The Dead Zone [Library Binding]

Reason for Reading: I am re/reading Stephen King's books in chronological publishing order. This was my next book. I have also gotten into the habit of starting my year off with a Stephen King novel.

I was really looking forward to this one. I have fond memories of really enjoying the book. I have only read it once before which was this exact paperback copy and I would have been 12 at the time. I don't really remember the story from the book, though, as I have flashes of scenes from the movie with Christopher Walken in my head, some which actually don't even happen in the book. And I was a fan of the TV series which was loosely based on the same premise as the book. So it was great to re-read the original and get the real story firmly planted in my head again.

Excluding the Bachman books, up to this date "The Dead Zone" was King's first non-horror story. This is a story about a psychic and involves him solving a serial killer case and later on facing a prediction that he must decide whether he should take care of the problem before it happens and contemplates that age old hypothetical question, "If you could go back to 1932, knowing what you now know, would you murder Adolph Hitler?" The book carries a rather small cast, comparitively for a King book and we get to know Johnny, the main character, very well. He is very likable and someone we can relate to throughout the book. This book kept me up late at night as I just didn't want to put it down and had virtually forgotten how the book ended though it wasn't hard to predict. King uses very little stream of consiousness in this book; it is a plot driven novel with great character insight and a fast read. I loved it even more than I expected to! Great early King!

While re-reading these books, I also like to look for the connections to previous books and found three while reading. A girl actually mentions the book "Carrie", there is a street named Flagg (a nod to Randall Flagg from The Stand) and the town of Jerusalem's Lot is mentioned. (otherwise known as 'Salem's Lot).

If you are not really into horror books but would like to sample Stephen King, this is an excellent book for your first read and fans can't miss out on this classic old-school King novel.

I've always had sort of weird feelings about The Dead Zone. It is a fantastic novel, yet it has never rated among my personal King favorites. Maybe it's because I envision the story taking place in a cold, harsh world, devoid of color and light. This really isn't a horror novel at all, so there are really no thrills and chills to be found until the few exhilarating moments that make up the climax of this pretty depressing story. The Dead Zone is one of King's most accessible novels, however, and it exemplifies so many of this great author's strengths. First and foremost, the man knows how to tell a story - no one does it better, in my opinion. King's magic gift for characterization is also on display here, as John Smith, a thoroughly "Everyman" protagonist comes across as quite real and exceedingly human; he's a truly ordinary man placed in the most extraordinary of conditions. King truly does the character right in the form of a truly masterful conclusion, as well.

If you could go back in time to 1932 and meet Adolf Hitler, would you kill him? That's the kind of question that ultimately comes to consume Johnny's mind as this story nears its end. Would you sacrifice yourself for the lives of so many other people, virtually all of them strangers?

John Smith is just an ordinary fellow; he's got a job he enjoys, he's fallen in love with a good woman, and he's as happy as he's ever been. Then The Accident happens, and Johnny wakes up to learn that his world will never be the same. He's been in a coma for well over four years, and he faces a painful road to recovery both mentally and physically. His girl has married someone else, his mother has gone off the deep end of religious zeal, he faces painful, scarring surgeries in the brutal months ahead, and he really struggles to find a reason for living in such a harsh new world. He has gained something from the awful experience, however, and it's both a blessing and a curse. At times, he can see the future just by touching a person or an object. It's a frightening power, one that alienates him even further from those around him. When word gets out, he finds himself deluged with pleas for help from people all over the country. All he wants is to live an ordinary life again, but his psychic powers make this impossible. His mother believes God has special plans for Johnny, and in the end he thinks she may be right. He alone, as things turn out, can save his country and maybe the entire world from devastating future destruction wrought by a madman.

Smith is one of King's most sympathetic characters. He's one of us, really, and we suffer along with him as he starts life anew. His physical problems are horrendous, but they pale in comparison to his emotional loss. He's lost his girl, yet he can't even blame her for thinking he would never recover and thus starting her life anew in someone else's arms. He doesn't know what to think or do about this strange power he has developed; it scares people, and it scares him - yet he knows it allows him to do some good things for people. He also knows he can't run away from it. The problem is that no one really believes his predictions until they have proven themselves to be accurate. That is why he has to make the most heroic, most gut-wrenching decision of his life completely on his own.

John Smith is a fabulous character, and The Dead Zone is a truly masterful modern novel. While some of the subtext of the story is rooted in the 1970s, this really is a book for all seasons. It will never make my list of King's top five novels, but it's one of the most compelling stories you'll ever read.

The Dead Zone is an excellent book. Once I started reading it, and became drawn into Johnny's amazing life, I literally could not put the book down. The emotion, the suspense, and my concern for Johnny and those he loved kept me reading, and I finished the book within a single day. It was effortless to sail through the pages of King's simple yet effective prose.

That said, although this book is not long and can be read quickly, it is NOT a light read. The story is complex, filled with thought-provoking symbols and motifs (for those who care to look for them), and the outcome of the story is heartwrenching to say the least. Over the course of the book I grew to care deeply for Johnny and Sarah, the star-crossed lovers, and it was very difficult for me to witness them both suffer so much by various twists of fate. King's writing, as always, conveys such depths of emotions, such humanity, such realism, that when I had finished reading the last page of this book, there was a sizable lump in my throat--and a few tears on my cheek.

I am not saying the ending is all bad. Indeed, Johnny achieves a major victory for himself and for the entire human race at the end of the book. But it doesn't come without a price.

I just thought I would warn potential readers of this book that although the book as a whole is riveting and captivating, you will feel sad when you get to the end. The overall depressing tone of the book is the reason I gave only 4 stars to a brillant book.

Johnny and Sarah and their story will stay in my mind a long time. Once again King has succeeded in telling a tale that is both suspenseful and moving.