I read this book for a book club, and it was... something I couldn't get out of my mind. In a horrible-ear-worm sort of way. I was reading it quickly and in longer chunks of time than I may have in different circumstances because I wanted to finish the story before book club, so this meant reading it just before bed and without taking breaks with other books.
While I find the concentration camps interesting from a scholarly and historical standpoint, reading about the atrocities is very hard for me to take in, to realize that it was true, non-fiction, real. However, even though the horror of this was very present and distressing throughout this story, I found the character's reactions (especially Todd) to be even harder to handle. I was just reeling at the violence done and there was a physical gut clenching sickness in reading about this sociopath.
This story just reinforced my desire to NOT read more Stephen King.

Book club discussion was quite good, we talked about sociopaths, nature versus nurture, family influence and the individual, the degradation of the human spirit over time, parenting styles and how wealth and SES is part of what shapes our world views.

I give this 4 stars because I think it was very effective in making me react and for being as horrible as I've always thought King would be, though not writing-wise. Content made this hard for me to read, but also made it memorable and visceral.