The Regulators is a novel by American author Stephen King, writing under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. It was published in 1996 at the same time as its "mirror" novel, Desperation. The two novels represent parallel universes relative to one another, and most of the characters present in one novel's world also exist in the other novel's reality, albeit in different circumstances. Additionally, the US hardcover first editions of each novel, if set side by side, make a complete painting, and on the back of each cover is also a peek at the opposite's cover.

King had previously "killed off" Bachman after the pseudonym was publicly exposed around the time of the 1984 release of the Bachman novel Thinner. However, on the book's jacket and in a tongue-in-cheek introduction by the book's editor, it was alleged that this 1996 work was written by Bachman years earlier, but the manuscript had only recently been discovered by his widow in a trunk. The novel began as a screenplay titled The Shotgunners. King says that film writer-director Sam Peckinpah read the script and made some suggestions, but Peckinpah died while King was writing the second draft. In August 2022, it was announced that Bohemia Group had optioned the rights to the novel for an adaptation and tapped George Cowan to write the script with Justin Ross as producer, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Cowan.

Reception

Andy Butcher reviewed The Regulators for Arcane magazine, rating it an 8 out of 10 overall, and stated that "Of the two books, The Regulators is my favourite, being the more imaginative. On the other hand, dedicated King fans will probably prefer Desperation. Either way, both are good, enjoyable books."

Reviews

  • Review by Edward Bryant (1996) in Locus, #428 September 1996
  • Review by Peter Crowther (1996) in Interzone, November 1996
  • Review by W. C. Stroby (1997) in Fangoria, January 1997
  • Review [French] by Daniel Conrad (1997) in Galaxies, #5
  • Review by Don D'Ammassa (1997) in Science Fiction Chronicle, #192 June 1997
  • Review by Stephen Payne (1997) in Vector 194
  • Review by Brian M. Thomsen [as by Brian Thomsen] (1997) in Dragon Magazine, August 1997

References

  • The Regulators at stephenking.com