The Dead Zone by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A classic thriller from horror master Stephen King.

Since suffering an injury as a child, Johnny has experienced moments when he can see and feel with such clarity almost as if with a view into the future. Yet it’s affected his life little up to this point. Now a dedicated teacher, he is delighted when fellow teacher Sarah agrees to a date. Yet their night is due to end tragically, with Johnny left comatose and barely clinging to life.

Almost everyone has given up on Johnny, when, four and a half years later, he wakes from his coma. His precognitive abilities are now far more powerful – with the briefest touch, he can see into someone’s life with terrifying clarity. Johnny’s road to recovery is a difficult one, while his newfound abilities become evermore heavy to bear.

He wants nothing more than to be able to recover and live a quiet life, to get back into teaching and move on from the past. But others will not allow him to rest, while Johnny wrestles with his internal struggle between intervening in the lives of others to offer help and moving on to live his own. But the presence of evil is impossible to ignore and, against his better judgement, threatens to become an obsession that will ultimately consume him.

‘The Dead Zone’ is a gripping, character-driven horror thriller; spanning several years and told from the perspective of a core cast of characters, it has the feel of an epic whilst brimming with elements of supernatural horror and science fiction, with moral questions at its core. I felt a lot of empathy for Johnny, not only through his injuries and recovery, but also in his personal relationships and the increasing burden of his moral struggle. I loved his relationship with Sarah, one that becomes tinged with tragedy, a piece of their life stolen from them before it could be fully realised. There are some relationships you never truly move on from and the novel deals poignantly with that concept. Johnny, Sarah and Herb are developed particularly well, with glimpses into many of the secondary and minor characters, some of which become far more significant as the novel progresses.

King explores themes he has explored in previous novels and would explore again in the future – notably forms of psychic phenomena and the dark side of power, both political and preternatural. I could see shades of Randall Flagg in Greg Stillson and his fascist politics, while Johnny’s precognition presents similar challenges to one who might discover the ability to time travel, which King later explored superbly in '11.22.63’. The novel is also notable for being the first to feature fictional town Castle Rock, the town’s serial killer, whose apprehension is recorded here, often referenced in future novels and TV series.

The novel has twice been adapted for the screen, the first as a film released in 1983, and the second for television as a series which began airing in 2002 and lasted for six seasons. It is a story that lends itself perfectly for adaption to the screen; the novel itself is fast-paced, at times intense and emotionally resonating, with both plot and characters blended perfectly to form a thrilling narrative that builds to an almost inevitable, but satisfying, denouement.

Engrossing and moving, ‘The Dead Zone’ hooks from beginning to end, posing thought-provoking questions and telling a thrilling tale.



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