The Dark Half

S t e p h e n

KING

THE DARK HALF

Hodder & Stoughton

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

King, Stephen, 1947 —

The dark half.

I. Title

813'—54 [F]

ISBN 0-340-50911-2

Copyright ©1989 by Stephen King

First published in Great Britain 1989

Second impression 1989

Third impression 1989

Fourth impression 1989

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without either prior permission in writing from the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the United Kingdom such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-34 Alfred Place, London WCIE 7DP.

Published by Hodder and Stoughton, a division of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd,

Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TNI3 2YA Editorial Office: 47 Bedford Square, London WCIB 3DP

Photoset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd,

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Printed in Great Britain by

Mackays of Chatham plc,

Chatham, Kent

Contents

Prologue

PART I FOOL'S STUFFING

1 People Will Talk

2 Breaking Up Housekeeping 3 Graveyard Blues