The terror and paranoia of prison life described in King's new novel. Infused with the protagonist’s memories of his childhood and travels—real and imagined—blur the line between innocence and sin, crime and punishment, reality and fantasy. This novel is largely about the human will to survive, as well as about the constant craving for evil. A cruel, extremely naturalistic work is the “testament of the new man” to the human spirit and its capabilities. In which, despite everything, hope and the idea of love remain.