The Regulators and Desperation (see separate entry), published together, concern the havoc wrecked on two very different communities by the demon, Tak, released in Nevada during a strip mining operation. About two hundred pages shorter than Desperation, The Regulators alludes to some of Stephen King's pet social concerns, but with a much lighter touch than its companion. The Regulators resembles the five previous Bachman novels (four written at the very beginning of King's career), which subordinate social commentary to a fast-moving plot.

In contrast, Desperation, with its heavyhanded remarks about strip-mining as an affront to God, more closely resembles such talky later works as The Tommyknockers (1987) and The Stand (1990).

King would not be King, however, if a lively concern for social justice did not shine through The Regulators. A community's false pride in its acceptance of token blacks, police corruption, and the targeting of child consumers...