This one sat on my bookshelf for quite a long time before I finally decided to read it. In fact, given that it’s the hard back version of the book it must have sat there for a couple of years – something that wouldn’t have happened in the past. Usually I move anything by Stephen King straight to the top of my reading pile and make it the next book I read. Perhaps, for me at least, Stephen King has gone off the boil as an author?
Anyway, what can I say about Under The Dome?
Well, the first thing to note is that it gets off to a roaring start, leaping straight into the action with little build up. So it grabs your attention straight away, firmly gripping your lapels and giving you a damn good shake to make sure your wide awake and ready for the journey. And thereafter I was hooked, sucked in by that trademark Stephen King style where people and places are brought vividly to life and emotional attachments and dislikes are formed in almost magical fashion. In fact I was rather surprised at one point to realise just how much anger I felt towards the bad guys and how frustrated I was with their treatment of the good guys. I guess this underlines how important conflict and conflict resolution are to a good story.
And this is a good story. Certainly good enough to keep me absorbed despite being over a thousand pages in length. Good enough to make me decide that Stephen King hasn’t gone off the boil after all.
If I was in the business of awarding marks, this one would score very highly. As I’m not awarding marks, I’ll settle for giving it a thumbs up and recommending it as a good read for all.
“On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away.”
From the synopsis published on stephenking.com.