Under the Dome – by Stephen King
Book Review by Mike Nolan
In the afterword, the Master of creepy and scary claims that writing this book was too much for him when he started in the 1970s. It took him 30 years to get to the point where he could finish this novel. Just imagine a story that Stephen King struggled to write!
Under the Dome is a portrait of a small-town Maine community, Chester’s Mill, which becomes seriously unhinged when a mysterious transparent dome of energy, a force field, surrounds and cuts off the town. The entire novel covers a period of less than one week – that being the amount of time needed for the real horror to set in. The pace is fast and this novel is a definite page turner.
King, in my opinion, has done it again. This time, the creepy and scary comes from within each citizen of the town. King understands homo homini lupis – man is a wolf toward man. Here, King uses the subtle primordial fear we all have deep down. What would you do to survive? How low would or could you go? When everything breaks down, even the air you breathe, how would you act? Would you kill one, some, or many? Our capacity for good or evil is the story here and there is nothing as scary as what we can do to each other.
In this story we witness, share and are part of the actions (or not) of the populace of Chester’s Mill. King allows us to see the unbelievable greed, corruption, villainy, and brutality of the duly elected Selectman of the town, a used car dealer and the biggest producer of crack on the East Coast, Big Jim Rennie. The Dome creates a perfect situation for this evil genius to exploit, control, and outright murder the innocent citizens of his town. Outside, the government and military are unable to even scratch the Dome. The scientists are at a loss but all indication is that the power source of the energy field is inside. On the other side of Big Jim is a seriously reluctant hero – Dale Barbara, a drifter, short order cook, and former Special Ops soldier who served in Iraq; the local newspaper editor; a gang of teenage skateboarders and others who a trying to discover the secrets of the Dome.
King’s writing is terrific and for those of us that are interested his use of dialog and pace are masterly. This is a large book, 1000 plus pages, and contains some sensitive topics; foul language, gang rape, necrophilia, drug abuse, and murder – not usually Stephen King prose. This book is compelling so don’t start it unless you have the time to finish it. Although the Dome is scientific, this is not a sci-fi novel but a book about real horror – how ugly man can be to his fellows. A good but disturbing thought provoking book.