History Literature / FromABuick8

* HumanoidAbomination: The mysterious driver of the Buick that originally left it at the gas station at the start of the story, and who disappeared behind the building. The gas station attendant described his ear (the only feature he saw clearly) as looking "melted, like he'd been in a fire", and he had a very odd posture. Outside the novel, said driver is generally theorized to be a [[Franchise/TheDarkTower Low Man]].

* UncannyValley: InUniverse, the car itself. It looks ''very much like'' a Buick 8, but there's enough wrong with it to make people think it's more of a sculpture of a car instead. It has a wood dashboard when all American cars at the time it was "made" had vinyl dashes. Its controls not only don't work but don't move. It has seven, rather than eight porthole vents on its radiator, 3 on one side, 4 on the other (which side isn't mentioned, implying that the odd vent moves position sometimes). The exhaust system is entirely made out of plexiglass instead of metal. The engine's just as bad, with no distributor cap and wires that just feed into the engine block (stamped all over with "BUICK 8" like it's a reminder), very much not to the battery, which itself isn't connected to anything. People who get inside it start picking up subconscious clues ''for earthquakes''.

* ForegoneConclusion: The ContrivedCoincidence nature of Curtis's death is mentioned from the beginning of the novel (which is kind of a shame, as it would have made for a good twist in the final act if it had been TheReveal instead).

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Eddie at the end, though it was set up to seem as though it was Ned.]]
** Also counts as a DroppedABridgeOnHim moment after his prominent role near the end of the novel.

* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The Buick causes a drop in temperature when it's brewing up to do xomething awful.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay:
** Tony Schoondist's last name is pronounced "Shane-dinks", which Sandy makes a point of saying.
** Eddie Jacubois's name is French, so (no matter what Brian Lippy says) it's pronounced "Jack-uh-BWAH."

* AlienGeometries: It seems to have a direct connection to another universe, perhaps another world linked to Franchise/TheDarkTower.

** Come closer, children. See the living crocodile. Mind it's teeth...

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Zig-zagged. The bulk of the story is set on a single evening with all members of Troop D telling Ned about the history of the Buick and Curtis' time on the force. The stories they tell him however span a time period of 25 years.

* UncannyValley: InUniverse, the car itself. It looks ''very much like'' a Buick 8, but there's enough wrong with it to make people think it's more of a sculpture of a car instead. It has a wood dashboard when all American cars at the time it was made had vinyl dashes. It's controls not only don't work but don't move. It has seven, rather than eight porthole vents on its radiator, 3 on one side, 4 on the other (which side isn't mentioned, implying that the odd vent moves position). The exhaust system is entirely made out of plexiglass instead of metal. The engine's just as bad, with no distributor cap and wires that just feed into the engine block (stamped all over with "BUICK 8" like it's a reminder), very much not to the battery, which itself isn't connected to anything. People who get inside it start picking up subconsious clues for earthquakes.

* UncannyValley: InUniverse, the car itself. It looks ''very much like'' a Buick 8, but there's enough wrong with it to make people think it's more of a sculpture of a car instead. It has a wood dashboard when all American cars at the time it was made had vynil dashes. It's controls not only don't work but don't move. It has seven, rather than eight porthole vents on its radiator, 3 on one side, 4 on the other (which side isn't mentioned, implying that the odd vent moves position). The exhaust system is entirely made out of plexiglass instead of metal. The engine's just as bad, with no distributor cap and wires that just feed into the engine block (stamped all over with "BUICK 8" like it's a reminder), very much not to the battery, which itself isn't connected to anything. People who get inside it start picking up subconsious clues for earthquakes.

* FromBadToWorse: The "worst day ever", as described by Shirley, starts with [[spoiler:a chemical tanker colliding with a school bus, causing all of Troop D to head to the accident, leaving her alone with Huddie Royer and Mister D. Eddie Jacubois pulls over his old high school bully Brian Lippy, who has since become a neo-Nazi drug addict, for beating his girlfriend. He and his partner George take him back to the troop, where they discover to their horror the Buick has given ''live birth'' to a HumanoidAbomination, which they are forced to kill. Mister D ingests some of the creature's flesh, suffering a horrifying death. Finally, Brian Lippy escapes custody in the confusion, and is "eaten" by the Buick while hiding from the troopers]]. Yeah, it was a pretty shitty day indeed.

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: The Buick itself. Its speculated that it's (imperfect) resemblance to a Buick 8 is a the closest they can comprehend of its true shape. The things it lets out are incredibly alien and horrible, but you can see them properly. The Buick is speculated to be something along the line of the breathing valve for an EldritchAbomination's scuba gear.

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: The Buick itself. It's speculated that it's (imperfect) resemblance to a Buick 8 is a the closest they can comprehend of its true shape. The things it lets out are incredibly alien and horrible, but you can see them properly. The Buick is speculated to be something along the line of the breathing valve for an EldritchAbomination's scuba gear.

** Out of universe however,[[spoiler: the car is heavily implied [[Literature/HeartsInAtlantis: to belong to a Low-Man,]] linking this work to the Dark Tower series]]

* BizarreAlienBiology: The creatures that come out of the Buick. In addition to the visually apparent weirdness, there is something about their chemical makeup that makes them start decaying almost instantly in our atmosphere. An attempted AlienAutopsy does not go well. [[spoiler: Sandy later realizes that if some of the blood-like black substance that squirted out of the bat-creature had gotten into Curtis' mouth, he would have died.]]

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: The Buick itself. The things are incredibly alien and horrible, but you can see them properly. The Buick is speculated to be something along the line of the breathing valve for an EldritchAbomination's scuba gear.

** Come closer, children. See the living crocodile.

* UncannyValley: InUniverse, the car itself. It looks ''very much like'' a Buick 8, but there's enough wrong with it to make people think it's more of a sculpture of a car instead.

* AlienSky: [[spoiler: In the climax, Sandy pulls Ned out of the car, and in the process, gets a brief glimpse of the world on the other side, an alien world with a deep purple sky, along with remnants of the people absorbed by the Buick.]]

-->'''George''': Should I get them some food, too?
-->'''Tony''': Absolutely not. We're going to buy a couple of gerbils and then let them starve to death out in the shed.
-->'''George''': [[SarcasmBlind Really?]] That seems sort of mean to-
-->'''Tony''': Get them food George, yes.

* BaitAndSwitch: In the final chapter, set 4 years after the rest of the story, it is strongly suggested that [[spoiler:Ned is killed in a car crash; the car was Curtis' chevrolet and it is mentioned that SC Dearborn will have to inform the victims mother and sisters]]. The twist: [[spoiler: it was actually Eddie J. who was in the car, having bought it from Ned earlier. Ned is alive and well and has just joined Troop D]].

* FromBadToWorse: The "worst day ever", as described by Shirley, starts with [[spoiler:a chemical tanker colliding with a school bus, causing all of Troop D to head to the accident, leaving her alone with Huddie and Mister D. Eddie pulls over his old high school bully Brian Lippy, who has since become a neo-Nazi drug addict, for beating his girlfriend. He and his partner George take him back to the troop, where they discover to their horror the Buick has given ''live birth'' to a HumanoidAbomination, which they are forced to kill. Mister D ingests some of the creature's flesh, suffering a horrifying death. Finally, Brian Lippy escapes custody in the confusion, and is "eaten" by the Buick while hiding from the troopers]]. Yeah, it was a pretty shitty day indeed.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: Tony Schoondist's last name is pronounced "Shane-dinks", which Sandy makes a point of saying.

* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler: The world on the other end of the dimensional portal in the Buick]] is only glimpsed briefly by the narrator, but in that brief moment, he sees the remains of the people the Buick had drawn in. No bodies, just a boot, a swastika necklace that had belonged to Brian Lippy, a policeman's hat belonging to Ennis Rafferty, and a gun. Someone has driven a stake through the hat, and the gun is rusted. What exactly happened to the people is never revealed.

* TitleDrop: Narrator Sandy recalls looking in the shed containing the "car" and thinking the scene is like a modern art exhibit, called something like "From A Buick 8".

* ItsPronouncedTroPay: Tony Schoondist's last name is pronounced "Shane-dinks", which Sandy makes a point of saying.

* MercyKill: The first time something comes out of the Buick that lives long enough for the officers to interact with it, [[spoiler: the station dog, Mister Dillon]], goes nuts and attacks it, apparently ingesting some of its flesh. [[spoiler:The poor dog]] starts burning from the inside out, and one of the officers decides to shoot him, as there is nothing else they can do to help him.