Eerie Vintage King, with too many Subplots | The Dead Zone (Signet)

Another great one from Stephen King | The Dead Zone (Signet) | Stephen King

books:


	• The Dead Zone (Signet) Stephen King Signet, 1980 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 204 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Stephen King is wonderful -- but this is far from his best

I agree with the many reviews that praise Stephen King, but I disagree that the Dead Zone ranks with his better work. Two reasons.

First, I am often amazed with his other work how well it stands up to the test of time. For example, The Stand, Needful Things, and It are about thirty years old now (forgive me if one of them is more recent), but they contain only a few sentences that sound dated across some 2,000 pages. The Dead Zone does not share this particular strength. Part of the problem is inherent in the plot line of a character who is in a coma for several years and wakes up to find society changed. The changes look big to the character, and they would have looked big to a reader at the time, but they shrink in significance from today's perspective. Also, this book contains far more political references than the other books by King that I've enjoyed, and these references have a short shelf-life.

The second reason I think this book is only so-so (by the elevated standard of a Stephen King work) is that I found myself skipping paragraphs toward the end. This is exactly the opposite reaction I have had to other work by King, where by the end I am using my hand to cover all the text except the sentence I am reading at the time. This particular book just isn't scary (or otherwise gripping, as in The Long Walk) the way other King stories are.

for more information click here

Eerie Vintage King, with too many Subplots

The main character John Smith has a strange psychic ability -- by touching something or someone he can know their future and see into their past. It allows him to find lost objects or people, save friends from fatal disasters, and leads up to a chilling climax. Chapter one introduces the origins of the ability, a brain injury the inflames an ill-used part of the cortex, received from a fall on ice.

The phrase 'dead zone' itself refers to dead areas of the brain where you can't recall details from, but John figures out ways to work around this problem when using his power. When he can't see a psychic detail, he says 'it's in the dead zone.' This is creepy. He doesn't use his psychic ability much, and views it more of a curse, but if the potential for good is great enough, he will help.

The book could have been a thriller, especially with King's talents of getting into the reader's head and forging empathy. However King spends too much time on secondary characters -- John's parents (especially his mother's religious mania), his first love, his doctors, his students (he's a teacher), and the lives of the evil men John catches with his ability. The beginning is extremely slow, and the middle doesn't have John using his power very often.

What really makes the book is the last fifty pages. What would you do if you met someone who would start World War III (perhaps by accident), and you knew you could stop all that with a simple murder? John Smith must answer that question.

This is a Stephen King book to read once, and only once. I doubt you'll want a re-read, given the pacing issues. Great to borrow from a library.

for more information click here

Another great one from Stephen King

What can I say that has not already been said about this book or Stephen King? Fast paced story, great characters, and creepy story telling. Well worth the money and an excellent read!

for more information click here

chillingly prophetic

King does the "ordinary man in unusual circumstances" here with a stroke of genius, with his Christ-like John Smith character doomed to martyrdom. With a few deft strokes, King sets out the major players and keeps you turning pages. King is simply a mutant--a word genius, one of the best of our times.

Scott Nicholson
The Red Church vs. They Hunger

Entertaining but Fragmented

This book displays all of King's usual strengths. A sense of place (Castle Rock seems completely real), believable characters, and a seamless integration of fantasy and reality.

Unlike some other King books, the story maintains interest right through to the end, and isn't overly long.

My one criticism is that the book doesn't feel like a single piece of work, but more like 2 or 3 novellas stitched together. The last third, about the presidential campaign, hasn't much connection to the earlier parts.

for more information click here

John Smith awakens from an interminable coma with an accursed power-the power to see the future and the terrible fate awaiting mankind in...the dead zone.