Book Review - Cell by Stephen King

At the risk of sounding like the back cover of one of his many books, "Cell" is vintage Stephen King.

The premise is interesting: Imagine if most of the world turned into zombies after answering an errant cellphone call. The ones lucky enough not to answer their cells ("normies", as they're called) are forced to fend for themselves, travelling in the dark on their own, or in packs, as the zombie-like creatures gain more power with each growing day. The main character, Clay Riddell, is not only trying to survive this madness, but also find out whether his young son survived the "pulse" that has seemingly wiped out millions, so that personally plays on some of my own fears (not that my son has ever been stalked my zombies, but.... you know what I mean).

The book keeps a lively pace, with new twists and turns along the way. Some really interesting characters are brought in that you think will be in it for the long-haul. But often as it turns out, not so much.

The only one complaint I had was with the ending (literally the last sentence and the words he writes directly after that). Without spoiling it for anyone, I was on a plan en route to Montreal reading this last page, and without exaggeration, I sat staring at that one page for a good 15 minutes, trying to figure out what had just happened. I still don't for sure, which I suppose was done by design (though, if you look up the Wikipedia page for "Cell", it claims that King does explain it.)

But that uncertainty what could have been one of my favorite King books, and turned it into a head-shaker. I'd still recommend it, just not enthusiastically so.