The Green Mile, by Stephen King

Once again, I was not disappointed by Stephen King.  This book was originally published as six "chap-books," about one every month.  Except for the first one, they all ended with a nice cliff-hanger and started with a nice re-cap.

King, as usual, gets us into the story and really caring about the characters.  I think this is what impresses me most about King.  It's not that the characters are particularly good or heroic, and they are not necessarily passionate valuers.  Perhaps its that they are honest with the reader, and with themselves.  That is one contrast with Blood Orange--I felt that the main character wasn't honest with herself and, by extension, with the reader.

Even though the book has a religious theme, I didn't mind even though I'm an atheist.  I ended up caring about the characters and their values and the religion was more of a plot device than a theme for me.  It seems a lot of the suspense and mystery in King's stories deal with the supernatural.  I wonder why.