I've only just really started to move away from teenage books into adults books so I thought a horror book would be quite a gentle ease into adult fiction. I read 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' and thought it was OK and decided to borrow The Dead Zone by Stephen King, thinking it might be more like a horror story. It was also one of the shortest of his I could find at the library, being 467 pages long. I had heard a bit about Stephen King and knew he was a popular horror writer, confirmed by the popularity of the book at the library.
~Plot~ (contains some spoilers)
The prologue basically introduces the characters using the past for the reader to get a feel for them. Johnny Smith is 6 and has a fall on ice and starts to get 'hunches'. The other character introduced at this point is Greg Stillson, a travelling saleman with uncontrollable anger.
The book then goes onto describe a physcic experience at a fairground Johnny has and the relationship between him and another fellow teacher, Sarah. After a car crash, Johnny falls into a coma for 4 years and wakes up to find Sarah married, with a son and a change in American politics. Johnny gets a few physic visions in hospital, one of which makes him famous, causing his slightly mad mother to have a stroke.
Up to this point I think the book is quite gripping and I was actually quite interested in Johnny's progression although I was wondering how 200 pages in I had not seen any sign of horror.
Johnny is then asked to help with a serial killer case, using his physic ability. After this, King seems to be writing a lot about 1970s American poiltics, with Greg Stillson standing as a representative. The rest of the book pretty much concentrates on Johnny and Greg Stillson's campaign.
~Opinion~
I thought the first half of the book was quite readable and I found I was slighty interested in the characters however, at first it was hard to follow as the chapters skipped between various characters. This was a problem as when the chapters returned to some of the minor characters I had quite a hard job trying to remember exactly who they were and of what relevance they were to the plot.
Once the book became focused on the 1970s American politics thing, reading it actually became quite tedious. I'm not sure why I carried on, it was probably me thinking it was going to get better and I did sort of want to know what happened to Johnny.
I thought all the minor characters were quite forgettable, with only Johnny being the one I was interested in. The ending was also quite weak, with most of the unfinished strands being tied up in letter form.
I was actually really disappointed with this book as I was expecting to read a horror book, which this was not.
Some of the comments on the back:
'Omnious and nerve wracking' 'make the hairs on the nape of your neck rise'
I'm not really sure which parts of the book these comments are referring to and maybe at the time of writing (1979) less was expected from horror books.
Overall I would not recommend this book as it's not really an engaging story or much of a horror. I think next time I go to the library, I'll steer clear of King books in future.
RRP £6.99 New on Amazon for £5.99 and at the moment used on amazon for £0.01
(By the way I am reviewing the book, not an audio book.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his ... more
generation, it's The Dead Zone. Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high schoo...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his ... more
generation, it's The Dead Zone. Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high schoo...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his ... more
generation, it'sThe Dead Zone. Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high school ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his ... more
generation, it's The Dead Zone. Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high schoo...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his ... more
generation, it'sThe Dead Zone. Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high school ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Oct 24th, 2007
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