Trapped Like Carrots Under the Dome

I just finished Stephen King’s new novel Under the Dome. The immediate reaction might be, didn’t The Simpons’ Movie cover this same topic. Well, yes. But in the author’s note Mr. King claims to have been working on this story for quite a while and did not draw (much) inspiration from the Fox cartoon. Although some of the basic plot elements are very similar right down to the gun-toting lawman trouble. In the King novel the situation quickly devolves into a Lord of the Flies division in the characters into two camps.

King does not pull any punches. You know you are in for a rough ride when he starts the book off by slicing a poor unsuspecting groundhog in half. King introduces you to character after character in this small Maine town. You never know when a character you have just met is about to have their last page-turn. King dispatches each one in a poetic vignette of mayhem.

King seems to have a fascination with people loosing control of their bladder. It was distracting at some points. Every time you turned the page another character was peeing them selves. The language is foul in parts. If this ever becomes the Spielberg TV mini series that will have to go. Unlike some of King’s other books this story actually does try to build to a satisfactory explanation. The story lines all come together in the end and tie up fairly nicely. It’s hard to discuss anything that happens in the second half of this book without giving away spoilers.

If you a a fan of King books like The Stand or even the movie Maximum Overdrive you’ll probably like this book. If you like the TV show Jericho, they you’ll probably like this story too.