LT'S THEORY OF PETS

By: J.A. Hitchcock
Date: Wednesday, September 05, 2001

The best thing about this live version of Stephen King reading one of his short stories, "LT's Theory of Pets," is the very fact that it is Stephen King reading it live. You don't get to hear or see him much, and his voice is surprisingly good on tape.

The story is not a horror tale, so if that's what you were hoping for, forget it. There are no PET SEMETARY style twists, and no ghosts or ghouls to speak of. The scariest thing in the entire story is what happens to LT's wife and dog, and that's not even very scary.

This is basically the story about LT and how he likes to tell the story about when his wife left him and took his dog with her. Mind you, even though the dog was technically his, the animal loved his wife even more. The couple also had a cat a Siamese howler that LT bought for his wife, and it likes him more than her. Got it so far?

We learn that LT loves a new audience and loves telling this particular story. It begins with his wife leaving a chatty note for him explaining why she left, interspersed with description about how the dog and cat came into their lives, and the quirks that all four of them have.

Truthfully, you might expect a lot more out of this story, especially when it nears the end. To give you some idea of the diappointment you're likely to experience, even after I knew it had ended, I kept hoping King would come back and say, "Wait, there's more!"

As I said before, however, King's live reading is a treat, and if you're a true Stephen King fanatic, then this is one for your collection. But the $15.00 price tag for one cassette and one hour of listening time was a bit much considering the actual story. Thank goodness for my discount book store membership I got a great deal on this, so I didn't mind so much. Whatever you do, don't pay full price for this unless you absolutely must have it as a part of your Stephen King collection.

In the meantime, I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel to THE TALISMAN, BLACK HOUSE aren't you?

LT'S THEORY OF PETS

Grade: C

Author(s): Stephen King

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Price: $15.00