I recently finished Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King. This book is a recent addition to the Dark Tower series, in between Wizard in Glass and Wolves of the Calla. (If that means anything to you) Wizard was published in ’97 and Wolves in ’03, but Wind Through the Keyhole was published in ’12. King says in his forward that it is sort of like book 4.5. Sometimes a writer discovers that a story really isn’t finished after all, and it appears that is the case here.

If you haven’t read any of the Dark Tower series, just ignore this book and begin with The Gunslinger. The Dark Tower books are set in a futuristic/western/fantasy world that in some places overlaps our time line and in others deviates into bizarre machines that control the world. 

Wind Through the Keyhole is a story within a story within a story. Roland and his gang settle in to shelter from a stark blast – a terrible tornado/hurricane/arctic storm that will freeze everything in its path – and this reminds Roland of a story from his youth as a fledgling gunslinger (law man), and in that story he told the story of young Tim and his adventures seeking truth and also weathering a stark blast. In typical King fashion, this story reaches out and holds you from beginning to end, twisting and turning along a winding path that is all together fascinating and at the same time never losing its way. The writers talent is well known and his praises rightly sung. It isn’t necessary to read this book in order with the others, but it does help develop Roland’s character a tiny bit. He is alternately cold hearted and sentimental, a clash of his history with his conscience, and truly the much beloved anti-hero hero of the Dark Tower series.