Stephen King has published a new book that is supposed to be a romance. But it turns out to be a romance that should might best take place during Halloween. He has not only written about two characters who loved each other; he has reverted to character.

While based somewhat touchingly on his relationship with his wife, recently deceased, the story turns things around a bit. Now, the lead character is the wife, Lisey, who is going through the papers of her well-known writer-husband, recently deceased.

You guessed it. She discovers scary things.

While most of the story is about their marriage, Scott lives on “in her mind’s eye (where the past is always present).” And Scott lives on in the haunting sense that he has left his beloved Lisey hints and warnings, not just in the natural world but in a fantasy world they visited together.

So what we have is a novel with enough romance to give Mr. King and his fans a break from his usual scare-you-into-an-early-grave antics, but with enough frightening matter to invite the curiosity of his usual readers.

We continue to wonder what the entertainment value of being frightened is, especially in a real world, as we noted in our Dreadline, that’s so frightening it makes Halloween night seem downright safe.

Given such a spooky everyday reality, you’d think people would pay more for novels that make them feel, not more, but less spooked.