Customer Reviews

Cell: A Novel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I eagerly awaited this release after reading the synopsis. This was the first Stephen King book I have bought in 6 or more years. I find that since Insomnia his books have gone downhill and are too much talk not enough of anything else. This book was fabulous, it read like I was watching a movie. Finished it in the blink of an eye, couldn't put it down! I totally recommend buying this book, especially if you were a fan of his older novels. I couldn't believe the so-so reviews out there, but maybe they were expecting his new style rather than the much appreciated past.

Loved the book. The story was very Kingian and lents itself well
to what most of us endure every day: Cellular users poisoning our lives. It's about time they should be the subject of a story in which they die horribly. Anyway, loved the story and hope Mr. King continues to bring about the end of the world as we know it with his imagination. Long live King !!!

Ever since George A. Romero set the world alight with `Night of the Living Dead' in 1968, screen writers and novel writers alike, have tried to match the originality and brilliance of that story. Some have come close, but no-one has ever matched it. (Even George A. Romero has tried and despite some excellent attempts, he has failed.) The Cell is Stephen King's attempt and again it fails to hit the mark.

It's a brilliant premise - something as ubiquitous as a cell phone, being used by an unknown enemy, to turn the population into frenzied, inane, killers. Think about it - everyone has a cell phone, from your eleven year old cousin to your eighty year old grandmother - they are everywhere! So, if they were ever were to turn against us, we would be in trouble!

Unfortunately, the brilliance ends with the initial premise and does not radiate throughout the book. King's ideas are original; all the usual zombie clichés are missing, there are no gung-ho ex marines ready to kill anything that moves and in King's book when you die, you die, you are not resurrected as a flesh eating, groaning, monster. Even though this is true, I kinda miss these old unoriginal cliché's!

'The Cell', unfortunately, never seems to warm up, firstly, it jumps straight into it. The first zombie appears on the fourth page, giving the reader no time to get to know the characters. (Surely, we have to learn a bit about the characters in order to decide if we want them to get killed in grotesquely horrible ways, or we want them to survive to the end?) But Clayton is the only character we are introduced to before the book launches into the action and we only get to know him in the books dangerous and stressful situation. (I realise that books these days have to capture the reader from the first page, but King, is such a popular writer that surely he can afford to spend a few pages letting us get to know his characters.)

King does have interesting ideas, the zombies or the `phone hordes' are all guided by some higher intelligence and communicate telepathically or through dreams, they are not the brainless, flesh-eating zombies we have come to expect from this genre, but like the premise, he never seems to capitalise on these good ideas. The book is definitely worth a read, if you are a massive King fan you will probably love it and any book that contains the line "Homeland Security's been cancelled due to a lack of sanity" has got to be worth consideration. However, this reader prefers, some of Stephen King's other work, like Shawshank or the Shining, both of these are as near perfection as a novel can be!!!

I have no doubt Stephen King will return to form and impress us all again! After all, he is the brain behind such classics as Carrie and The Stand. So I am disappointed for the moment, but I am eagerly awaiting his next book, hoping it will match the novels previously mentioned.

As an avid Stephen King fan I was eagerly awaiting this novel but I was to be disappointed.
The book has a great plot and starts off with King's usual dark mastery and suspence but it soon loses impetus and leads to a poor ending.
It also seems to borrow quite heavily from some of King's earlier works and you don't seem to get the quality of characterisation in this novel as you have in previous ones.

Our book club usually picks “standards”---you know the ones I’m talking about---bestsellers, (sometime) Oprah picks, recommendations from friends, books that EVERYONE has read: “Da Vinci Code” by Brown comes to mind, as does McCrae’s “Katzenjammer”---but we’ve honestly NEVER picked a Stephen King novel . . . until now. This was our first and believe it or not, we zipped right through and had to ask ourselves, “Why haven’t we done this before?”

If you pick up this book expecting the last word in great literature, you will be disappointed. If you pick it up expecting an exciting ride, then by all means, stop . . . do not pass go . . . do not collect two hundred dollars . . . buy CELL now and read it.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock and haven’t discovered the annoying use of cell phones, just to set the record straight, this book is about just that—cell phones. BUT, King takes things to a whole new level with horror and it really makes you think.

Basic premise is this: On Oct 1, a “pulse” was sent to ALL cell phones. This changed the world because anyone who heard it became zombie-like (which isn’t that hard of a stretch of the imagination when you consider what most cell phone users look like while in action.) Not Clayton Riddell, though--he never trusted cell phones. Clayton's paranoia saved him from becoming a "phonie," but it cursed him to life among them, worrying about his son, hundreds of miles away. With a small band of survivors, Clayton sets out to make sure his child is all right. Anyhoo . . . the story just goes from bizarre to morose and as usual, Mr. King-of-Horror knows just how to time things so your pulse is set racing.

If you have to read one book this year, make it CELL. Would also recommend the colorful “Katzenjammer” by J. MCcrae, and a book titled “Odd Thomas” which, though nothing like CELL is equally as good (I enjoy all genres).

As a King fan I was eagerly awaiting the release of this novel

but I was to be disappointed as the story is basically a rehash of The Stand.

It begins well enough but loses pace half-way through and leads to a disappointing conclusion.

Not a patch on his early works.

I just recently finished this book or rather 2/3's of it. Many people have compared this to The Stand and I have to disagree. It's more like a Tommyknockers/Dreamcatcher combo.

The middle part of Cell was interesting, but the characters still remained flat.

The storyline was stupid with no explanation of how this happened, i.e., the cell phone stuff.

The only characters I liked were Alice, Tom and Rafe the cat.

Have to agree with others here. Cell is a remake (in most degrees) of The Stand. The Stand being a much better and more engaging story.

The Cell starts off nicely and then tires in the last 3rd of the book.

The ending is predictable but also leaves many unanswered questions at the same time.

I was left feeling frustrated at the lack of closure and completeness.

No doubt this story will be made into a movie as it would be an easy sell given the fact almost everyone owns a cellphone.

Cellphones/Brain Altering Computer Virus = End of World. Good Hollywood stuff.

King can still come up with some interesting and dark stories though. This is not one of them.

Stephen King makes a welcome return to creepsville with "Cell", his best book in recent times. Although no "It" or "Pet Semetary" on the creepy scale, this one goes back to the days when the mere mention of his name could set your spine tingling. "Cell" hits home when you consider the source of the all the trouble, and realize that you probably have one close at hand even as you're reading this.

On October 1, the world as we know it changes forever, when a phenomenon known as "The Pulse" ripples throughout the cellular network, turning human beings into zombie-like killers with mush for brains. A handful of technology resistant survivors do whatever they must to survive, but just when they think they understand what they're up against, the horde starts to evolve.

Before long, "The Night of the Living Dead" population starts using telepathy, levitation, nightmares and dreamscapes, and some really cheesy music against the survivors, herding them to a mysterious place known only as KASHWAK=NO-FO.

This page turner will have you racing to get to the end, only to find that far too many significant plot points remain unanswered, but while it lasts, the ride is an eerily enjoyable one.

Amanda Richards

Cell starts off with a bang, when civilisation comes to a sudden, and very bloody end. From then on, however, things take a downward turn, as a group of characters embark on a quest reminiscent of The Stand, but not as riveting. The characters, and the book's ending, are not among King's best, with several questions left hanging in the air. Having said that, there are plenty of unsettling moments, and the hordes of zombie-like "phoners" are described with King's trademark eye for the grotesque. He also does well at transforming a humble communications device into an instrument of terror.