I finished this one about an hour ago, so I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on it. Generally I'll finish a book and let it stew in my mind for a few days before attempting a review, but things are different with Stephen King.

The one thing I love most about Stephen King's work is that his characters are real. They're not superheroes; they're just ordinary people with ordinary lives, generally from Maine, with weaknesses and insecurities like the rest of us. Exciting plot lines aside, that's got to be the reason behind King's success.

Insomnia is no different. Ralph Roberts is an ordinary guy. Except that at 70 years of age, he's no ordinary hero. Ralph has just lost his wife, and he's coping admirably considering. Then he starts to wake earlier and earlier each morning. And starts seeing auras, and strange little men who look to him like little bald doctors. From there, things keep getting weirder for poor Ralph.

The setting of Derry, Maine, is one which should be familiar, if not entirely comfortable, to most Constant Readers. This time around, Derry's Civic Center is to host a speech by America's most prominent feminist, Susan Day. Of course, things can't really happen quietly in Derry and its resident pro-lifers can't see past the fact that Ms Susan Day happens to be pro-choice. They start protesting and the mood in Derry soon turns sour.

Head of the pro-life movement, at least for a while, is Ed Deepneau. Formerly a neighbor of Ralph's, Deepneau has been acting strangely for a while now. Ralph has been witness to some of his stranger behavior and as time passes comes to understand more and more just why Ed has been acting so oddly. At the heart of it all lies the Crimson King (whose name will be familiar if you have read the Dark Tower series), who is simply using Ed as a pawn to get rid of a four-year-old boy named Patrick Danville. It is Ralph who is called upon to stop this from happening.

As with many of King's novels, the weakness here is in the ending. The penultimate climax in Atropos's den was quite thrilling, but the final encounter with the Crimson King all seems rather rushed, confusing, and anti-climatic. I have to say, though, that the very end of the book did leave me with a lump in my throat.

This is one of King's more supernatural novels, and although it has its creepy moments, I wouldn't go as far as to call it a horror novel. It broaches several touchy subjects, and Ed's kamikaze mission is going to get you thinking of 9/11 and terrorism.

This book is closely tied in with King's Dark Tower series, and although you can read it as a stand alone, it is far more fulfilling to be read in conjunction with that series. That ought to be taken into consideration if you're thinking of reading this book.