Cell

Though I don't know too many of King's books after the early nineties, I'd say he is in top form here, stylistically speaking. The first 150 or so pages are flawlessly compelling, and King manages to build up a palpable tension that is all the more impressive as there are almost no action scenes.

This continues up until the middle part of the book, where new characters are introduced and quite satisfyingly brought to a conclusion.

Once the great quest is underway, however, the sloppiness sets in: King lets his characters work out what must have happened (which is never a good idea for such a setting), and it makes little sense. From the beginning, the “phone people” have shown behaviour that doesn't match the explanation at all. Even worse, King seems to forget his own premises time and time again so that the finale is completely random.

Still, it's a fun way to kill an evening or two, and the weak parts only become apparent once you begin to think about the book. And that's rarely helpful with a King novel ...

Clayton Riddell was having a good day. He had travelled to Boston and just sold some of his art work for a publication, and was on his way back to his hotel when disaster struck. An electro-magnetic pulse sent through the cell phone networks scrambled the brains of all cell phone users, and most of them became mindlessly violent. Cars crashed, and when drivers not using cell phones phoned to explain that they'd been in an accident or were held up by one, they lost their minds too.

Clayton Riddell's main desire then is to get back to his estranged wife and 12-year-old son in Kent Pond, Maine, to see that they are OK, and sets out with a couple of companions to make the journey on foot -- the roads are blocked with crashed vehicles. They soon discover that the phone-crazies as they call them, are active during the day, but not at night, so much of their travelling has to be done at night. The book describes their journey, and the difficulties they face, dominated by Clay Riddell's search for his son.

I find [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] one of the most unpredictable. His books range from very good ([b:Needful Things|107291|Needful Things|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315767817s/107291.jpg|1812101]) to very bad ([b:The Tommyknockers|17660|The Tommyknockers|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394210331s/17660.jpg|150226]). I've generally found his spooky books to be better than his science fiction ones, but this one, though science fiction, seemed to be one of the better ones. I was thinking of giving it four stars until about three-quarters of the way though, when he jumped the shark by introducing levitation, which didn't seem to contribute to the plot at all. And I didn't like the abrupt ending.

Following review is from my blog: fromtheunderworld.blogspot.com/2011/10/stephen-kings-cell.html

You can't go too far wrong when picking up a Stephen King novel. When he's on top form, you're going to get a genuine classic, when he's not you're still going to get an absorbing, easy to read, exciting romp. Lately I've been bemoaning how King simply is the horror genre for many people (just take a look at the most popular horror on Goodreads), but there's good reason for it: he's consistently awesome. Despite the subject matter, for me and many others, King is the go-to for a comfort read.


This is why although I can say Cell is one of his worst novels, I can simultaneously say I enjoyed it, and can recommend it.

Cell opens with a pulse being sent out through mobile phones that turns people into mindless zombie-type creatures, and this sets the stage nicely for a standard zombie-type story. So it's a pleasant surprise when the effects of the pulse begin to change and the tale becomes increasingly original. What's a shame is that the originality isn't always for the best. Although the cause of the pulse is never explained (as these things generally aren't, and usually for the best as most explanations are just shoddy), when King begins to explain the way the pulse works it falls a little flat. When he's describing the way both the human brain and computer systems work, it can seem strained at the least.

But this doesn't detract too badly from what is a solid work. It's a good novel to lose yourself in on a lazy day, best digested in a few big sittings. At times it's reminiscent of a sort of The Stand-lite, which is no complaint.

Although King has finished a screenplay, a movie doesn't seem to be on the horizon any time soon, which is a shame as the writing was extremely cinematic. Whilst Eli Roth was attached to the project, he left over "differences in opinion". King's also stated that he's changed the ending in the screenplay, which is highly intriguing as the ending was one of my primary gripes. The novel ends with a cliffhanger, and while I've nothing against this when done well, neither of the possible options - which I'll refrain from spoiling - are particularly satisfying.

So if you like the sound of an easy read infection novel with a sprinkling of originality, by all means dive in, just don't be expecting his best work.