I don't wait with baited breath every time that Stephen King releases a new book. It's just that my sister does and when she's finished she gives the books to me to read (same thing happened with Harry Potter). Over the years I've grown quite fond of the quick fix that King's books give. Never seriously challenging (i.e. you don't have to reread passages to absorb them), but all the same very entertaining in a sado-masochistic sort of way.
I haven't read all his books, but the good ones that spring to mind are 'The Dark Half', 'The Stand' and a few others that don't spring to mind at the moment (I've got a terrible memory). So when I clapped eyes on this hefty hardback I was anticipating some chilling reading.
The Cell starts with a bang. A serious event happens that effects a large number of people around the main character 'Clayton Riddell'. This incident revolves around mobile phones. Seemingly anyone that is using one at this particular moment is
suddenly turned into a psychotic zombie, or seriously brain-damaged.
The mobile phone is the weapon of mass destruction. A pulse has been sent by some unknown organization to turn us from people who are able to reason and subdue our primeval rage, into non-reasoning (to begin with) zombies. As mentioned the book opens with a bang. One moment Clayton is happily walking along the sidewalk having sold some of his comic book drawings the next he's in the middle of a warzone as a busy street turns into a battlefield. Where the 'phone-crazies' literally tear bystanders and themselves limb from limb. Cars explode and crash, explosions are heard all over the city. Clayton needs to find a safe haven.
Along the way Clayton meets up with a variety of characters that become the meat and potatoes of the book. There's the gay man that proves he can be a man of action, the fiesty 15 year old girl and the requisite schoolboy genius and his master.
The crux of the story is that Clayton and his gang are trying to find a safe haven along with other normal people who have not been affected by the 'Pulse' (the 'Pulse' being an apocalyptic event that has, or seems to have, effected most of the planet). This involves travelling at night for hundreds of miles (the phone crazies sleep at night and nothing, not even someone detonating a bomb underneath them can wake them.) Also Clayton is desperately trying to get news of his young son, who may or may not be a 'Phoner'.
As the story progresses the zombies get a bit more intelligent (the idea is that they are like a 'flock' thinking as one rather than individuals). And after some destructive encounters the normal folk are left to wonder who the bad guys actually are... Them or the zombies.
From my point of view this is Stephen King getting some stuff of his chest post 9/11, Iraq and the London bombings (all of which get name-checked in the book). He uses the fact that most of us use a mobile phone, and feel compelled to answer a ringing one as a club to beat us over the head. Has technology improved our lives? Looking at the news you wouldn't think so. He's asking us who the monsters really are, and to be honest there isn't an answer. The zombie clan are like a new empire sweeping through the lands. The normal folk are the savage barbarians, desperately trying to hold onto what was once theirs.
I struggled with this one to some degree. After the initial excitement there was a bit of a lull, and I found it hard to get going again. It did get going again and after a hundred pages or so it flagged again. There were no truly horrific moments, and also no truly scary moments. Maybe we've become desensitized to it all these days. I also found that the dialogue that Stephen provided for some of the younger characters decidedly cheesy. It was like your Dad trying to do a cool dance at a disco. In an attempt to make the book look topical and fresh, Stephen has guaranteed that the book will date very quickly. The book also ends on a bit of a low, almost ready for a sequel. You feel a bit cheated.
All the characters are likeable to some degree, though I never really cared too much when a couple of them got bumped off. As with most of King's books there are some American 'in-jokes' and references that you need to get past to truelly enjoy the book (i.e. people from that State are not as tolerant as people from that one).
So would I recommend it?.. Yes... After all it's Stephen king and he knows how to grip a reader (my other half looked over my shoulder as I read this and said, 'His style of writing is very basic isn't it?') Of the four books I took on holiday this is the one that I completed. I can imagine this making quite a good film, though the special effects budget will probably be astronomical!
Pictures of Cell - Stephen King
USA COVER
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Jun 17th, 2006
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
