The Dead Zone
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The Dead Zone description
In the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers, Gary Westfahl predicts that "King has already earned himself a place in the history of literature.... At the very least, he will enjoy the status of a latter-day Anthony Trollope, an author respected for his popularity and social commentary.... More likely, he will be enshrined as the Charles Dickens of the late 20th century, the writer who perfectly reflected, encapsulated, and expressed the characteristic concerns of his era." If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his generation, it's The Dead Zone (1979). Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer, it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high school teacher, an Everyman, who suffers a gap in time--like a Rip Van Winkle who blacks out during the years 1970-75--and thus becomes acutely conscious of the way that American society is rapidly changing. He wakes up as well with a gap in his brain, the "dead zone" of the title. The zone gives him crippling headaches, but also grants him second sight, a talent he doesn't want and is reluctant to use. The crux of the novel concerns whether he will use that talent to alter the course of history. The Dead Zone is a tight, well-crafted book. When asked in 1983 which of his novels so far was "the best," Stephen King answered, "The one that I think works the best is Dead Zone. It's the one that [has] the most story." --Fiona Webster |
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The Dead Zone Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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One of King's very finest works
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The year before THE DEAD ZONE was published, Stephen King published THE STAND, a stunning novel that is almost certainly King's finest work - which is no small achievement. If THE STAND is not King's best, however, than THE DEAD ZONE probably is. The plotline, as in most of King's stories, isn't breathtaking: a man awakens from a four-year coma with the ability to see the future and read a person's inner thoughts by touching them. It's King's handling of that plotline that makes the book so utterly fantastic. The chain of events in the book is immense and entirely unpredictable. The characters and primarily their actions are unquestionably realistic - sometimes chillingly so.
The book revolves around two major points. One point is explained through a question which torments the novel's protagonist, Johnny Smith: if you could travel in a time machine back to 1932, would you kill Hitler? Would you be willing to be trapped in time and jailed (or, more likely, killed) to save the lives of millions of strangers who you don't even know? More importantly, could you, will you, are you MEANT to, change fate?
This leads into the novel's second point. You may believe in God, or you may not. God you can run from. Fate, however, is inescapable. What is fate? Is it destiny, or is it what God wants you to do? Toward the end of the book, in a letter to his father, Johnny says, "I still don't really believe in God, not in a real Being who plans for us and gives us all little jobs to do, like Boy Scouts winning merit badges on The Great Hike of Life. But neither do I believe that all the things that have happened to me are blind chance." Johnny is torn between his desire to stay out of the public eye, to live in peace and not be hounded by the press or treated like a circus freak, and his urge to help those in trouble. Ultimately, the urge to battle Greg Stillson, a politician who acts like a joke in front of the public but is privately nothing short of evil, overwhelms Johnny and leads him to make his final decision, which results in a shocking yet brilliantly fitting conclusion.
THE DEAD ZONE, like THE STAND, is concrete proof that Stephen King was the quintessential writer of the 20th century. THE DEAD ZONE reflects on human society but also captures the feeling of its time period perfectly, most notably after Johnny awakens from his four-year coma to learn of all the changes in the world. It's a brilliant novel, and undoubtedly one of the finest things the master author ever wrote. |
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