That twist ending in 'The Dark Half' still bugs me years later

I was talking to a customer who used to teach horror lit at a community college, and she said the ending of King's The Dark Half is a total cheat. She pointed out how the sparrows just show up out of nowhere to resolve everything, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's like King wrote himself into a corner and said 'birds fix it.' Has anyone else felt like a famous author just gave up on wrapping things up?

3 comments

3 Comments

harris.vera7d ago

Friend of mine threw the book across the room after that ending.

drew7917d ago

Ha, yeah that ending was a total cop out.

nancyd858d ago

Figured King just looked at the page, said "screw it, sparrows are magic now," and went back to his whiskey. Seriously, it's like he remembered halfway through that he already used a magical car and a possessed laundry press in other books, so why not birds? Feels like he was just tired of writing and wanted to wrap up before dinner. At least the sparrows didn't start singing show tunes or something, I guess. But yeah, that ending is basically King waving a white flag and hoping nobody noticed.