"I always keep a stimulant handy in case I see a snake - which I also keep handy" - W. C. ...
"I always keep a stimulant handy in case I see a snake - which I also keep handy" - W. C. Fields
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Ever since the publication of 2002's "From a Buick 8", Stephen King's focus has been on finishing his "Dark Tower" series. There has been the odd side trip, into non fiction for "Faithful", his review of the 2004 Boston Red Sox season and the more recent "The Colorado Kid", which was really little more than a short story and not being in King's usual horror style. Not being a great fan of "The Dark Tower", it was with great anticipation I awaited the publication of "Cell", which promised to be a return to King's strengths and, hopefully, the kind of invention and story telling that first made me a fan twenty years ago and has turned me into one of the people he frequently refers to as "Constant Reader" in the years since.
Like many other King fans, I was intrigued to know what he could come up with now. His recent publications have certainly not been amongst his best, almost as if he was writing on auto pilot. Part of this could have been caused by his pre-occupation with "The Dark Tower", so it would be very interesting to see what he could come up with once that was out of the way.
Clay Riddell is on a short stay in Boston, trying to sell a number of his drawings for publication and secure his financial and employment future, as well as provide as best he can for his young son, currently living with his ex-wife. It is during this trip that disaster strikes, not just Boston, but seemingly the whole human race. Someone has managed to send a strange signal to all mobile phones, which has the effect of sending everyone who hears it insane. In an instant, less time than it takes to say "leave a message after the tone", everyone in Boston who had a mobile phone has gone mad and is either trying to kill themselves or trying to kill the person standing closest to them.
Clay is OK, though. For the time being, these people strike randomly and
he's lucky. But even more than that, he is blessed by not having a mobile phone. Not everyone does, but this puts Clay in a very small minority. On his way back to his hotel he runs into Tom, whose cat had broken his mobile phone that very morning and Alice, a young girl traumatised by seeing her mother going the same way as everyone else.
Clay has had an even more unpleasant thought, however. A few hundred miles North of Boston, his young son is waiting for him to come home. And his young son has a mobile phone which he sometimes uses, sometimes forgets. Clay has to get to him, to find out if young Johnny is dead, insane, or has gotten as lucky as he has.
The three of them start their journey, having to travel on foot as most of the roads were blocked by people crashing their cars, either due to insanity or intentionally. On the way, they see people exhibiting many strange behaviours as the "phoners", as they start calling them, start to get organised and then start to get powers no-one expected them to have. Clay's purpose becomes two fold - how to stop them, and how to stop them stopping him from reaching his son.
King is not treading new ground here. After all, this is essentially a zombie story. This is a genre he has not really had too much dealing with previously, to be fair, but it's a well trodden path. Admittedly, his method of turning so many people into zombies is pretty unique and the way they develop and adapt afterwards is fairly new in the genre, as far as I know. The major difference here between any standard zombie tale is that the people who are up against them are less concerned with killing them than they are with getting around them and getting to where they want to be.
There are also elements of King's own "The Stand" in here, in that what happens with the phones is pretty much an apocalypse, leaving very few standing. Those who are left seem to fall into one of two groups, although more sane and insane than good and evil, as was the case with "The Stand". Again similarly to that novel, there is a place that they must reach and they are called onwards by signs, although these ones are painted on the road, rather than appearing in dreams. That said, there is some use of dreams to try and influence the future, again mirroring "The Stand".
I enjoyed "Cell", I must admit although I suspect a large part of that enjoyment was due to there being not a single mention of the Crimson King or the Dark Tower, references to which has littered King's writing for the last decade or more. As someone who was never a fan of the epic, this comes as something of a relief and possibly makes me look on "Cell" more kindly than it merits on its own.
It's not a bad story, really. But apart from the parts I've already mentioned, namely how King gets everyone to be a zombie, there is nothing terribly new and original here. In much the same way that "From a Buick 8" touched on themes already explored in "Christine", so King has done the same again, taking "The Stand" and producing a watered down version of it.
It is quite readable, in King's own way. He has seemingly got over the problems he has experienced with over writing and using too much back story, meaning this is a fairly decently paced book, even though the pace at which his characters are moving is necessarily slow due to their mode of travel. Even accounting for this, there is very little sense of stopping for back story, with everything seemingly meaning something, whether immediately or building up to later on.
This isn't a book that will win King, or the horror genre in general, any new fans as anyone who has hated him or it before will find nothing new or different enough to change their minds here. However, I can't see it losing him too many fans, either. Those of us who have been waiting for so long for this book could well be so relieved that it finally exists that the quality may be of lesser consideration. And, after all, it's not too bad. It's a decent enough story, fairly well told and although it will never be my favourite King novel, there are others that I will always consider to be worse.
I find myself with a feeling of ambivalence over this book. Which isn't really surprising, as many of his recent novels, pretty much ever since 1998's "Bag of Bones", have left me feeling much the same way. It's as if King has been writing on auto pilot for the last few years, waiting for an idea to kick him into life long enough to get it written down, but without there being enough there to really get him involved in the project. King writes almost as if he's getting tired of it and as if it's become a job to him, rather than a vocation or a calling.
If you're a mad King fan like myself, I'm not about to tell you to not buy this book, as you probably already did. Indeed, with the "new book" offers that are around, if you're going to buy this book anyway, now is the time to buy. Amazon has it for £8.10, BOL for £6.19 and copies are already starting to appear on eBay from 99p. If you can't wait for delivery, as I wasn't, the best high street offer I have seen was £8.99 in Waterstones.
If you're not a mad King fan, you'll probably be able to live without this book until the paperback arrives and if you're not a fan at all, you won't be missing anything by missing it completely. I suspect that "Cell", like many of King's recent works, will go on my shelf for a little while and only get read again once I've forgotten that it wasn't really all that good, even if it does while away the daily commute quite happily. In the meantime, if I want something a bit like this, only a lot better, I'll probably just read "The Stand" again and if you've not read that, King fan or not, that's a book I can and would recommend.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I've just read this and was disappointed....I've read most of King's books (except the Dark Tower ones really), and do find it all gets a bit repetitive after a while, and I get really irritated sometimes by his writing and language. But I only paid 25p for the book, so it was worth it - think I'd give it 3 stars as well.
Craigshadow12 22.07.2007 22:37
Great Book, Great review :D... Gotta love the King!
tomlancs 03.05.2007 00:44
good thorough review. i definately agree with you about it being very reminiscent of The Stand in so many ways. Despite being a massive King fan, i was dissapointed with this book. Anyway keep up the good work!
Mar 5th, 2006
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