Why Stephen King's endings have a reputation for being disappointing

(This post contains spoilers for several books by Stephen King. If you see the title of a book mentioned, expect to see a spoiler soon after.)

Every Stephen King fan remembers their first experience with a bad King ending. For many, it's “The Stand,” where, after over a thousand pages of build-up, the day is saved by God himself swooping down and blowing up the bad guys. For other readers, it's “It,” which involves a sex scene so controversial that most non-book readers think it's a joke when you tell them about it.

My first disappointment with King came at the end of The Long Walk, a riveting 300-page thriller that King wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. I read the entire book in one sitting, almost without realizing it; It was disturbing, captivating and fast-paced, and in the final chapter…