(Signet Paperback, ISBN 0-51-19049-1)

This very thin paperback book represents an experiment on the part of King and the folks at Signet. If you pick up The Two Dead Girls expecting a complete novel or even a short story, you'll be disappointed. This book is, in fact, only one-sixth of a novel. There are many reasons why King decided to take on this project, as he explains in his introduction. The most interesting of which is the fact that many readers (his mother included) have a nasty habit of flipping to the end of the book to find out what happens.

Try doing that with this book and you'll be foiled. That's the whole idea. You have to buy five more books, over a period as many months, to complete the saga of The Green Mile. Sure, you end up paying close to twenty dollars for what amounts to one paperback King novel, but what the heck, it's fun. I kinda like the idea of wondering what will happen next until I have the opportunity to plop down my $2.99 next month to find out.

So how is the actual story, you ask? Not particularly scary, but pretty darn good just the same. Don't forget, King wrote the stories that became the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. It's amazing that despite his notoriety as a horror writer, King's best stories are completely void of supernatural elements.

Like Shawshank, The Two Dead Girls take place in one of the most horrific places, an American prison. But unlike King's novella of an innocent man's daring escape, Girls is told from a guard's point of view. The guard works at the Green Mile, which is what all the screws at Cold Mountain prison in Louisiana call death row. He has witnessed countless men shuffle down the seemingly-endless corridor, legs shackled together, to make their appointments with Mr. Electric Chair (affectionately labeled "Old Sparky"). The newest arrival at the Green Mile is a black giant of a man, John Coffey. Coffey is accused of a truly horrifying crime, but our narrator has a sneaking suspicion that the man is innocent.

That's all I'm going to tell you here. And I'm definitely not going to tell you the ending, because I tried flipping to the end of the book and it didn't work. So, if you're looking for a little nibble of a story between the big chunks, pick up a copy of The Two Dead Girls. If you're as in love with King's prose style as I am, you'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. If you've never read King, this might be as good a place as ever to start. I dare ya not to gobble this one up all at once. Check it out.

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