[Stephen King]. BACHMAN, Richard. De Vervloeking.

(Utrecht / Artselaar, The Netherlands and Belgium): A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1985. First Dutch edition. Softcover. 21.6cm by 13.6cm. 253 pages. A horror novel by Stephen King, written under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman. The work was originally published in America in 1984. The story centers on morbidly obese lawyer Billy Halleck, who, driving carelessly, kills an old Romani woman while she is crossing the street. He escapes legal punishment due to his connections, but the woman’s 106-year-old father then curses Halleck to physically waste away, and the lawyer must find a way to undo the curse. King, who was overweight at the time of the novel’s writing, created the novel’s outline following an annual medical examination. Following the book’s release, media outlets discussed the similarities between the works of Bachman and King. Eventually, bookstore clerk Stephen Brown, a fan of King’s work, located evidence from copyright data held in the Library of Congress that Bachman and King were the same person. After the secret of King’s pseudonym was revealed, sales of Thinner increased tenfold. This is a very good copy in glossy limp boards. Scarce.