardian News & Media 2014