Return to previous page
Contract With The King
Author: Paul Pullen
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-4343-0741-5 (Paperback, 350pp.)
Elvis fiction doesn't seem to sell too well, yet authors remain prepared to keep plugging at it. The latest to do so is Paul Pullen, who describes himself as "A big Elvis fan," and whose "Contract With The King" was recently published by AuthorHouse.
"Contract With The King" tells the story of several medical students who kidnap Elvis in March 1977 in order to save him from what looks like certain self-destruction. Fortunately, the students have a good medical grounding in the areas of addiction control and psychology, so they are eventually able to persuade Elvis to go along with their scheme. It all sounds too unlikely, yet Pullen manages to pull the tale off to a large extent, thanks to some good narrative writing and a clever expansion of the basic premise to include the personal problems of some of the students. As the tale progresses, he allows the initial anger that results from the kidnapping to develop into understanding and friendship, as the parties get to know each other better. Only at one point does the story become too long-winded, when the author allows the description of a fireworks fight to continue for much too long. However, this leads to a really good section, when Elvis and Paul, one of the students, have a heart-to-heart conversation that tells a lot about why many of us became and have remained Elvis fans.
Pullen seems to have researched Elvis's real life and career well and references to these are generally accurate. He has fit the story as much as possible into the real-life timeline, though allowances must be made for what is, after all, pure fiction.
As is often the case with publications of this type, the otherwise good flow of the story is somewhat marred by poor copy-reading, which has resulted in quite a number of errors of word-usage and grammar to slip through. The story certainly deserves better. Despite these errors, an occasional lack of control, and a rather weak ending, "Contract With The King" remains a piece of Elvis escapist fiction that can be read and enjoyed by any Elvis fan.
David Neale
copyright November 2007
Contact me.