2008 "First Scribner hardcover edition January 2008" stated on copyright page; Scribner publishers, New York; large hardbound in saphire blue and black boards with lucid lettering on spine; very good condition with unmarked pages; black mark on pages bottom (can't see unless book is turned upside down); dust jacket very good.
Description -
Duma Key is a novel by American writer Stephen King published on January 22, 2008 by Scribner. The book reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List. It is King's first novel to be set in Florida and/or Minnesota. The dust jacket features holographic lettering.
Plot -
Edgar Freemantle, a contractor in St. Paul, Minnesota, barely survives a horrific on-site accident where his truck is crushed by a crane. Freemantle's right arm is amputated, and severe injuries to his head cause Edgar to have problems with speech, vision, and memory. As a result, Edgar also has violent mood swings and thoughts of suicide. During one of those mood swings, he attacks his wife, who later cites that as a main reason why she divorced him.
On the advice of his psychologist, Dr. Kamen, Edgar takes "a geographical": a year-long vacation meant for rest and further recovery. He decides to rent a beach house on Duma Key, a small island off the west coast of Florida, after reading about it in a travel brochure. Edgar's beach house is located on a part of the island called Salmon Point; Edgar nicknames the house "Big Pink," because of its rich pink color. On the advice of Dr. Kamen, Edgar revives his old hobby of sketching after he moves into Big Pink. He settles in with the help of Jack Cantori, a local college student.
Edgar becomes obsessively involved in his art, painting with a furious energy and in a daze. Edgar brings up psychic images in his paintings; he learns by painting these visions that his younger daughter, Ilse, is engaged to a choir singer and that his ex-wife is having an affair with his former accountant. While exploring the island with a visiting Ilse, Edgar drives past an elderly woman, Elizabeth Eastlake. Ilse becomes violently ill as they drive into an overgrown part of the island. Elizabeth later calls Edgar, warning him that Duma Key "has never been a lucky place for daughters". Edgar initially disregards the message, since Eastlake has Alzheimer's disease.
Edgar slowly recuperates, helped in part by taking longer and longer walks along the beach. He slowly approaches and eventually meets and befriends a man in his late 40's, whom Freemantle had seen sitting under an umbrella off in the distance...