Cell

by Stephen King

book data

8,887 ratings, 3.37 average rating, 1,020 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		16%
4		28%
3		33%
2		15%
1		5%

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published

November 21st 2006 by Pocket Star

binding

Paperback, 480 pages

setting

The United States

isbn

1416524517 (isbn13: 9781416524519)

description

Witness Stephen King's triumphant, blood-spattered return to the genre that made him famous. Cell, the king of horror's homage to zombie films (the bo...more

[close] Witness Stephen King's triumphant, blood-spattered return to the genre that made him famous. Cell, the king of horror's homage to zombie films (the book is dedicated in part to George A. Romero) is his goriest, most horrific novel in years, not to mention the most intensely paced. Casting aside his love of elaborate character and town histories and penchant for delayed gratification, King yanks readers off their feet within the first few pages; dragging them into the fray and offering no chance catch their breath until the very last page.

In Cell King taps into readers fears of technological warfare and terrorism. Mobile phones deliver the apocalypse to millions of unsuspecting humans by wiping their brains of any humanity, leaving only aggressive and destructive impulses behind. Those without cell phones, like illustrator Clayton Riddell and his small band of "normies," must fight for survival, and their journey to find Clayton's estranged wife and young son rockets the book toward resolution.

Fans that have followed King from the beginning will recognize and appreciate Cell as a departure--King's writing has not been so pure of heart and free of hang-ups in years (wrapping up his phenomenal Dark Tower series and receiving a medal from the National Book Foundation doesn't hurt either). "Retirement" clearly suits King, and lucky for us, having nothing left to prove frees him up to write frenzied, juiced-up horror-thrillers like Cell. Stay tuned for more from the hardest-working retiree in the business with Lisey's Story, coming in October 2006. --Daphne Durham
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01/02/08

Chris rated it:

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: nobody

I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what to say. I own about 30 Stephen King books, I believe I have read them all. Strange enough, it seems like just as I started getting into the King of Horror, his talent began to dwindle. I think it was when I was in sixth grade that I started digging him and becoming a fan, and at about that same time he began to put out books that pretty much anyone with a brain will concede are not nearly the clean-up hitters that his first works were. Carr...more I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what to say. I own about 30 Stephen King books, I believe I have read them all. Strange enough, it seems like just as I started getting into the King of Horror, his talent began to dwindle. I think it was when I was in sixth grade that I started digging him and becoming a fan, and at about that same time he began to put out books that pretty much anyone with a brain will concede are not nearly the clean-up hitters that his first works were. Carrie, Pet Cemetery, Christine, Cujo, The Stand, The Shining…..esteemed and awesome for the most part, only to be replaced with the likes of Gerald’s Game, The Woman Who Loved Tom Gordon, Insomnia, and the Green F@cking Mile.

There’s something wrong in that, I was always under the belief that the more experience you have in your craft the better you will eventually get, unless you’re an absolute nimrod. Well, Mr. King proves me dead-fricking wrong, especially with the release of Cell, a novel I can’t quite find a word for. Disappointing? No, I was expecting about as much. Poor? Too rich for this trash. Feeble? Getting warmer.

I want to put this to bed rather quickly, after all, Stephen King has written more than a few badass books and I’d rather not dwell on the poor bastard's dwindling talents as he progresses in age and rocks out in his crappy band, “Bookwyrm”. Ok, so his band isn’t called Bookwyrm, but it ought to be; it shows that in one second I came up with a more powerful and awesome name than he ever could. His band doesn’t matter here, what matters is that King had the great idea of making a back-to-the-basics horror novel, and what better subject matter than zombies! Flucking zombies man! Maybe Steve is the only one who hasn’t realized it, but zombies have been beat to death (no pun intended) in recent media via horror films and video games. Not to mention that the Zombie King, the venerable George Romero, has produced some rather slick zombie films in his “Dead” series recently, one example is Land of The Dead, which King liberally rips off with the idea of zombies evolving in this novel, although Romero isn’t gay enough to consider having them evolve super powers including levitation, thought-control, and telepathy. Thank god.

King, however, is down with this wishy-washy, flimsy shit, and it’s not surprising that the novel starts to nosedive about the time the undead begin using their newfound powers. Like all King novels that center around droves of mindless minions of evil, there is one badass leader zombie that seems to be running the show, and he’s the only character that I can really even recall from the book, how f@cking pitiful is that, especially since the only reason I can imagine the dude is because he’s such a archetypical figure that this is his only real intent.

The story plods along after all cell phones receive some sort of ‘pulse’ which leads to the poor f@cker on the phone becoming a zombie. If I recall correctly, that’s the only thing which turns people into zombies, the Pulse. Now, I understand King is trying to make a point on society through the sheer number of zombies, but let’s face it, the number of people this would effect is not that fucking catastrophic. In Cell, it is, almost 75% of the world seems to either have been zombified, or is in immediate danger due to someone else’s transformation into a zombie. This sheer mathematical impossibility annoyed me throughout the course of the story. Adding to my troubles, the main character, Clayton (of all fuggin names), is hell-bent on finding his family, he’ll do anything just to see if they are alive or dead, blah blah blah. I think another character was a homo and of course there was the ever-present Crafty Child. All dicking around while the zombies grew more powerful through their unnatural cerebral enhancements. Boring.(less)

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07/01/07

Leah rated it:

Literary critics can moan all they want about Stephen King's "penny dreadful" oeuvre, but his mastery at the craft of storytelling is indisputable. King writes his novels like a seduction, the story unfolding delicately and deliberately. As any Stephen King fan knows, his coy expository chapters often take up the first hundred pages or more. In Cell, however, the reader is brutally dragged into the main action--unspeakable, senseless violence--within the first seven pages. Cell is by f...more Literary critics can moan all they want about Stephen King's "penny dreadful" oeuvre, but his mastery at the craft of storytelling is indisputable. King writes his novels like a seduction, the story unfolding delicately and deliberately. As any Stephen King fan knows, his coy expository chapters often take up the first hundred pages or more. In Cell, however, the reader is brutally dragged into the main action--unspeakable, senseless violence--within the first seven pages. Cell is by far King's most brutal, transgressive work to date.

Many have compared Cell to his earlier epic, The Stand. On the surface, the novels are quite similar: an apocolyptic event threatens the very existence of the human race as a band of survivors struggle to come to terms with the carnage and avert further catastrophe. Cell, however, is the far more mature novel of the pair. The Stand was, in many ways, a novel by an idealistic youth, whereas Cell is filled with the trenchant and world-weary observations of an adult. The subtext is laden with so much chillingly apt futurist rhetoric that it is as though the author had Marshall McLuhan whispering plot devices and metaphors into his ear as he labored over his typewriter. King manages to explore several of the major sociocultural conflicts of our time, most persuasively the end of the era of individualism and the rise of collectivism, here symptomatic of heavy reliance on technology. Whereas many dystopian novels are almost comically blunt when expounding upon the dangers of collectivism, King's horrific plot and action give his metaphors a sort of subtlety that renders his subtext much more graceful and easier to stomach than the work of Ayn Rand.

As the epigraphs indicate, it is also a meditation on the intrinsic violence of the human race. King clearly feels as though the world is out of control and wants to find out why. His preferred genre, horror, is an excellent one with which to consider the depravaties of modern life. The Stand was a novel that, if not upbeat, was at least optimistic--a reflection of the times in which it was written. There was also violence, but it had its own biblical logic, if violence can ever be called logical. In Cell, the violence is senseless, oppressive, and omnipresent. There seems to be little promise for a better world... at least not one inhabited by human beings.

Many reviewers took issue with the unresolved ending. Considering the subtext of the novel, however, the reader will find that the ending's abruptness actually informs the sense that Cell, besides being an excellent horror yarn, is a meticulously painted portrait of the horrors of global culture. The many crises of our time are still developing and mutating. The end is not yet, it seems, in sight.
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06/06/08

Nolan rated it:

Read in January, 2008

I was in high school when Peter Benchley’s epic book Jaws became a movie. I used to laugh long and loud at my then-youthful friends who wouldn’t go near the water that summer, and if they did, they spent lots of time furtively glancing around them to make sure the evil shark wasn’t anywhere near, never mind that they were swimming in a public pool or local reservoir. Why do I tell you all this? Because I’m having just a wee bit of a problem picking up my wireless phone on the first ri...more I was in high school when Peter Benchley’s epic book Jaws became a movie. I used to laugh long and loud at my then-youthful friends who wouldn’t go near the water that summer, and if they did, they spent lots of time furtively glancing around them to make sure the evil shark wasn’t anywhere near, never mind that they were swimming in a public pool or local reservoir. Why do I tell you all this? Because I’m having just a wee bit of a problem picking up my wireless phone on the first ring these days, and it’s directly related to the fact that I’ve just finished Stephen King’s “Cell,” DB61241.

Clay Riddell is on top of the world. He’s just made his first major sale as an illustrator and author of comic book characters to a publisher in Boston. But his entire world is turned upside down and changed forever on a seemingly normal afternoon in Boston. Civil, ordinary cell phone users are turned into murderous zombie-like creatures when they use their wireless phones because of some kind of pulse that is broadcast to their phone which obliterates their minds and reboots their brain somehow. The consequences are awful. Clay witnesses graphically violent murders all around him, and Boston is soon on fire with flames and explosions everywhere.

Clay realizes he must get back to Maine to his estranged wife and son, and he remembers with horror that his son got a new red cell phone for his birthday! He manages to attach himself to a group of normal people who do not use cell phones and therefore haven’t been affected by the pulse. Clay and his companions realize they must take action against the Phoners, as the zombies are called. For the Phoners are evolving into a group of people who can communicate telepathically and levitate themselves.

The book is violent with graphic details of murder and mayhem. King drops the F bomb in here quite liberally it seems to me. A major character for whom you develop a great deal of sympathy dies, and I think her death was entirely unnecessary. It did nothing but detract from the story as far as I’m concerned.

The overarching theme of this book almost seems to be that we need to beware of our increasing dependence on technology and how easy it would be for the right group of people to somehow forever alter our world through the very technology we’ve come to think of as harmless and indeed helpful.

Would I read this again? Well, perhaps. It was well written in so many regards, and King’s ability to horrify and tell a gripping story is well known to us all. This wasn’t my favorite King book, but it’s certainly understandable how it can be a bestseller.
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01/31/08

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0743292332)

bookshelves: apocolypse

Read in July, 2006

You know, I'm pretty sure he said he was retiring a few years ago. Not that I'm complaining, mind you - this was a fun read. I just figure we should never trust a writer when they say they're done. This is like crack to them, I suppose.

With this book, King is back to my favorite story type of his - world-spanning apocalypse. Ain't nothing better than the end of the world, in my judgment, and The Stand is still one of my favorite King books.

In this one, though, he takes a ...more

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08/06/08

Jeremy rated it:

Stephen King has re-written The Stand. The upside is story moves faster, starts quicker and is about 500 pages shorter. The downside is the characters aren’t as memorable, the story seems rushed at points and the ending is not very fulfilling.

There’s isn’t any buildup to the action, right away you find out what is going to destroy society. A signal from cell phones is doing something screwy with people’s minds, blanking them out and creating a cross between a zombie and a bird (it makes ...more

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06/23/08

R. added it

bookshelves: unfinishedreads

I, like many of you, grew up with Stephen King as a given. You're born in America in the 70s, you get Stephen King as your honorary scary uncle with a horrible taste in music and understanding of current trends (read his Entertainment Weekly column for proof of this...)

Basically, I'm turning to Cell right now because I need some big-screen horrorfluff.

And, on the way home from the library, the cellular carrier actually called me to sell me some other product or service...more

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17 comments

05/25/07

Evan Peterson rated it:

(review of isbn 0743292332)

Read in May, 2007

I really identified with the character of Clay, from his artistic origins to his driving need to find and save his son, the character really spoke to me. And he wasn't an asshat or a tool, which is refreshing; he was just stupid in the typical horror movie ways.

The character of Tom was great too. I think he might be the first gay character King has written that he hasn't killed off after making a caricature of him and/or turning him into a villain or asshole. He too was r...more

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01/30/09

Trin rated it:

bookshelves: american-lit, apocafic, horror, queerlit

Read in January, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

In which King Technophobe turns everyone with cell phones into zombies—or rather, into the Borg. I was more into this in the early chapters when it was survivors vs. zombies; the Borgian bits bored me a little. I was also a little skeeved that King chose to make a black man in a Harvard sweatshirt the leader of the Borg army—there’s so much nasty stuff one could read into an educated black dude being used as the representative of the mind-enslaving Big Bad. But I am afraid to touch Stephen...more

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12/21/08

Maria rated it:

recommends it for: Zombie lovers and Cellphone addicts

This books talks about a phenomenon called The Pulse that turns everyone that uses a cell phone into raving murderous maniacs that talk latin and have psionic superpowers .
Then there's those who don't have a cell phone and therefore need to fight (like hell) to survive.

I actually liked the book.
The orignal idea was good and the characters were enganging. I think I liked them all and that happens rarely to me. Also although it was 470 pages long it was action packed and g...more

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08/25/08

Anca rated it:

bookshelves: cu-film, in-vacanta, sf-si-fantasy, stupide

Read in August, 2008

My first Stephen King book, if I don't reckon with "Carrie". Usually, and for a while now, I'm skeptical when it comes with horrors, thrillers, detective books etc. [I say 'for a while' because I liked them in my childhood a lot (though I don't remember reading lots of them - I think I was afraid not to get bored)]. Because I find them having no esence, not to call them comercial, which I find to be a snob and to-much-used term.

Maybe I was too eager to dive in it and...more

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03/28/08

Jules G rated it:

Read in March, 2008

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01/31/08

Christy rated it:

Okay, let me say up front, I am an official cult follower of King's "The Stand". I absolutely love that book and believe its popularity stems from a very primary concept: good vs. bad; God vs. the Devil. When I began reading "Cell", I immediately thought, oh, boy, another Stand. Wrong. The premise is great: world-wide (I think - it's never actually explained) devastation which begins from what King calls a Pulse via cell phones. Those on the phones turn violent at first, then...more

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12/17/07

Thee_ron_clark rated it:

(review of isbn 0743292332)

bookshelves: zombies

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: fans of Stephen King, post apocalyptic novels, and zombie-type stuff

When I first heard about this book,I was very excited. The premise of one of the top horror authors today writing about one of my favorite topics was something worth celebrating. I picked up a copy and I was impressed that the action started right away. One thing King has done to me in the past is left me to suffer through several pages of overly descriptive nonsense waiting for the book to get moving along for me. The Cell did not have that issue. The premise of this novel was pretty cool; a ce...more

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11/02/07

Alex rated it:

bookshelves: books-read-in-2006

Read in January, 2006

CELL BY STEPHEN KING: Cell is Stephen King's first horror novel since he completed his epic "Dark Tower" series. In the middle of writing the last two books in the series he was asked what he'd be writing about next and his response had been something to the effect of: "I'm never writing another book again!" That's what happens when you ask a guy about writing when he's drowning in thousands of pages and hundreds of thousands of words. But now some years and much needed rest ...more CELL BY STEPHEN KING: Cell is Stephen King's first horror novel since he completed his epic "Dark Tower" series. In the middle of writing the last two books in the series he was asked what he'd be writing about next and his response had been something to the effect of: "I'm never writing another book again!" That's what happens when you ask a guy about writing when he's drowning in thousands of pages and hundreds of thousands of words. But now some years and much needed rest and recovery later, Cell takes technology and cell phones to a whole new level: zombies!

With the opening line, "The event that came to be known as The Pulse began a 3:03 p.m., eastern standard time, on the afternoon of October 1," the reader is immediately dragged into the thrall of the book, which is unusual since King usually takes up to fifty pages to get started with his books. "The Pulse" is an electromagnetic signal sent through cell phones, so anyone using their phone at that point is immediately affected, the result being their mind is completely wiped. What's left? Our primitive, primordial thoughts and reactions, which are little to none; the result: zombies!

Clayton Riddell has just landed his first huge lucrative comic book deal and is ready to return home to Kent Pond in Maine to his wife -- who is drifting away from him -- and his son to tell them everything is going to be okay, but then the pulse hits and pandemonium erupts: zombies!

Clay has only one goal in mind: to get to his wife, and more importantly his son and make sure he's alive and well. He consoles himself with the terror of knowing his son has a shiny red cellphone, though the last time Clay saw it, it was under his son's bed, forgotten; then again with everything that's happened, his son might have chosen to keep his cell phone handy. With the help of a homosexual middle-aged man and a fifteen year old girl, they make their slow journey north through New Hampshire and on to Maine. Somehow the reader is supposed to just take it for given the fact that the other two have little interest in going anywhere else except to see Clay's son and wife. They soon discover that the zombies are very human in one way: they sleep at night and for some reason like easy listening music while they are in this "resting state," which involves packing together like sardines in a big arena or gym and just lying there, eyes open, doing nothing. Strange zombies!

As the novel progresses, through a process of elimination, it is discovered that the zombies are telepathic, work on a "hive mind" system, and also possess some psychic power that allows the "phonies" to talk through "normies" using their mouths. It is also revealed that there is a protected reserve in Maine called Kashwak where there is no cellphone reception (KASHWAK=NO-FO), and therefore a place of refuge for the normies. It is there the group is headed (other members are added), destroying "flocks" of phonies along the way, and are in fact pulled there with the psychic power of the phonies, who's spokesperson is a zombie they call the Raggedy Man. As Clay discovers that his wife and son are already near Kashwak, they all head there, knowing that the reserve will be the final showdown between the normies and the phonies. The question is whether humanity will triumph, or whether homo sapiens sapiens will be reduced to zombies!

As Cell got into full swing, I was hoping for something a little more epic, though I kind of figured this wouldn't happen since the book was only 350 pages, I knew it couldn't get too "big." Nevertheless, I would have liked a little more depth to it. My biggest complaint with cataclysm stories is that they tend to focus on such a small scale.

Read the rest of the review at www.alexctelander.com

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com.(less)

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03/27/08

James rated it:

recommends it for: Die-hard fans who want a complete collection

Well, the first thing I've learned whilst doing this review is, don't navigate away from it without saving it or it will disappear! Sigh. So here I go again.

This book was disappointing. He had a good idea here, but nothing really seemed to get resolved; it's as if he just suddenly said "Ok, I'm done with this." Some books work well with a "I'm not going to tell you how it ended" approach, but not this one; when I finished it I said "That's it!?"
...more

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04/18/08

Lindy rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2008

This book started out strong. It had great description and I really got a great mental picture of the crazy scene in Boston on OCtober 1st. Great gore. Stephen King is always great at creating a sense of creepy. The only complaint about the book is that it was only about the handful of core characters who weren't that interesting. Clay spends a lot of time in his head and just doesn't seem like someone I'd like to be friends with. Tom's ambiguous sexuality is boring. Alice was interesting, but s...more

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09/02/08

Eric Smith rated it:

Read in September, 2008

recommends it for: King fans and zombie genre readers.

I do not usually read Stephen King. I think he has some great ideas but I just usually cannot deal with his writing style and I have no good explanation for why. I thought that this book seemed like and interesting idea and upon reading it was pleasantly surprised. I will probably never read it again but it was one of the most enjoyable books I have read by Mr. King.

The plot is compelling and fast enough to keep from bogging down. The story is unique and goes a few places I was...more

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10/25/07

Seizure Romero rated it:

(review of isbn 0743292332)

bookshelves: zzzzznrk

Read in January, 2007

I guess I should have a shelf titled "read-sort of." The first 50-75 pages were fairly engaging-- it is a timely concept and the "what if" factor keeps the plot moving. Then I realized I was reading The Stand all over again, but a slightly different version where the story actually becomes less interesting the further I read. I skipped ahead. I tried to find parts that didn't bore me. I failed. Then I fell asleep and later woke to a beautiful world where I had the freedom to ...more

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03/02/09

john Adams rated it:

bookshelves: reviewed, trying-to-remember-what-i-read

Read in February, 2009

I love Stephen King and this book exemplifies all the reason why! Stephen King is just a master story teller and from the characters to twisting plot lines to the tone in which he writes everything is spot on in Cell. When I was reading this I was reminded what I love about Stephen King and I would describe it as this: the way he writes, it just feels like he is sitting in the room telling you a really cool story. His descriptions and style are unique and they generate a presence and an obvio...more

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02/09/09

Graham rated it:

(review of isbn 0340921447)

bookshelves: horror

Read in May, 2006

Cell starts off like a vintage King thriller, depicting the end of the world in a brilliant way: full of chaos, destruction and outright gore. The first few chapters of this book are remarkable, sparkling with excitement and danger, just like the good old days. And then the book changes. It becomes fleshy, plodding, just like a dozen other King books (I’m thinking Insomnia for one). Not exactly boring, but certainly a long way from the opening brilliance.

The text seems crammed wit...more

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