Cell - Stephen King > Reviews (30)

It seems an age since King produced a new novel and so when I came across this in Tesco it took me quite some time to convince myself to wait for the paperback and save money (I have to justify these things to children who seem to believe mother's who claim lack of money have absolutely no right to new books, especially in hardback!). So I forced myself to wait, resigned to hearing conflicting opinions and badly offered synopses until I could purchase the paperback. UNTIL! A couple of weeks ago, my lovely boyfriend came down, bearing the hardback as a gift :-) So.... of course, in my customary way I didn't sleep until I had read the thing cover to cover (I'm a quick reader thankfully), solely of course in order to offer my humble opinion to you, the wonderful people of Ciao!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* THE AUTHOR *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

STEPHEN KING is the undisputed master of the horror genre, with many of his works having been adapted for the Silver Screen. King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947 and many, if not all of his novels are centered around this area of America (write about what you know works for him obviously). He graduated in 1970 with a BA in English from Maine University, where he also wrote a weekly column for the Uni rag: 'THE MAINE CAMPUS'.

Stephen King sold his first short story - 'The Glass Floor' to the magazine 'Startling Mystery Stories' in 1967 and throughout his University years and beyond, working as a teacher by day and writing by night, King supplemented his income with the sale of many more short stories, most of which can now be found in anthologies such as 'Night Shift', 'Skeleton Crew' & 'Different Seasons'.

In 1973 King's first novel 'CARRIE' was accepted by publishers Doubleday & Co and in the months following King was told by his new editor that he had the means to give up teaching for a living and write full time. The novel 'SALEM'S LOT' followed soon after, then 'THE SHINING', 'THE STAND' & 'THE DEAD ZONE'. All of these novels, along with others, have become movies.*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* THE PLOT *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Clayton Riddell, a young artist who creates illustrations is having a great day. On a business trip to Boston, he has just sold some of his best work which means that he can stop struggling and what's more, tell Sharon, his estranged wife, that his 'hobby' has begun to pay off, reinforcing his point with an expensive paperweight from an exclusive shop called 'small treasures'.

But as Clay is walking back to his hotel, he begins to notice strange happenings…. Surely that really can't have been a human scream from the park? Not with such terror and pain in the scream? For it's the middle of the day and these things don't happen in the day…. Surely he was mistaken when he thought he saw a man bite a dog, ripping the animals ears from it's head with his bare teeth?

But it soon becomes clear that the world has gone mad when Clay witnesses a young girl, only minutes before giggling with her teenage pal over her mobile phone, rip out the jugular of a woman with her teeth at the ice cream van he happens to be passing…

As Clay struggles to overcome his shock at the bloody scene before him, the world suddenly begins to go mad - cars crash into walls or swerve to hit pedestrians - others pass him intent on violence or suicide - one man joins him who also seems sane - Tom - they are both attacked and manage to overcome a madman, they call over a policeman who asks them odd questions and shoots their attacker, informing Clay and Tom that they are trying to put as many of 'them' out of their misery as possible….

Clay has a budding theory and before Tom and he set off for Clay's hotel, he warns the cop not to use a mobile, and to tell his colleagues.

Clay and Tom head back to the hotel where, whilst attempting to gain access, they meet a young girl, Alice. She was with her mother in a taxi when the world went mad and it takes her some time to tell what happened to her (shock you know). When she does they all agree that it is the phones that are the common factor - somehow, a terrorist organization has found a way to send a signal to the phones of the world which sends people homicidal. Clay doesn't own a mobile phone, Tom broke his that morning and Alice's was in for repair when the signal was sent….. BUT! Clay's 12 year old son Johnny has, for his last birthday, but …. Didn't Sharon tell him that it was constantly left at home without any charge?? Clay can only hope…

So Clay, Tom and Alice begin a journey to leave the city and return to pastures safer (hopefully), they meet and avoid many of the 'phoners' as they begin to call them and observe the curious way that the infected people begin to 're-evolve' They also meet others who have not been infected by the signal, some of whom are hostile, some not. It's a precarious journey, fraught with danger and tragedy and strangely pointless to some of the characters since they rationalize that the whole of the human race must be affected, given the prevalence of mobile devices out there!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* CHARACTERS *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Forgettable. That's my honest opinion. The characters were likeable where they were supposed to be and typical of a lot a King's but in no way memorable. Clay is likeable as a hero but has no real depth that would make you go back and read him over and over. Tom is an ok guy, I think possibly King's first journey into having a gay character as one of the main. In fairness though, King avoided stereotypes reasonably well with Tom, though he did make the poor chap over-attached to his cat!

Alice was initially quiet and silly but developed into a stronger character throughout the book but this was for a purpose which I won't reveal so as not to spoil the plot. King's characters in this book reminded me less of his usual talent for well thought out characters and more of Richard Layman's 'tongue-in-cheek' form of characterization. It's been a couple of weeks since I put the book down and I have no memory of any characters jumping out at me - though the leader of the phoners is reasonably memorable but only because he reminds me of a character in another King book, as does the whole theme.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* CONCLUSION *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I thought 'CELL' was an excellent idea for a novel but one that I wish King had not had - better to be done by a different author with something to prove as King now has a formula and will stick to it until his next bout of genius a la 'The Green Mile' comes along.

The book is written in typical King style and is an enjoyable read but for such a good idea, the similarity to 'The Stand' really disappointed me.

It had the same feel, the same 'us against them' thing to it that The Stand did but without the depth. I guess the same idea can be re-done but in this instance it just didn't stand up for me. The Stand was good because it was at that time original but also because it explained everything that needed to be explained - Cell didn't do that.

The mysterious signal sent to the phones was never explained satisfactorily beyond the terrorist attack - no clever theorizing here which I would expect from King (call me fussy) - to me, this meant that King has just had the great idea for the book and then got lazy and not tried to expand, just fallen back on the apocalypse theme which worked so well in the Stand.

As a stand alone novel, it is enjoyable enough, depending on what the reader wants to believe possible and how much explanation he requires - perhaps I just expect too much from King these days and a virgin reader may really enjoy this and find the plot entirely plausible?

Other things that bothered me were the solution to curing phoners who hadn't been infected on the 'initial' bout - it just didn't ring true to me - the solution was computer related and as a bit of a techie, it just sounded like he hadn't bothered too much with research, a bit like the signal - lazy…. Also the ending was a huge disappointment to me, I suppose you could call it a cliff hanger…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* OTHER STUFF *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

• Published by Hodder & Stoughton
• ISBN: 0 340 92144 7

Hope this helps! Thanks for reading! Kes :-) x