Thinner

EDITORIAL REVIEW: After an old gypsy woman is killed by his car, lawyer Billy Halleck is stricken with a flesh-wasting malady and must undertake a nightmarish journey to confront the forces of death. Movie tie-in. Book available. Thinner is a horror novel by American author Stephen King, published in 1984 by NAL under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story centers on lawyer Billy Halleck, who kills a crossing Romani woman in a road accident and escapes legal punishment because of his connections. However, the woman's father places a curse on Halleck, which causes him to lose weight uncontrollably. "Thinner," the old Gypsy man with the rotting nose whispers to William Halleck as Halleck and his wife, Heidi, come out of the court-house.