The Regulators | Social Concerns

The Regulators Social Concerns

The Regulators and Desperation (see separate entry), published together, concern the havoc wrecked on two very different communities by the demon, Tak, released in Nevada during a strip mining operation. About two hundred pages shorter than Desperation, The Regulators alludes to some of Stephen King's pet social concerns, but with a much lighter touch than its companion. The Regulators resembles the five previous Bachman novels (four written at the very beginning of King's career), which subordinate social commentary to a fast-moving plot.

In contrast, Desperation, with its heavyhanded remarks about strip-mining as an affront to God, more closely resembles such talky later works as The Tommyknockers (1987) and The Stand (1990).

King would not be King, however, if a lively concern for social justice did not shine through The Regulators. A community's false pride in its acceptance of token blacks, police corruption, and the targeting of...
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