TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER The Bookworm Sez Advertisement

How in tune are you with your significant other?

Can you read his thoughts across the room? Do you know exactly what she needs, almost before she knows it herself? Can you finish his sentences or anticipate what she's going to do next?

Lisey thought she knew her late husband Scott quite well, but in the new novel, "Lisey's Story," by Stephen King, there was much more to Scott's (after)life than Lisey can ever possibly imagine.

Prize-winning author Scott Landon has been dead two years now, and though she realizes it's "time," his widow, Lisey, has been resisting a chore she knows will eventually need to be done: clearing out the study that once belonged to her husband.

Old fans and university professors are clamoring for his papers, which might harbor an unfinished novel or unpublished manuscript. The reality is that Scott's old files are a jumble of half-nonsensical notes filed haphazardly in his study upstairs in the barn that sits behind their Maine home. Scott's awards are there, too, as well as a ceremonial silver shovel that he got for a groundbreaking event that almost killed him a decade and a half before he died of pneumonia.

So now Lisey is trying to clean out Scott's rooms, and old memories flood her mind. She remembers their honeymoon, and the wintry picnic they had during an unexpected snowstorm. She recalls the way Scott held her in his arms as he told her why they could never have children. And -- as much as she'd like to forget -- she remembers the things Scott told her about his childhood.

At age 3, Scott was able to read and decypher clues that his older brother, Paul, devised. The boys called it a bool. A riddle. A pirate-treasure hunt with clues, the end prize being an RC soda or a candy bar. They did it to amuse themselves when their abusive father was away.

But now the bool is on Lisey. A man with a southern accent keeps calling her, and he's demanding that she release Scott's paperwork. He threatens to harm Lisey if she doesn't comply.

Can the memories of Scott -- or even Scott himself -- help Lisey to survive?

Hmm.

On one hand, "Lisey's Story" represents a return of Stephen King goodness that his earliest fans came to love. This new novel is big, bold and tells a detailed story that will make you think before you get all the nuances. The creepiness is there but it's subtle, just as in "The Stand" and "The Shining".

On the other hand, "Lisey's Story" feels like a tale with a sore backside: it moves, but painfully slowly. The set-up takes about a fifth of this 500-plus-page book, and I lost interest three times before I got my first whiff of malevolence.

If you never miss a Stephen King book and you can stick with "Lisey's Story," you'll be rewarded with a fine, creepy tale, a la vintage King of the early-to-mid '80's. If you're only a casual fan, though, pick somebody else's story.

"Lisey's Story" by Stephen King, Scribner, $28, 528 pages.