The Drawing of the Three

The Drawing of the Three (1987) is the second book in Stephen King’s dimension-hopping dark fantasy-Western series The Dark Tower. Roland, the last gunslinger, awakens on a beach in his world and is immediately attacked by monstrous “lobstrosities.” The encounter leaves him infected and without two fingers on his shooting right hand. Roland must now urgently find a way to heal himself and seek out the three, the trio of people crucial to his quest for the Dark Tower, the axis that holds together the many worlds. Roland encounters three doors on the beach, each opening into New York City in the readers’ world at different times. Through these doors, Roland meets the three who are indispensable to his quest: Eddie Dean, a man from 1987; Odetta Holmes, a civil rights activist from 1964; and Jack Mort, a serial killer from 1977. The plot follows the roles that the three play in Roland’s journey and his relationships with each, leading to unexpected revelations, intersecting timelines, and new mysteries.

The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children’s book that King wrote between 1982 and 2012.