by Stephen King
First published 2013
Devin Jones arrives at Joyland amusement park for a summer job, nursing wounds from a recent breakup. The college student hopes the work will help him forget the girl who shattered his heart. Instead, he discovers the park carries the weight of an unsolved murder that happened years before. As Devin learns the ropes of carnival life, he becomes entangled in the mystery of the killing. He also meets a terminally ill child whose fate becomes intertwined with his own journey. The summer forces Devin to confront brutal realities about mortality and loss. He must face the dark legacy that haunts Joyland while grappling with his own pain. What begins as an escape from heartbreak becomes a reckoning with life's cruelest truths. Devin's time at the park transforms him in ways he never expected, teaching him about love, death, and the fragile nature of human existence.
Genres: coming-of-age, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Joyland
Period: 20th-century
285 pages · Paperback · Titan Books
Content warnings: terminal-illness