An eternal entity that goes into a sort of hibernation comes back every 27 years, feeding on the fears of children and creating all sorts of chaos in the town of Derry, Maine. The book IT is divided into five parts, moving from the summer of 1958 to 1985.
In the summer of 1958 Georgie, Bill's little brother, goes out to sail a paper boat and is the first to meet the entity during this visit. It does not end well for Georgie. Bill and a group of other eleven-year-olds then get tangled up in the horror in Derry. They give the entity the name IT and themselves the name The Losers Club. After the children vanquish IT, they make a promise to come back and fight again if IT manages to return.
The worst happens in 1985, and six phone calls are made by the one member of the Losers Club who didn't move away. The members of the Losers Club, who are now adults with lives away from Derry, are called on to keep their promises.
IT isn't just a horror story, but contains many stories within the one: the story of a girl with an abusive father, an overweight boy and how he is treated by the town bullies, how one of the few African-American boys in town is treated by some, and befriended by our intrepid group, and how they overcame their problems and grew up to be productive adults.
Following the storyline is made easy by the way King builds his characters and weaves them together into a book that is hard to stop listening to. IT is an investment in time since the storyline begins with the characters in the 1950s and then brings them back to Derry 27 years later as adults to battle IT once again. Hearing what Stephen King does with these characters is a forty-five hour journey in listening but well worth it.
Stephen King's audiobook is narrated by Steven Weber. Weber's excellent reading makes you feel like you are in this coming of age story and battle with evil.
It's a bit scary, though.