A surprisingly short book for King, who is known for his massive tomes of horror and intertwined storytelling, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a quick read that can be read from cover to cover on a long road trip or a long afternoon. The story is typical of King, about a nine-year old girl who gets lost in the woods of western Maine while on a day hike with her mother and brother. For nine days (and nine innings), the reader is side-by-side with main character Trisha MacFarland, experiencing her every thought and action while she tries to find her way back to civilization. Her only link to the world is her portable Walkman radio where she tunes in to the baseball games (and her hero Tom Gordon, a closing pitcher for the Boston Red Sox). In moments of delirium, Trisha imagines Tom is there with her in the woods, urging her along and giving her hope.
While Tom Gordon is a far cry from King's usual storytelling, it is still a delightful little book worth a quick read, and shows that King knows how to write more than just the average horror story.
At times, the story drags along, especially around the fifth inning or so. And suddenly, Trisha's last four days in the wild are summed up in a few paragraphs. Why King decided to wrap it up so fast, no one is sure, except the ending of the book was a huge disappointment for me, especially considering his usual drawn-out style of closing a story.
Tom Gordon is not King's best, but it's a nice book to read while we wait for King to finish up his superb Dark Tower epic.
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