Buncombe Brief Book Review: Pet Sematary by Stephen King

Pet Sematary is one of the more creepy books by King, in my opinion, due to the theme of death being at the forefront.  It’s not a monster or supernatural occurrence but simply death that is the main antagonist here. Louis Creed, and his wife Rachel, move near the University of Maine for a job.  Their home is near the road so, during the course of the novel, their cat is hit by a car. The problem is death has been haunting their family in different ways so Louis is hesitant to tell them about the cat but their neighbor, Jud, leads Louis to a place with the sign “Pet Sematary”.  

Once there, they bury the cat and within no time, the cat returns.  However, as in true King form, the cat isn’t quite the same and there’s an unsettling air to the animal.  The family continues on until a greater tragedy occurs. This, coupled with the dealings with death in the past, are all too much for Louis Creed, who does something horrifying while in the depths of his grief.

The reason why this is one of King’s more psychologically disturbing works for me is just because it deals with the panic of loss and the lengths we might go to in order to undo the death of a loved one.  Furthermore, it shows the dangers we might face to unnaturally bring something back from the dead and what consequences may come with that if we had the opportunity to do so.

The terror of something or someone dying and then being pulled back only to be more sinister makes you wonder what they saw or experienced on the other side or if the thing you brought back was even that which you lost in the first place.