What happens to the future when you change the past? The assassination of JFK is the backdrop for this time-traveling tale where our hero Jake Epping goes through a portal to 1958 where he must wait until 1963 to carry out a plan to save the President. We follow Jake's life during the long 5 year wait where Stephen King takes us on a riveting stroll through the history books. A fantastic read.

Stephen King shows that he excels in any genre. Amazing time travel book to the heart of the Kennedy era. Everything about this book from the characters, the sights, sounds and everything about the late 1950's and early 60's is so real. The concept about the butterfly effect when changing the past is a great plot narrative. This book deserves all the accolades it has received as it delivers on all levels. Despite its massive size that book is a crisp quick read and never boring. A must read for everyone!

Jake Epping leads a boring life in 2011. As he finishes grading papers of his English class in 2011, he remembers reading Harry Dunning's story on how his father killed his entire family and almost him when he was a child, leaving Harry with a permanent limp. Jake is interrupted by friend and diner owner Al who sounds very sick. Jake drives over to the diner and Al looks years older than he did yesterday. Al wants to share his secret with Jake, as he's learned he has cancer: there's a rabbit hole in the diner's cellar that leads back to September 9, 1958. Jake walks through the rabbit hole and visits 1958 for a short period of time, just to get a root beer. Everyone seems friendlier and the food tastes better. Back in 2011 he learns that every time he goes through the hole, he's back at September 9, 1958. Time re-sets each visit. Al tells Jake his intentions were to go through the rabbit hole and wait for four years until the assassination of JFK so he could put a stop to it. He thoroughly researched Lee Harvey Oswald but couldn't finish his quest, or even determine if Oswald was the only shooter before he got too sick. Jake must go through the hole for Al and see if he can carry through this quest. The past, however, does not like to be changed. It will throw everything at you to try and stop you from changing the past. Jake also notices how there are harmonies in the past. If he stops one thing from happening, it may happen somewhere else. This concept and the butterfly effect makes this book particularly interesting. Surprisingly, this 800-pager is the very first Stephen King book I've ever read. I've never been a big fan of horror books but this is far from it. It's a cross between historical fiction, thriller, and science fiction. I've always had this preconceived notion that because King churns out so many novels that his writing wouldn't be very good, but that's not the case. The characters in this book are near-perfect. Jake Epping is boring enough that you can relate to him but not so boring that he isn't interesting. He steps up when he needs to but in a way that you could picture yourself doing so. The other gems in this novel are the harmonies created in the past. People he meets are named the similarly, he sees his car twice, etc. This obviously took a lot of planning on King's part and it was executed very well. Despite the high praise, there were some small issues that nagged at me. The first was why a restaurant owner would go to Jake with this information. They weren't close friends but rather almost acquaintances. Not the type of person I would share this information with. The second was when Epping noticed the harmony between Sadie (his girlfriend in the 60s) and the mother of Harry Dunning. I felt like I had missed a crucial piece of the plot when I read this part and actually had to re-read it a few times. I ended up searching the internet and seeing that other people had the same problem. I think King dropped the ball on this part. The ending felt a little rushed, however it was really the only ending this book could have and I felt satisfied. This has been one of my better reads of the year.

Though I wish him no particular ill, I almost look forward to when Stephen King is dead, because I think only then will he get the respect he deserves as one of the great American writers of all time. Not horror writers, writers in general. 11/22/63 is one of the most approachable King ventures (despite its girth) since he finished the Dark Tower series. It is a sprawling tale that answers a fairly conventional question: What would the world be like if someone had prevented the Kennedy assassination? King takes his time in answering, allowing his main character to dabble in the past, experimenting with time travel, and spending perhaps just a bit too long for me just living in the past rather than tracking down Lee Harvey Oswald. I do feel there was some potential wasted when Jake failed to, say, travel North America meeting famous figures of late 50s America, but King does this to endear supporting characters, and the man is a master, so I can't question him too loudly. There is everything you'd expect in a King book of the past twenty years: a bit of horror, pop culture references, a crossover with his other works (in this case IT). But the man is at his best when he writes people just being people. Despite his need to throw the fantastic into it all, the man writes humans better than almost anyone.

Keeps you interested throughout the whole book. Thrilling as usual...didn't like the ending but its a stephen king book. its what you get haha

Another terrific outing by Mr. King. His ability to set the stage and make you care for the characters is second to none. When the tragic happens, and you know it will, it still hits you like a ton of bricks. The detail he brought from his own worlds of Derry and the real world Dallas were seamless. A must read for all King fans.

If you're into the concept of time travelling, you should definitely give this book a try

Jake Epping is a high school english teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. He is 35-years old and has led a pretty non-descript life. A few moments to take pride in as far as his teaching career is concerned, but overall, nothing exciting. Until one night when he visiting a local diner owner with a big secret. Unbelievable as it seems to Jake there is a Alice in Wonderland type rabbit hole right behind the diner. This rabbit hole does not lead to an imaginary land but to Lisbon Falls circa 1958. Enter the age old time travel question. If you could go back in history and change one significantly pivotal event … would you? What would be the consequences? Would there be any consequences if you knew that stepping back into the present and then back into the past would undo everything. Jake decides it is worth the risk and spends five years in the past hoping to stop the assassination of JFK. But is anything ever that easy? Not in Mr. King’s world. After all, the past is obdurate. This latest by Mr. King is a little step out of the horror genre and a tip-toe into historical fiction. I liked it! Mr. King obviously did his research with regards to Oswald and Kennedy, but the interpretation of the late 50’s and early 60’s is wonderful. I found myself lost in the days before the civil rights movement, fast food restaurants, terrorist threats, gun-control and smoking by-laws. As always Mr. King’s characters are wonderful. He acknowledges that every good character has a little bad and the villains of history have their little share of goodness. Admittedly I am a huge King fan, but this would be a good King book for non-fans of the horror genre. In the author afterword Mr. King welcomes a new grand-daughter into the King family. I can only hope he is not in charge of bedtime story selection

Believe me when I say that I am not what you could call a fan of Stephen King's. I read a few of his books back in my late teens/early 20's, and was put off by the creepy nature of the genre (I've since been diagnosed as a Chickens**t) and the detailed way he writes was also a bit much for me (urine spashes, I get it Stevo, now move on...). However, after reading glowing review after glowing review, I found myself excited that this was chosen as my book clubs next read. I was intrigued by the synopsis, and anxious to see how the Master of horror would handle a time travel story about one of the biggest turning points in American history. I was also fairly sure he wasn't going to try to scare the bejesus out of me. So I cracked open this doorstopper and began to read. I was immediately pulled into this story and was awestruck at King's ability to weave such a complicated plot without ever dropping a thread, or losing me as a reader. To say this is more than a time travel book about Camelot is an understatement. It is priceless jewel in the crown of the King, and I can't recommend it highly enough, to fans and non-fans alike!

If you could go back in time and change history to make the world a better place would you. Stephen King tackles that theme in 11/22/63, taking us on Jake Epping’s journey as he travels back in time as George Amberson from 2011 to stop the Kennedy assassination in 1963. We already know that King is one of the best modern horror writers, with this book he becomes one of the best modern fiction writers as well. I’m not a fan of time travel fiction. It’s easy for an author to make mistakes. Time travel can be tricky and often ends up being messy prose. King improves this type of storytelling by adding themes, choices, and consequences to his story. He does use the “Butterfly Effect” trope creating ripples throughout time and improves on this by making time fight back, the past in 11/22/63 does not want to be changed. King’s prose is easy to read contributing to a great story. Kings characters mesh making them believable. Their interconnections work great, especially when King contrasts Jake’s failed marriage with Christy in 2011 with his love for Sadie in the 1960s. The friendships King writes for Jake with Al, Deke, and Ellie, also juxtapose themselves with reality creating a greater story and bringing depth. One problem I do have with this book is the set up. King spends so much time describing the events from 1958 to 1963 that when he finally shows us what happened in the future it feels passé. I would have loved to have gone deeper into the changes after the assassination was stopped, delving further into the history of how the world changed rather than have just a couple of pages. Sure, we get hints and glimpses of what has happened since 63, and Jake mulls over the choices that he has made. For me as a reader, it just was not enough. One of the unique passages within the book comes from the town of Derry where King brings us back to one of his older stories, “It”. Not once but twice does King go back to the Maine town as he describes the Pennywise murders, Jake encounters Richie as well as Bev all the while he is trying to save a family that haunts him in his future. Using Derry grounds the story for Stephen King fans and allows them to know the world that he creates. It also allows King to build on the themes from Derry, such as Jake’s feeling that something is not right in the town, and transpose them onto the city of Dallas as well. Derry provides a mystique to the book, allowing King to flow the mystery of time fighting back throughout the novel. This book is Stephen King at his best, but it is still not his best book. For me that has to go to It. I still walk around looking down sewer grates scared that I will see Pennywise staring up at me ever since I read that novel in my teens. With 11/22/63, King proves that he is not just a genre writer, this is one of the best pieces of time historical fiction that I have ever read. I highly recommend this book to any historical fiction or Stephen King fan.