Wow. Where to start with this one... Well, first off it helps if you've read 'It'. It also helps if you know/care about the Kennedy assassination and various other US history markers. It will also be of benefit to know that Stephen King doesn't necessarily take the direct route through to a story's conclusion. This one meanders and plods along, and how you feel about that, I guess, will depend on how you feel about the book's real story - i.e. the love story between Jake and 'his lady'. I just loved the whole darn thing, and there's an argument to say that this might be King's most accomplished work (which is saying something for a guy who's written almost as many great books as I've had idle daydreams about Skarsgard). Okay, so I was thinking, "Oh just get on with it" towards the end, but not because I was bored but because I had to know how things would turn out. I wasn't disappointed. It's a thrilling, but sombre read. Particularly if you care, as I do, that JFK died and wished he'd lived so we could've seen what would've been had Oswald not taken aim on that November day.