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The Dead Zone

Stephen King (Goodreads Author)

3.94 · Rating details · 204,243 ratings · 5,006 reviews

Johnny, the small boy who skated at breakneck speed into an accident that for one horrifying moment plunged him into The Dead Zone.

Johnny Smith, the small-town schoolteacher who spun the wheel of fortune and won a four-and-a-half-year trip into The Dead Zone.

John Smith, who awakened from an interminable coma with an accursed power—the power to see the future and the terr ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 402 pages

Published August 1980 by Signet/New American Library (first published August 30th 1979)

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Mar 04, 2014 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: supernatural, own, favorites, action-thriller, read-more-than-once, stephen-king, 2019

This was my second time in The Dead Zone. I remember the first time fondly as this is only one of two Stephen King books I read in one sitting (the other being Pet Sematary). The first time was in the late 1990s at an all-night coffee shop in Cincinnati. I read until the sun came up fueled on caffeine and the enthralling words of the Master of Horror himself.

I suppose knowing that I read it in one sitting says a lot about what I thought about it – I LOVED IT! It blew me away. It was creepy, hea ...more

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Mar 07, 2018 Mario the lone bookwolf rated it really liked it

Shelves: king-stephen

A heavily shattered psi protagonists deals with the demons his unwanted gift shows him by playing the more or less voluntary hunter (view spoiler).

Mental powers are a commonly used trope in King´s works and I couldn´t name another author who uses it with such ingenuity, because he unleashes the characters to observe how they freely develop their angelic or hellish powers and become the mentalist, mind penetrating elve, psych necromancer w A heavily shattered psi protagonists deals with the demons his unwanted gift shows him by playing the more or less voluntary hunter (view spoiler).

Mental powers are a commonly used trope in King´s works and I couldn´t name another author who uses it with such ingenuity, because he unleashes the characters to observe how they freely develop their angelic or hellish powers and become the mentalist, mind penetrating elve, psych necromancer with daddy issues, or whatever. One could say it are descriptions of what his subconsciousness imagines certain magical powers might be made out of and how they could manifest in normal humans, ghosts, or any mythological figure.

King found himself in a similar position after he was nearly killed in a car accident, so the scenes he´s describing the slow convalescence and therapy of the protagonist became a kind of self fulfilling prophecy.

A fun fact: King said that it was highly irritating that many people were more upset by (view spoiler) than by many other scenes in his books including violence against women and children and ironically said that this is pretty telling about human nature. „Stop hitting that dog, spank your kid instead! Thanks!“ The same happened with the completely consensual sex scene in his novel It, go read it immediately, that was considered worse than all blood, gore, rape, and torture combined. Humans are strange, man.

Having psychic power is a great super trope, be it with touch, senses, taking certain drugs to get in the right mood and mindset, feed on happiness, fear, or boredom, hey, that would be funny, controlling and brainwashing other people, etc. Easily combinable with time travel, alternative realities, fantasy, sci-fi in general, and fine to implement in any half or full breed real life events, not to forget innuendos and connotations.

It also shows the immense flaws of the anachronistic system of identification with one glorified political leader, loving and adoring a puppet instead of dissecting and understanding the system behind it. But because the puppet can easily turn Child´s Play Chucky, slaughter the puppet masters, cut its strings, and go full extermination world domination war, it should possibly be considered to modify the system to a more direct democracy model if possible, but that´s a mess all of its own too, although nothing compared to the current facepalmity. Yea, pessimistic outlook on everything, get used to it in such drivels.

(view spoiler) This is horrible, no matter when it happens in life. If one is young, the described could happen, but when kids at any age are involved, this could mean having the memory of a toddler and a kindergartener and being confronted with 2 unknown people who are both adults now and maybe even have own kids. The ultimate irony of very bad faith would be to wake up so old that one wouldn´t even survive long without the severy physical consequences of the coma, just to realize that one has missed some of the greatest periods of a human´s life.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... ...more

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Jul 31, 2015 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, book-to-film

“We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn't good enough, it has to do.”

photo 1239f876-1169-4e93-ba31-3efb5dcb1290_zps6iebs0gr.jpg

Who else but Christopher Walken could play Johnny Smith in the highly praised David Cronenberg film?

Johnny Smith is a rookie teacher with $8 in his pocket, just enough money to take his best girl Sarah, also a new teacher, to the local county fair. Sarah is coming off a couple of recent relationships that were exciting with aggressive, unpredictable men. Johnny is a step in a new direction, mayb ...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Carol rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Carol by: Florence

Shelves: paranormal, read-2016, 2016-super-favorites, stephen-king

WOW! No horror or gore here, just bits of well done paranormal and one hell of an excellent story!

Meet John Smith, he is a good guy.......you'll like him. He has a great sense of humor, loves his parents (including his lunatic mother) and Sarah. Even after life deals him a devastating blow with recurring consequences and difficult challenges, Johnny still perseveres.

Visit a carnival and spin the wheel of fortune, see inside the mind of a sick serial killer, and watch a dangerously radical politi

...more

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Oct 24, 2016 Baba rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-aiiiiiiiie, constant-readers

2016 read: Originally written in 1979, yet still potent and topical! Head trauma leads to some unlikely talents for Johnny Smith; which in turn forces him to have to make some critical decisions to save lives. The special thing about this book, is that you can't really determine where the plot is going at any given time, which in turn, makes it that more readable and compelling. A Castle Rock jam, with a definite old skool King feel to it. :) 8 out of 12.

...more

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Oct 21, 2019 Matt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, classic-novels

“We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn’t good enough, it has to do…”
- Stephen King, The Dead Zone

Stephen King’s The Dead Zone would have made a perfectly snappy short story or novella: A man gets into a car accident, slips into a coma, wakes up five years later, and can foresee a person’s future by touching them. He runs into an ascendant politician, realizes the man is a mortal danger to the nation, and sets out to stop him. The climax sets you up to expect one thi ...more

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Sep 22, 2007 Kemper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2017-reread, uncle-stevie, spooky-powers

Johnny Smith is one bad-luck bastard.

He starts off well enough as a nice guy with a talent for teaching and is in the early stages of what looks to be a very promising relationship with Sarah. However, a car accident leaves Johnny in a coma which nobody thinks he’ll recover from. Miraculously, he wakes up 4 years later, but he finds that Sarah has married someone else, his mother has turned into a religious lunatic, he’s got a long and painful rehab to endure, and he faces a mountain of debt fro Johnny Smith is one bad-luck bastard.

He starts off well enough as a nice guy with a talent for teaching and is in the early stages of what looks to be a very promising relationship with Sarah. However, a car accident leaves Johnny in a coma which nobody thinks he’ll recover from. Miraculously, he wakes up 4 years later, but he finds that Sarah has married someone else, his mother has turned into a religious lunatic, he’s got a long and painful rehab to endure, and he faces a mountain of debt from his hospital bills. Oh, and he now has psychic ability to learn details about a person by touching them or personal objects as well as sometimes seeing their futures. This might seem like a gift, but as Johnny quickly learns it’s really a curse that eventually puts him on a collision course with a dangerous politician named Greg Stillson.

I’ve always thought this was one of King’s better books but hadn’t read it for years. A new audio version with James Franco narrating and doing a pretty good job of it got me motivated, and I’m pleased to find that it mostly lives up to my memory of it.

The elephant in the room on this one is that even though it was published in 1979 the Stillson plot is about a populist demagogue who manages to rise in politics despite being a crazy and corrupt piece of shit just because he has talent for making rubes think that he’s a maverick who tells it like it is even as they willfully ignore the obvious warning signs. So it’d be easy to say that King is a prophet these days. Yeah, he hit the mark with that one, but on the other hand there’s plenty of writers who have done stories about shady politicians.

What I found more interesting here is what King did with Johnny’s mother, Vera. She starts out as someone with strong fundamental religious beliefs, but Johnny’s accident sends her over the high side and into the realm where she starts believing tabloid stories about Jesus living underground at the South Pole. She’s completely immune to facts and logic, and she’d rather rely on prayer than medication to handle her high blood pressure.

It’s fascinating to read a character like this in the ‘70s setting where tabloids and poorly printed tracts are how Vera gets her crackpot theories, and how even then she uses them to create her own view of the world because reality doesn’t suit her. Fast forward to the 21st century where some people pick their news web sites based on how it conforms to what they want to believe as they spread rumors on Facebook about child sex rings in the basement of pizza restaurants that don’t even have a basement, and you realize that King had tapped into something that was on the rise even then.

Leaving aside the eerie similarities to America today, what sets this apart from his other novels is the way that King focused on John Smith and made his story a genuine tragedy. Johnny just wanting to try and resume some kind of normal life, but unable to stop himself from using his power to help people and put himself in a media spotlight is incredibly compelling.

Uncle Stevie takes his sweet time with this so that it comes across as more a slow burn, and it’s not really a horror novel although it can be creepy at times. You can see where the bigger plot involving Johnny and Stillson is headed for a good long while although King still makes the journey there worth the trip, and Johnny is one of his characters who haunts me the most. ...more

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Jun 13, 2019 Luffy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star

The Dead Zone is a brilliant book. It has practically no filler. It's criminally underrated. It was a fun read from beginning to the end. In a way, Johnny Smith reminded me of myself!

The bare bones of the plot are not important. I thought that a human life should always be considered with dignity. That sometimes doesn't happen with our hero. I use the term "hero" in the Greek sense of tragedy.

Please read this book if you haven't yet. It's far better than recent King books. I tried, on another si ...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Nandakishore Mridula rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

In my own personal opinion, this is the best story Stephen King has ever written. Not the most frightening, not the most thrilling, no: but this novel has true literary merit. And a tragic hero (not a mere "protagonist, mind you) who really qualifies for the title.

John Smith (his name immediately marks him out as the "common man") is blessed and cursed with second sight. It began as a minor ability due to a skating accident in his childhood; but when he wins big time at the roulette wheel in a v In my own personal opinion, this is the best story Stephen King has ever written. Not the most frightening, not the most thrilling, no: but this novel has true literary merit. And a tragic hero (not a mere "protagonist, mind you) who really qualifies for the title.

John Smith (his name immediately marks him out as the "common man") is blessed and cursed with second sight. It began as a minor ability due to a skating accident in his childhood; but when he wins big time at the roulette wheel in a village carnival, this "gift" proves to be his undoing. Because while coming home late from the carnival, the taxi John is travelling in meets with a horrific accident, and he is precipitated into a four-year coma.

While he is asleep, John loses his career, girlfriend, everything. He wakes up a pauper in material terms, but endowed with the full-fledged version of his latent childhood gift.

And thus begins the career of John Smith, the clairvoyant.

As he moves from discovery to horrific discovery, the amount of darkness he unearths in human souls pushes John further and further down into a sort of spiritual abyss. There seems to no purpose to his tragic life, until he meets Greg Stillson, prospective presidential candidate. A casual handshake allows John Smith a look into the cesspit that is the soul of the future president of the USA: and suddenly, he finds that there is something he has to do. Finish of Stillson, before he finishes of civilisation as we know it...

***

There is horror in this novel. But it is not supernatural, oh no: John's supernatural power is benign. The horror is in what that power unearths. Yes, Greg Stillson is the boogeyman in this story.

One must pay homage to Stephen King's gift of seeing into the future. At the time the novel was written, people would have laughed at the idea that a secular democracy would elect a blackguard like Stillson into office. I would humbly suggest that events of the past two decades have convinced me otherwise.

This is one of the most meticulously crafted books that I have read. John's and Greg's careers start simultaneously, sure to meet at some point of time: yet King weaves the narrative so expertly that when the meeting finally takes place, there is no sense of the let-down of predestination. And the denouement (like in 11.22.63) is totally unexpected.

The last chapter, "Notes from the Dead Zone", is one of the most beautiful passages of prose in my experience. Stephen King rises almost to the level of a poet here, the way the words flow.

Five stars, all the way. ...more

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Sep 19, 2017 Leo . rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Fantastic book. Sixth sense. Teacher in an accident. Visions of the future. Great film too starring Christopher Walken.🐯👍

Loved the scene in the film when Christopher Walken is talking to Herbert Lom, his doctor.

He asks him, being that he is a Jew, if he could go back in time and get close to Adolf Hitler...Would he kill him?

Herbert Lom replies that he is a doctor and his job is to save lives...And finished by saying he would kill the son of a bitch! Classic Stephen King!

Imagine if you could go ...more

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Oct 30, 2019 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, united-states, horror, 20th-century, literature

The Dead Zone, Stephen King

The Dead Zone is a horror/supernatural thriller novel by Stephen King published in 1979. It concerns Johnny Smith, who is injured in an accident and remains in a coma for nearly five years. Upon emergence, he exhibits clairvoyance and precognition with limitations, apparently because of a "dead zone," an area of his brain that suffered permanent damage as the result of his accident.

The prologue introduces the two main characters. In 1953, a young boy named John Smith ...more

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Feb 14, 2016 Johann (jobis89) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn't good enough, it has to do.”

I love early King. I still love current day King of course, but these early books are so powerful - he truly is firing on all cylinders in The Dead Zone. When I first read The Dead Zone years ago I was hungry for horror and so was left feeling a little disappointed. This time around, having matured as a reader in general... I was able to appreciate this one for what it is - an incredible novel that t “We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn't good enough, it has to do.”

I love early King. I still love current day King of course, but these early books are so powerful - he truly is firing on all cylinders in The Dead Zone. When I first read The Dead Zone years ago I was hungry for horror and so was left feeling a little disappointed. This time around, having matured as a reader in general... I was able to appreciate this one for what it is - an incredible novel that touches on love, lost chances and obligations.

Johnny Smith is in a car accident, which leaves him in a coma for over 4 years. When he awakes he has gained psychic abilities - he is able to see the past, present and future of those he touches. The Dead Zone feels like King dipping his toe into what would become 11/22/63. In the novel Johnny asks the question “if you travelled back to 1932 and are given the opportunity to do so, would you kill Hitler?” Johnny is left with a number of difficult decisions to make over the course of the story.

We all talk about Sadie and Jake, and Roland and Susan...our favourite King couples, but I gotta vouch for Johnny and Sarah. They are on the brink of falling in love at the beginning of the book before Johnny has his accident. We get such a short time seeing them together, but it is impactful and you just ACHE for them to be together. I love Johnny as a character - he has a great sense of humour and I just found him to be so damn likeable. Which makes it even more heartbreaking as he is dealt blow after blow. It hurt my heart.

The Dead Zone is more of a drama than a horror, with some science fiction elements thrown in, but what is truly terrifying are the parallels that can be drawn between Greg Stillson, the politician that Johnny forsees causing a nuclear war, and Donald Trump. The similarities are so eerie! King MUST have some some Johnny Smith powers of this own!

I am so glad that I decided to reread this one, as it has become a new favourite. And dare I say - one of King’s best endings?

5 stars. ...more

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Sep 21, 2021 Ginger rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2021, horror

I’m not sure what to say in this review that hasn’t been said in the 4,000+ reviews done for the book, but here goes.

I’m late to the party with reading The Dead Zone!
It was published in 1980 and I finally got to it in 2021. Better late then never?!

The Dead Zone has politics, a serial killer, and star-crossed lovers.
It’s got tension, some mystery, heartbreak, and a deep empathy for the main character.
I ended up loving Johnny Smith by the end and all the characters were fantastic, even the ones th ...more

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Nov 10, 2017 R.K. Gold rated it really liked it

Okay here we go Mr. John Smith. I know you have this strange ability to see into the future but did you see this review coming? Well, did ya? You feeling lucky John? Cause I sure as hell am after reading this. I'm not as sad to finish it as I was the dark tower series (because i poured so much emotion into finishing those damn books) but this was quite an enjoyable read; one I could really sink my teeth into when given a full day to do so.

The development of John, his relationship with his famil ...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Zoeytron rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

An incredible run of good luck with a Wheel of Fortune game at a county fair is the start of things spinning out of control for John Smith. He is about to lose five years of his life in a horrible way. When he returns, everything has changed. Fate and predestination play their parts. The stink of burning rubber persists, and there is a dead zone inside his brain.

I'll lay it right down on the table for you. More frightening to me than any monster are religious fanatics. There is one in ...more

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May 11, 2013 Dan Schwent rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, 2013

Johnny Smith wakes from a coma with the psychic ability to read a person when he touches them. Will he use this ability for good or for selfish reasons? And what's the deal with this Greg Stillson character that's swiftly becoming a heavy hitter in the political realm?

Sometime in early 2013, I resolved to read some of the Stephen King books I missed during my binge around the turn of the century. Along with The Shining and It, the Dead Zone is something I'm surprised I hadn't read years ago.

The Johnny Smith wakes from a coma with the psychic ability to read a person when he touches them. Will he use this ability for good or for selfish reasons? And what's the deal with this Greg Stillson character that's swiftly becoming a heavy hitter in the political realm?

Sometime in early 2013, I resolved to read some of the Stephen King books I missed during my binge around the turn of the century. Along with The Shining and It, the Dead Zone is something I'm surprised I hadn't read years ago.

The Dead Zone has a simple enough premise: Johnny Smith returns from a coma with clairvoyance. What King does is turn it into a story of a man deciding how to use those abilities, whether or not to play God. And he does it fairly well.

Some of Stephen King's books are so overwritten that I think if I was in an elevator with Stephen King and asked him what time it was, he would tell me how to build a clock. Not so with the Dead Zone. This is King at his leanest and meanest, when he was still trying to be Richard Matheson and John D. MacDonald rather than the author no editor could tame. It reads more like a crime book than King's later works.

From reading On Writing, I thought this book would focus on Johnny Smith vs. Stillson, but that only happens in the last 20% of the book. It's not a trial version of 11/22/63 like I originally thought. Mostly, it's a man trying to play with the hand he's been dealt.

It's a pretty gripping read but it's not one of my favorite King books. I like the story but the only characters I felt any kind of attachment to were Johnny and his father. I was surprised by the ending, though, but I guess I shouldn't have. Stephen King was just getting started tearing the guts out of his readers at this point.

One thing I'm not sure if I liked or not: One of the characters references a book called Carrie. In the context of the Dark Tower series, does this mean The Dead Zone takes place in the Keystone world where Stephen King is writing the saga? I think it does. On the other hand, it also mentions Castle Rock. Does Carrie not take place in the universe as most of King's other books? Things to ponder...

The Dead Zone is a good early Stephen King book and probably the best book I've ever read that was turned into a movie starring Christopher Walken. That's about all I have to say about that. 3.5 out of 5 stars. ...more

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May 24, 2017 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: magical-realism, stand-alone-novel, listened-to-audiobook, book-to-screen, classics, male-pov, thriller, amazing-audio, read-2017, my-stephen-king-goal

I've read some of Stephen King's titles but nowhere near enough, so I have made it a personal goal to read little by little until I get caught up...if that is even possible. This genius of a man has written a lot of books! I chose The Dead Zone for my next King novel simply because of the recently released audiobook. It's narrated by James Franco!! I absolutely adore him. Seriously, he could do a Pepsi commercial and I would DVR that sucker! Not only did he do a superb job in his narration in th ...more

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Sep 25, 2017 AMEERA rated it really liked it

Amazing really enjoyed 💕' ...more

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Apr 01, 2021 Vince rated it it was amazing

Oh boy, good old uncle Stevie King does it again. I was suffering from one of my many reading slumps and decided that a Stephen King novel would hopefully pull me out of it. It did. Like all great Stephen King novels it's well-written, fast paced with no filler( he sometimes has a lot of filler in other novels but not in this one) and characters that you genuinely care about. The novel's main character is a man with the prosaic name of John Smith but he's far from ordinary. I won't say why becau ...more

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Oct 13, 2014 Edward Lorn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: King fans and fans of politics

For Goodreads: 2.5 stars.

I think I dislike this book a little more every time I read it. The Dead Zone is, for the most part, boring setups that lead to lackluster climaxes, if they can be called climaxes at all. Maybe "payoffs" would be a better word... But I think what I dislike the most about this book is all the political mumbo jumbo. I simply don't give a shit about politics, and this book is full of it. If Johnny Smith isn't thinking about how shitty he has it, he's ruminating on the poli For Goodreads: 2.5 stars.

I think I dislike this book a little more every time I read it. The Dead Zone is, for the most part, boring setups that lead to lackluster climaxes, if they can be called climaxes at all. Maybe "payoffs" would be a better word... But I think what I dislike the most about this book is all the political mumbo jumbo. I simply don't give a shit about politics, and this book is full of it. If Johnny Smith isn't thinking about how shitty he has it, he's ruminating on the political climate. This is purely subjective, of course, because if you dig your stories dredged in government, battered in legislature, and fried in policy then this book is definitely for you.

Honestly, The Dead Zone never had a chance. Not this time around at least. Especially coming off my reread of King's exceptional third outing, The Shining. (In case you're wondering, I skipped The Stand because I just reread it last year.) I suppose The Dead Zone is a perfect example of that old saying: They can't all be winners. King came out the gate with five fantastic novels. He was bound to lay a stinker on the world eventually.

I do enjoy the first 140 or so pages of this book, but everything's downhill from there. King had some terrific characters, but it seems as if he didn't really know what do with them once they were established. It's funny, because the book feels more like a collection of interconnected short stories than it does a novel.

Notes on the film and television adaptations: I love Christopher Walken. He's one of my favorite actors. But I've never been able to finish the film adaptation of this book. It bores me to sleep every time. Shit's better than L-tryptophan, son! And the TV series with that dude from Weird Science? All I saw of that were the commercials. I suppose this story just doesn't pique my interest. I do believe this is the final time I'm reading this one. Maybe...

Notable names:
Jerusalem's Lot (Obvious)
Gendron (used throughout the King-verse)
Richard Dees (the despicable main character of King's short story "The Night Flier")
Inside View (a gossip rag like The Enquirer that shows up quite bit inside the King-verse. The aforementioned Richard Dees is a headhunter for said magazine.)
Carrie (mentioned as a book instead of a person)
And, of course, Castle Rock (No-brainer)

In summation: One of my bottom five when it comes to King's books, right down there with Wizard and Glass and the absolutely terrible From a Buick 8. I'm definitely not looking forward to my reread of the latter.

On to Firestarter, which I don't remember at all. I read this one in my teens and haven't read it since. I'm looking forward to it because I don't remember hating it and I dig the movie adaptation very much.
...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Delee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, horror-medium-rare-not-too-bloody, i-saw-what-you-did, favorites, supernatural-or-paranormal, suspense, reviewed

THE DEAD ZONE was my very first Stephen King book, and I would like to thank David Cronenberg, Christopher Walken, and one of my high school best friends- Natalie Kowalski- for introducing me to the world of John Smith, and in turn the world of Stephen King.

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After watching and falling for the character John Smith- in the 1983 movie THE DEAD ZONE, I decided to search out the book that it was based on. I had never heard of Stephen King- I had read a lot of mysteries, but had never read ...more

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Jun 13, 2020 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

'If this talent was a gift from God, then God was a dangerous lunatic who ought to be stopped'

When I decided to read all SK works in publication order it was purely because I was told this was the easiest way to spot signs of the multiverse and I think I've found my first cross overs! This book directly mentions Salems Lot and Carrie. I am of course wondering if I missed any subtle links though so help a girl out if there's others in this book.

Another brilliant read from SK! I imagine reading t ...more

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Oct 26, 2009 Justin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The first part of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone was just straight-up fun to read. It had that Something Wicked This Way Comes vibe to it with the spinning wheel, the creepy carnival worker, and Johnny Smith pressing his luck and drawing a crowd. It was the first chapter in what ultimately becomes The Saga of John Smith, Psychic or Something.

The rest of the book walks through events where this psychic ability becomes useful in a number of ways, ultimately leading up to a thrilling, larger-than-li The first part of Stephen King’s The Dead Zone was just straight-up fun to read. It had that Something Wicked This Way Comes vibe to it with the spinning wheel, the creepy carnival worker, and Johnny Smith pressing his luck and drawing a crowd. It was the first chapter in what ultimately becomes The Saga of John Smith, Psychic or Something.

The rest of the book walks through events where this psychic ability becomes useful in a number of ways, ultimately leading up to a thrilling, larger-than-life climax that puts ole Johnny in a precarious situation with huge stakes, really unbelievable stakes, but, man, when you get there, who even cares anymore? This guys is magical and he’s saving the world!

Having multiple plots building on each other was a little awkward at times. I finished one storyline and moved on to the next section, and this time Johnny has landed a new job of living somewhere else, time jumps forward a bit, and those precious events are only mentioned a few times, replaced by something even bigger this time. Johnny’s gotta take his powers to the next level. Time to ditch the minor leagues and show the majors what you can do for once.

Mr. King never fails at setting a scene or developing his characters, and his abilities are on full display here as well. Vera, the mother, is a little over the top with her fanatical religious antics, but it’s there for a reason. Sarah and her adventures that become more subplot are drawn up very well and her relationship with Johnny plays out in an interesting, and mostly believable way. The bad guys are bad. There are a few of them around. I loved the small town setting, especially as the political stuff started to kick in later. Hearing King bounce his political views around a bit through the dialogue was a treat. I dig his style.

This was certainly a thrilling adventure, and at times it even made me think. If I had that kind of ability, if I could see things happening down the road, how would I handle it? What decisions would I be willing to make? It was cool to read a King book and get myself all mixed up in a wild story, but I also came away thinking about life just a smidge. That doesn’t always happen with this guy. Sometimes it’s vampires and werewolves. Other times it’s dead zones and saving people.

Firestarter is next (which my iPhone insists should be two words, so maybe I’m wrong here). I haven’t read that one yet, ever. Looking forward to taking another step on this read-King-books-in-order trail. I’ve never made it this far before, and I’ve got a long way to go, but it’ll be nice to fill in the gaps with books like this one that I skipped in the past or just never got around to. Also, Drew Barrymore.

...more

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Oct 01, 2020 Marchpane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: big-books, read-in-2020

Most of Stephen King’s famous early novels have an iconic scene (Carrie at the prom), an iconic character (number 1 fan Annie Wilkes) or just a really simple hook (vampires; deserted creepy hotel; zombie pets; killer dog; killer car; killer clown etc… )

The Dead Zone, on the other hand, is the one with the ordinary schoolteacher (John Smith, no middle name) who might be a touch psychic, who gets in an accident, ends up in a coma, wakes up from the coma to discover he’s really psychic, avoids usin Most of Stephen King’s famous early novels have an iconic scene (Carrie at the prom), an iconic character (number 1 fan Annie Wilkes) or just a really simple hook (vampires; deserted creepy hotel; zombie pets; killer dog; killer car; killer clown etc… )

The Dead Zone, on the other hand, is the one with the ordinary schoolteacher (John Smith, no middle name) who might be a touch psychic, who gets in an accident, ends up in a coma, wakes up from the coma to discover he’s really psychic, avoids using this new ability, then (reluctantly) uses it a bit, mostly to save people/property from fires, once (reluctantly) to chase a serial killer, then … eventually … to try to save America and the world from a loose cannon politician.

So yeah, it’s baggy and unfocused but I remember being totally engrossed the first time I read this (probably around age 12 or 13). Even minor details and scenes have stuck with me—like the traveling salesman hawking lightning rods at a dusty roadhouse bar. It’s the storytelling. It doesn’t matter that it’s slow and sinuous, that the pacing is uneven, that it’s kind of cheesy, King the Storyteller casts some kind of spell.

This re-read was a lot of fun, but something niggled at me. Something felt different since I last read this book. It’s not that it seems dated (it was already dated the first time around) or that I’m a more discerning reader (although I’d like to think so!). Eventually it clicked… 11/22/63. I’d read 11/22/63.

Published 32 years apart, 11/22/63—which does have a really simple hook: time travel to save JFK!—and The Dead Zone are like fraternal twins. Both involve political assassinations. One has a psychic who can see the future; the other has a time-traveller from the future. John needs to prevent a fictional disaster; Jake needs to change a real historical event. John aims to preserve our reality; Jake attempts to change it. It’s killing Hitler versus… saving JFK.

It’s not like 11/22/63 is a complete rehash, they’re very different books in many ways. But the similarities that are there make it all the more obvious when these two novels diverge on big questions like ‘can one man be a hero?’ and ‘can you ever cheat fate?’ And it made me see the ending of The Dead Zone in a whole new light. ...more

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Oct 28, 2020 Dennis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, contemporary

Stephen and I we have the most curious relationship.

I've got this list of Stephen King novels that make me beg to please let me die already, because of all of this time he takes to build his characters and their backstories, going into every minor detail of seemingly every experience they make, no matter how inconsequential they may seem to be for the plot. I also have this other list of Stephen King novels. The ones I adore, because of all of this time he takes to build his characters and their Stephen and I we have the most curious relationship.

I've got this list of Stephen King novels that make me beg to please let me die already, because of all of this time he takes to build his characters and their backstories, going into every minor detail of seemingly every experience they make, no matter how inconsequential they may seem to be for the plot. I also have this other list of Stephen King novels. The ones I adore, because of all of this time he takes to build his characters and their backstories, going into every minor detail of seemingly every experience they make, no matter how inconsequential they may seem to be for the plot. Sometimes I almost think it simply comes down to pure luck, or maybe timing, whether I like his books or not. Sure, there’s also this third group of books, those in which he is also waffling endlessly, but with no pay-off whatsoever. Or at least none that I am capable of seeing. But most of the time his books will land in one of the two categories above, where I can appreciate him as a writer and, for pretty much the same reasons, either love or hate the book.

This one here falls squarely on the positive side of the spectrum. Like pretty much every King novel it requires patience. But the story of a man that, in the prime of his life, has a tragic accident, spends years in a coma, wakes from said coma when almost everyone had given up hope, discovers that he now possesses a gift for knowing things about people by simply touching them, which soon turns into a burden as he tries to fight his way back into life, this story comes with a pay-off. It took its time to draw me in, sure. But there was still a lot of story left when I very much started to feel for Johnny, feared for what was going to happen to him, became curious about when and how he would cross paths with the other main character.

This other main character is a ruthlessly opportunistic politician that has a knack for entertaining the masses, and also a program that includes shooting garbage bags to Mars in order to solve the problem of pollution. Yes, he did indeed remind me of another ~~clown~~ politician, just like people had told me he would.

There’s also a side-plot about a serial killer, that makes Johnny turn up in Castle Rock, and a lot of (at the time) contemporary topics that King touches upon. It was a very immersive experience. And while I don’t feel quite the same love for it that I feel for It or Needful Things, it was definitely very rewarding and a highly enjoyable read.

A buddy read with the Stephen King Readers in SpecFic to be precise. Thanks, guys! It was fun.

Up next in my already failed attempt to read all the stories set in Castle Rock, before I will read Needful Things: Cujo ...more

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Sep 23, 2014 Paul Nelson rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014-books-read

Next up on my Stephen King quest is The Dead Zone, again it’s not a review as such but a collection of my thoughts on the book. So there may well be spoilers but I think pretty much everyone has read it a long time ago anyway, all except me.

After reading The Stand & Salem’s Lot in quick succession, you start to appreciate what a spellbinding storyteller The King can be and I can compare these to the other end of the spectrum, his newly released material, Mr Mercedes & Doctor Sleep. The outstandi Next up on my Stephen King quest is The Dead Zone, again it’s not a review as such but a collection of my thoughts on the book. So there may well be spoilers but I think pretty much everyone has read it a long time ago anyway, all except me.

After reading The Stand & Salem’s Lot in quick succession, you start to appreciate what a spellbinding storyteller The King can be and I can compare these to the other end of the spectrum, his newly released material, Mr Mercedes & Doctor Sleep. The outstanding feature in his new material is the depth he gives to his characters, a depth that was touched on but not prevalent at the start of his career. His new stuff wraps the art of storytelling neatly into a bundle, with gripping characterization and plots that leave you hanging on for more.

The Dead Zone sort of explores Stephen King’s development as a skilled author, in this book he shows that his characters are becoming more deeply fleshed out than previous works but in my opinion he loses his way with the story a little, concentrating more on one aspect of the story and dropping the ball in others.

I did enjoy the story of Jonny Smith, he is a character that is easy to invest everything in but my problem lay with the bad guys. They simply weren’t in the story enough to get any feel for, There was a chapter about the killer early on and then nothing more until he was identified, which was a little too easy, there should have been more airtime devoted to the killer to ramp up the tension, no reveal but more focus around his acts themselves.

Then we have Greg Stillson who for me just wasn’t a worthy bad guy for the end play, truthfully I couldn’t give a flying fuck what happened to him and Jonny’s mission to kill the guy seemed almost meaningless to me. I appreciate he saw him becoming President and heralding a nuclear war but I was more taken in by Jonny and his teaching successes with Chuck, the lightning strike and his relationship with Sarah than I was with how the book ended.

I know this book is well thought of by most, even a favourite but for me it was a case of the writer honing his considerable talents for future forays, primarily a character driven story that sacrificed plot devices that when I think back could have been made a classic so easily by simply veering slightly off the path he set for himself.

Anyway that’s just my opinion and I guess most wouldn’t wholeheartedly agree with it but it’s my Stephen King trip and that’s how I see it.

So that’s 16 completed from my target of 66 books and a nice round 50 to go, a fair undertaking I think you’ll agree.

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Jan 30, 2014 Sadie Hartmann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: king

January 2016-
Oh man! I totally read this book in January of 2014! I even wrote that in the book so I wouldn't forget. I mean, the minute I read the prologue, I knew I had read it recently. Johnny Smith, falls down ice skating and his world is never the same again. How can I forget that I read this? It wasn't even that long ago-two(ish) years ago?
So let me give more of a review though:
This is one of King's greatest character developments. The protagonist is someone we find ourselves very connecte January 2016-
Oh man! I totally read this book in January of 2014! I even wrote that in the book so I wouldn't forget. I mean, the minute I read the prologue, I knew I had read it recently. Johnny Smith, falls down ice skating and his world is never the same again. How can I forget that I read this? It wasn't even that long ago-two(ish) years ago?
So let me give more of a review though:
This is one of King's greatest character developments. The protagonist is someone we find ourselves very connected to, very invested in his story. We want John to do well.
In hindsight, I wonder if Stephen King used this earlier novel to influence his story Revival? They remind me of each other with the intersecting/connected lives of John and Stillson. Also, there is that incident with lightening--remember that? Super familiar.
I love the ending too-bringing it full circle with the love interest, Sarah.
A great read from the Master!

Update Fe. 25th, 2019 #reviewking2019 project-revisiting old Stephen King reviews:
So first of all, I browsed through the book today and wound up re-reading whole portions of it. I'm amazed by the fact that so often, I see people talking about Jake & Sadie as King's most romantic couple, or even Roland and Susan but have we forgotten Johnny and Sarah from The Dead Zone? Because I really, really like Johnny. He might be one of King's most healthy protagonists.
I love how midway through the book, we get this Spiderman-esque plot line where Johnny (due to an unfortunate accident and coma, he wakes up with a supernatural ability) gets to use his newly developed "powers" to help local authorities catch a serial killer. Johnny isn't a Batman like hero--taking to the streets to solve crime, but more like the reluctant hero we see in Spiderman but told with all the talent Stephen King brings to the table and it's so compelling!!
But enough about the protagonist--what about our antagonist, Greg Stillson-who for all intents and purposes reminds me so much of our current POTUS (he who shall not be named but who always says stupid things like "fake news").
Greg Stillson is evil, evil, EVIL and our favorite protagonist, Johnny is the man to stop his rise to power.
I love the ending of this book and I enjoyed re-reading it today before I wrote this review. Seriously, this could make its way onto my top 10 list.
It's worthy. I changed my review from 4 stars to 5.
And legendary being that it's the first Castle Rock book. ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Valliya Rennell rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish, x-reviewed-books, c-stand-alone, d-horror-thriller, b-adult, a-1-25-stars

1.25 stars
DNF @89%

Me at the moment:

The Dead Zone is my least favorite Stephen King novel so far. I genuinely didn't like it at best, really hated it at worst. I thought it was boring, in-comprehensive, and bland. The main story centers aroudn Johnny Smith, your average ya-hoo, who happened to get himself into an accident and (after 4.5 years in a coma) wakes up to find himself being a seer. Interesting enough set-up. Unfortunately, the book becomes a mess after these first chapters.

First, I'd l ...more

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Sep 13, 2019 Michael Jandrok rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Some time last year I decided that it would be a fun idea to reread a lot of the Stephen King canon, starting with his first novel, “Carrie” and then keeping to a more or less chronological schedule, adding in stuff like “The Dead Zone” and “Firestarter” that I had skipped back in the day for whatever unknown reason. I got as far as “The Shining” when I realized that I needed to get off track and knuckle down on “Doctor Sleep,” King’s 2013 sequel to the original and find out what happened to the ...more

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Nov 11, 2020 Rob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2020-reads

A paranormal thriller form Stephen King published 1979.

4 star excellence.
This is a book that has been kicking around my place for years. A book I promised myself that I’d get round to one of these days. Then after reading some glowing reviews on GR I thought now is the time.

It turned out be a great read.

On this occasion SK delves into one of his favourite topics, the latent power of the human brain.
After two accidents, one minor and the other serious, Johnny Smith ends up in a coma, a coma that ...more

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About Stephen King

Stephen King

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Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, M Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. ...more