[ONE MILD SPOILER]
This was my first Stephen King (or Owen) except for half-reading Pet Semetary as a teenager. I initially enjoyed the town setting and characters the authors created. The main plot point set in and I was immersed. It's quite a slow book but it was working for me. I found the varied reactions of the men to the situation very interesting. By the end, however, I just wanted it done with so stayed up way past my bedtime to do so.

So what were the problems?

1. Too bloody long. Really, almost nothing justifies unwieldy sizes. Could have shaved at least 25%, and improved it greatly. Blah blah blah. Give it a rest.
2. Random weirdness. There was a tiger. And a snake. They didn't do anything. Erm... Most pointlessly, some random characters completely unconnected to the plot turned and hammered the key locations in the plot with pretty much the biggest firepower of any of the characters. WTF?
3. Unconvincing resolution. Who was the main mystery character? Why now? Main decision felt rushed and too neat.

There was some really great writing at the start, and some very moving things happened in the back half too but this didn't complete well. It's common. Mystery/fantasy stuff is hard to do endings for.

I was initially thinking I'd start reading some more King but I'll be putting it off a while now.