Under the Dome, by Stephen King

I am not updated with Mr. Stephen King's latest work. I just checked my email alerts about Mr. King and found out this "Under the Dome" novel.


http://bfgb.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/under-the-dome-by-stephen-king/


Two dogs die in this story. Also people — the human body count starts a few pages in and becomes astronomical by the end — but on top of the graphic depictions of murder, rape, suicide, police brutality, angry mobs, and riots, a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever come to bad ends. Killing off people is one thing, but killing puppies takes everything to a whole new level. This is Stephen King at his most violent.

This is also Stephen King at his best. Speaking as a passionate fan, I feel confident in declaring Under the Dome as King’s best stand-alone novel since The Stand. (The Dark Tower series also ranks up there.) King’s detractors have many legitimate criticisms of his writing, but when all is said and done, he is a master storyteller. In particular, King excels at developing believable characters, typically by placing ordinary folks in extraordinary situations; by stretching the mind to consider fantastic What If? scenarios; and by teasing out the nuances of good versus evil. Under the Dome delivers all of this. Oh, does it deliver.

On a sunny day in October, a globe materializes around the small Maine town of Chester’s Mill. Invisible, nearly impermeable, and absolutely impenetrable (nuclear weapons just bounce off), the dome surpasses all human technology. It is alien.

But aliens play only a tiny role in the book. The real focus is on the two thousand people trapped inside the dome, including our hero Dale Barbara, a short-order cook, and our antihero Jim Rennie, a town selectman. It’s bad enough that the town is utterly barricaded from the rest of the world (food, energy, and medical supplies can’t last forever); making everything worse is Selectman Rennie, who sees the chaos of the Dome as his opportunity to grab power. Quicker than you can say “fascism,” Rennie has placed guns into the hands of his cronies and turned Chester’s Mill into a police state. Instant dystopia!

Watching the dynamics of corrupted power at play is what makes the book worth reading. King’s exploration of the best and worst of human nature — heroism and honor, greed and violence — is at its finest in this microcosm of society. (Would it be too obvious to call it a fishbowl?) The book is over a thousand pages long, so some folks will wish that King hadn’t spent quite so much time developing his world; my advice is to neglect your chores for the weekend, kick back with blanket and a kitty cat, and immerse yourself in this battle of good and evil.