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I’m on a bit of a Stephen King bender again, and after Doloris Claiborn I’m surprised again at how much better King was earlier in his career. The Dead Zone is ostensibly about a guy who comes out of a coma in possession of the ability to tell someone’s future (among other things) just by touching them. But at another level it’s about how an ordinary man deals with the extraordinary (a staple of King’s storytelling) and the tricky moral dilemmas that this kind of ability brings with it. Ultimately, The Dead Zone’s main character, Johnny Smith, has to find out that with great power comes great responsibility (apologies to a certain other her for stealing his line there).
One thing I like about this story is that until the end you’re never completely sure that Smith isn’t at least a little crazy. King sets up a parallel story about a serial killer that doesn’t quite work out the way he originally telegraphs it, and unlike in the movie adaptation of the Dead Zone where everything is clear-cut, we’re not really sure that Johnny is doing the right thing when he makes the decision that forms the lynch pin of the book’s plot. It’s just plain entertaining stuff.
The only sad thing is knowing that there are only a finite number of King’s older stuff to read through, and even fewer that I haven’t already read. I’m starting Firestarter next, though.
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