A giant man with a gift for curing people and their ills lands in a cell on death row – the guards refer to the trip to the electric chair as “the Green Mile” because the floor along their path is green.

The story is set in the 1930s but is told by an old man years later. The old man was one of the guards who watched and prepped the chair for John Coffey, the gifted giant convicted and sentenced to death for killing two young girls.

Paul Edgecombe and most of his colleagues have watched over dozens of prisoners and walked them across the Mile to the electric chair. Paul is in charge of the prison’s death row. He and his crew are saddled with a new guard, who is related by marriage to the state governor, a young man who is often more trouble than the killers under their care.

Paul has witnessed many strange things during his years on the Mile but none of his experiences prepare him or the other guards for John Coffey and the seeming miracles he works.

Stephen King wrote “The Green Mile” as a serialized novel, meaning each of the six chapters/sections were released separately over a span of time back in the 1990s. Of course, the full novel is collected now, meaning readers can read it all at once in a few sittings, or they can read it as it was originally published by setting the book aside a few weeks or so between sections.

Good luck doing that.

“The Green Mile” is a well-told story filled with pathos, humor, horror and wonder. 

King is at the top of his game here. “The Green Mile” is not too long as some of his novels and some readers may even wish there were more upon coming to its conclusion.

“The Green Mile” is possibly the truest movie adaptation of a King book. Anyone who has watched the Tom Hanks movie, even back when it was first released more than 20 years ago, will likely recall in vivid detail scenes from the 1999 film while turning the pages of this book.

“The Green Mile” is a brutal place but it’s a book worth walking, with King as the guide.