read by Stephen Lang
(New York: HarperAudio, 2009)
MP3 Audiobook, 233 MB, 2.4 Hours, Short Fiction
ABCD Rating: ACQUIRE*
From the Cover: Road Rage unites Richard Matheson’s classic “Duel” and the contemporary work it inspired—two power-packed short stories by three of the genre’s most acclaimed authors. “Duel,” an unforgettable tale about a driver menaced by a semi truck, was the source for Stephen Spielberg’s acclaimed first film of the same name. “Throttle,” by Stephen King and Joe Hill, is a duel of a different kind, pitting a faceless trucker against a tribe of motorcycle outlaws, in the simmering Nevada desert. Their battle is fought out on twenty miles of the loneliest road in the country, a place where the only thing worse than not knowing what you’re up against, is slowing down…
This collection includes “Duel” by Richard Matheson and “Throttle” by Stephen King and Joe Hill.
My Review: Most people are familiar with Richard Matheson’s classic short story “Duel” since, as it says in the From the Cover synopsis above, it basically made Stephen Spielberg’s career. I have read quite a bit of Matheson’s work in the past, but “Duel” is not one of the stories that I had had the pleasure to read, so when I came across this audiobook (which included a new short story by Stephen King and Joe Hill) I jumped at the chance to listen.
I am here to tell you that everything you have ever heard about Richard Matheson’s “Duel” is true and then some. This is, in short, one of the best short stories I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Matheson’s David and Goliath-esque tale (for heaven’s sake, the main character’s name is David Mann, you don’t get much more allegorical than that, do you?) is a story whose brilliance lies in its simplicity: David versus the truck. It’s not even David versus the trucker because the trucker barely makes an appearance in the story, other than the side of a face or the wave of a hand. It is this faceless antagonist that makes “Duel” so terrifying. The villain is reduced to a faceless and nameless semi truck and trailer, and it is against this villain that David Mann must struggle. And struggle he does. “Duel” is an epic and extraordinarily tense tale that left me on the edge of my seat until the very end (and I knew how it turned out!) Matheson is at his best in “Duel” and Stephen Lang does Matheson’s words every justice they deserve in his reading. This is definitely one to keep an eye out for.
I don’t think I can say the same of “Throttle,” King and Hill’s contribution to He is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson. While billed as an homage to “Duel” I think that “pale imitation” may be a better descriptor for what King and Hill have produced. In and of itself “Throttle” is a great story, and in a world where “Duel” was never written, “Throttle” would definitely fill that gap, however, when considered in the context of “Duel,” “Throttle” falls short on many levels. First and foremost, King and Hill give their antagonistic trucker a name, face and motive. I believe that they have done this in order to “humanize” their antagonist and make him “relatable.” This is well and good, as I said above, in a world where “Duel” never existed, but Matheson did write “Duel” and in his story Matheson, by leaving his trucker faceless, nameless and motiveless (at least to David Mann and the Reader), creates an “Everyman” situation into which the Reader can easily place him or herself. We have all been David Mann at some point or another in our driving career … having that trucker or driver ride a little too close, not knowing if we’re going to make it past the semi before the oncoming traffic reaches us, sucking in the diesel fumes, it is a very relatable and therefore terrifying story.
“Throttle” fails, and miserably I might add, in this respect chiefly because King and Hill’s trucker has a name, face and motive and the author’s have created a highly unique and intricately constructed set of circumstances that put the Tribe in the path of the truck. This does not allow for the everyman aspect that Matheson’s story has. I highly doubt that any of you who are reading this review have been or ever will be in the same set of circumstances in which King and Hill have thrust their biker gang. However, I am willing to bet dollars to donuts that most, if not all, of you have been in David Mann’s shoes … to a certain extent. Certainly not to the degree in “Duel” but we have all definitely dealt with the aggressive, even vindictive or out-and-out angry driver who uses their car as a potential weapon. They are out there, and that uncertainty of which driver is going to be the one who tries to run you off the road is part of the danger of driving, and this is what makes “Duel” effective in ways that “Throttle” is not.
“Throttle”’s level of violence and descriptive gore is also another sticking point I have with it, when compared to “Duel” but it is one that I am more willing to forgive King and Hill than their previous transgression (of giving the trucker humanity) because “Duel” is a psychological thriller. It is Mann against Truck and is, as the title suggests, a duel of endurance between these two entities. “Throttle,” on the other hand, is exactly that, a visceral story that once it gets started does not let up until the very end. Along the way, there is a lot of violence and blood and guts and gore (all described in the lingering detail that both King and Hill are known for), but it works for “Throttle” because King and Hill aren’t out to create a story of psychological thrills, but rather the literary equivalent of the “popcorn film.” In fact, come to think of it, “Throttle” would work well on the screen, filmed by a Tarantino or Bay; lots of explosions, lots of blood, fast-paced action and one hell of a climax. In fact, this description works well, considering that Spielberg filmed “Duel” because Spielberg is the type of filmmaker to look at the truck in “Duel” and realize that it is the truck that is the villain and not the driver and create his visual images and metaphors accordingly. King and Hill have none of that finesse in “Throttle” and as such, it is a less successful story than “Duel.”
Finally, I think where both “Duel” and “Throttle” succeed is in the ultimate feeling that one comes away with after reading these short stories. Granted, they are two very different concepts, but that does not make either any less effective than the other. In “Duel” one is left with a sense of the randomness of cruelty and evil. There is no motive for the truck(er) to do what it/he does, but that doesn’t make what he/it does any less cruel or evil. In fact, this seeming motivelessness serves to heighten the apparent cruelty and evil of the truck(er). In the real world evil and cruelty can appear very random to the outsider (and even to those on the receiving end) and “Duel” is an extension of that appearance and feeling, a heightened and exaggerated extension, yes, but an extension nonetheless.
“Throttle,” on the other hand, deals (as do so many of King’s stories) in ambiguity and the grey areas between the black and the white. King and Hill ask questions about the nature of responsibility, and complicate the societal assumptions that surround the identities of “victim” and “persecutor.” By the end of the story they make the reader/listener question their own beliefs about who the true victim in “Throttle” is and who is the true “Villain.” This ability to complicate a reader’s expectations on “good” and “bad” is, for the most part, something that King is pretty good with (and which Hill has shown an aptitude for in his writing) and which also speaks to their more modern take on Matheson’s decidedly “old school” story.
*I rate this audio anthology as an ACQUIRE but with reservations: I would recommend Matheson’s story without any reservations whatsoever to any and everyone. “Duel” is a stellar example of what the short story should be. “Throttle,” on the other hand (and it seems to be on “the other hand” a lot in this review) is one that I would hesitate to recommend, only because it pales so much when set against Matheson’s story. Of course, this collection comes with both, so if you are going to shell out money for it or check it out from your local library, or even borrow it from a friend, then by all means listen to “Throttle” … just be prepared to be let down after experiencing “Duel.”
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