Billy Halleck, a 300-pound lawyer, kills a gypsy due to his negligent driving. But thanks to some false evidence, the judge lets Halleck go. However, the deceased's father, a 109-year-old gypsy king, takes justice into his own hands by putting a horrible, ironic curse on the obese man. Soon, through no effort of his own, Billy becomes thinner. And thinner. And thinner. While this seems like a godsend at first, the hex put on Billy quickly becomes a living nightmare -- with no end in sight...
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt ''Thinner'' is very bad. It is not just bad because it overindulges Mr. King's mannerisms of employing brand-name and vernacular cliches. It is also bad because its story about a Connecticut lawyer forced by a gypsy's curse to lose weight endlessly is sloppily plotted and morally confused. . . . He has the instinct and the style and the God-given ability to tell a story. If he would only rid himself of the gimmicks - if he would only stop reaching for effects and take his instincts seriously - he could perhaps be considerably more than simply a certain type of writer. -- New York Times
