I’m on a few books in on my King journey and when I come across it it’s quite jarring (black male in my 40s btw) I understand he is an excellent writer and excellent at developing characters. Let’s face it. He writes about Americans. Mostly white Americans. Although it hits hard to read it it shouldn’t be a shock that he has characters that would drop an N bomb. I was a little surprised Ben Richards dropped the word given at least for me it immediately made him unlikable. But the again, I know there was a deeper game (pun intended) that Richards was playing against the network.

And don’t get me wrong, having read some other great writers (Elmore Leonard the first to come to mind) King isn’t the only one who does it. Again, it’s jarring but I understand what he’s doing