If you have not read Stephen King’s “The Road Virus Heads North,” then be warned — this review will be full of spoilers.
Nothing incites bone-chilling fear like being hunted. Stephen King’s “The Road Virus Heads North” throws us head-first into a nightmare that all started with an author and one, not so normal, painting.
“The Road Virus Heads North” follows Richard Kinnell, a successful horror writer, as he drives down to attend a horror convention. Right off the bat, it is obvious King has put a lot of himself into the character of Kinnell.
Both are horror writers who have seen much success and have become jaded to the community.
On the return trip, Kinnell makes a fateful stop at a roadside garage sale. Originally intending to score some paperbacks, he finds a most peculiar painting.
The artwork, aptly titled “The Road Virus Heads North,” depicts a smiling blond man driving a Trans Am. This innocuous scene turns macabre as more details begin to emerge.
Kinnell finds himself intensely attracted to the painting. He then learns of the painter’s unfortunate suicide. It seems the late artist was driven mad by his work and burned all but one of his paintings before his death.
Kinnell’s attraction to the painting is only heightened after hearing this news. He buys the piece and is on his way soon after. What follows is the start of a blood-curdling chain of events.
Kinnell stops off at his aunt’s house who turns white at the sight of the painting. Kinnell joins her as he notices that the painting has apparently changed, if only a little.
The man’s smile is more maniacal and now his arm sports a tattoo. His aunt urges him to get rid of it but he brushes it off. It’s not until an hour later that he checks the painting and finds it has changed again.
This time we can only see the taillights of the car as it drives off into the darkness. Terrified by this apparently possessed painting, Kinnell tosses it into a nearby culvert.
He rests easy, thinking himself rid of the piece. He arrives at his quiet home, only to find “The Road Virus Heads North” awaiting him in his entry hall.
This time the visage is of a garage sale, the very same one he visited mere hours before.
Only now there is a woman’s decapitated head sitting on an ironing board. Sightless eyes staring at Kinnell. Red taillights trail off into the inky blackness.
Shaking, Kinnell resorts to the only option he has left, fire. He scrambles to find matches and lighter fluid, then watches as the final scraps of cloth turn to ash in the amber light.
The story ends with the inevitable. The blond man finds Kinnell’s home and does to him what Kinnell has done to many of the characters from his books.
“The Road Virus Heads North,” answers the question “How do you escape the unescapable?” The answer? You don’t.
The relatable setting King traps readers in serves to only heighten their fear.
While reading, one becomes increasingly desperate as Kinnell struggles to rid himself of the painting. The urge to reach through the pages and warn him of his impending demise makes it hard to stop reading.
This is why “The Road Virus Heads North” is vaunted as one of the best horror short stories.
It force-feeds readers a feeling of helplessness as they watch an unsuspecting author write a check for his own downfall.
It is in the vivid descriptions where King flourishes. He describes “bruise yellow and purple skies.” Gas stations filled with TCBY wrappers and flattened soda cups.
These descriptions paint a picture in the reader’s head of normal surroundings. Things we have all encountered. It is the blond man with sharpened teeth and a scary smile that stands out, like a giant splotch, on the canvas.
Overall, “The Road Virus Heads North” is a magnificent story that will leave you terrified and wanting more.
Griffen Winget can be reached at [email protected]