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La zona morta
Waking up from a five-year coma after a car accident, former schoolteacher Johnny Smith discovers that he can see people's futures and pasts when he touches them. Many consider his talent a gift; Johnny feels cursed. His fiance married another man during his coma and people clamor for him to solve their problems. When Johnny has a disturbing vision after he shakes the hand of an ambitious and amoral politician, he must decide if he should take drastic action to change the future.
--stephenking.com
--stephenking.com
460 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 1979
4434 people are currently reading
125029 people want to read
About the author
Stephen King
2,393 books888k followersStephen 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.
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.
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January 8, 2020
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, heart-wrenching, introspective, speculative, terrifying, thought-provoking – and on and on and on. I just knew I had to read it again now to see if I still felt the same. And, I do! I definitely do!
I think many people recommend Carrie or The Shining to people just starting King. I rarely hear The Dead Zone. But, to me, this would be a fantastic place to start. It is not too long to be daunting (like It or The Stand). It does not involve the potential commitment of a series (like The Dark Tower or Hodges Trilogy). I think the story is fairly straight forward and would be easily accessible to many. Also, hoping that I am not saying too much, I think this story is particularly terrifying in the world’s current political climate.
This time around I did the audio. I was skeptical at first because it was James Franco and he usually seems kind of silly to me (most of my memories of him are Seth Rogan stoner movies). I am guessing he may have been invited to do this audio version because of his involvement in King’s 11/22/63 mini-series – which I still need to watch (Update 1/8/2020 - Just noticed I said I still need to watch this, but I did in 2019. It was great!)! I think he did a great job narrating this book and I will gladly do other books in the future narrated by him.
You ask me what King book I recommend – this is it! You haven’t read it yet? Why not!?
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, heart-wrenching, introspective, speculative, terrifying, thought-provoking – and on and on and on. I just knew I had to read it again now to see if I still felt the same. And, I do! I definitely do!
I think many people recommend Carrie or The Shining to people just starting King. I rarely hear The Dead Zone. But, to me, this would be a fantastic place to start. It is not too long to be daunting (like It or The Stand). It does not involve the potential commitment of a series (like The Dark Tower or Hodges Trilogy). I think the story is fairly straight forward and would be easily accessible to many. Also, hoping that I am not saying too much, I think this story is particularly terrifying in the world’s current political climate.
This time around I did the audio. I was skeptical at first because it was James Franco and he usually seems kind of silly to me (most of my memories of him are Seth Rogan stoner movies). I am guessing he may have been invited to do this audio version because of his involvement in King’s 11/22/63 mini-series – which I still need to watch (Update 1/8/2020 - Just noticed I said I still need to watch this, but I did in 2019. It was great!)! I think he did a great job narrating this book and I will gladly do other books in the future narrated by him.
You ask me what King book I recommend – this is it! You haven’t read it yet? Why not!?
December 15, 2019
“We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn't good enough, it has to do.”
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, maybe a more responsible direction not driven as much by physical attraction as by mental stimulation.
She has no idea who Johnny is, but that can’t be helped because Johnny doesn’t really know who he is either.
We get our first inkling that something is different about Johnny as they are leaving the fair. The Wheel of Fortune guy running a crude version of the roulette wheel tempts Johnny over to try his luck with his last few remaining dollars. Johnny starts by betting on black or red and wins. As his confidence grows, he starts picking exact numbers and keeps winning. A crowd is drawn to this run of luck.
But is it luck?
He turns his meager money into three months pay.
Sarah becomes sick from a bad hot dog. Johnny quits the game to take her home. Since they came in her car, he takes a taxi back to his apartment.
There is an accident, and Johnny goes through the windshield.
He doesn’t wake up for four and half years.
His mother, never a stable person before, becomes more frantically religious. She throws herself at every new religious concept, even going so far at one point to joining a commune who are waiting for alien space ships to come pick them up to take them to God. With each new religious venture she brings the Smith’s closer to bankruptcy. Religious zealotry is always so scary to me. They believe it, whatever it is, so fervently that any rational thought is wrestled to the ground and pinned by unquestioning faith.
When Johnny comes out of his coma, he has the ability/curse of being able to touch someone or something owned by that person (psychometry) and see pieces of their future. Some key elements always seem to be missing, and those murky parts Johnny calls The Dead Zone.
An ability like this? Well...it scares people.
”The nurses were lined up against the glass of the nurses’ station, staring at him. Suddenly they reminded him of crows on a telephone line, crows staring down at something bright and shiny, something to be pecked at and pulled apart.”
That does seem to be our nature to fear what we don’t understand, quickly followed by the need to destroy what we fear. Anyone different, whether they have a unconventional sexual orientation or a disfigurement or just see the world differently, will feel the constant pressure to conform or...disappear. It is only logical of course that if Johnny knows about a fire before it happens that he must have been involved in setting that fire. The possibility of clairvoyance is too unique, too extraordinary for others to comprehend.
Johnny is ridiculed, exposed as a charlatan. He is fine with that. It might mean he has a chance to find a normal life.
He is doing well until a small town Sheriff can’t catch the Raincoat Serial Killer.
A handshake can be so revealing. And yes that is Martin Sheen playing Greg Stillson.
As Johnny is finding himself back in the spotlight, there is another man, a Bible salesman by the name of Greg Stillson, who is starting to have big thoughts, dreams of more power than any lunatic should ever have.
Stephen King is setting up a collision course between the two men, both unusual, both psychotic, but on opposite sides of the same scale.
When Johnny shakes Stillson’s hand, he sees a future that can not be allowed to happen.
If you could build a time machine and go back to 1932 and kill Adolf Hitler, would you do it? It seems logical that you would save millions of lives, which I can’t even calculate the number of descendants of those saved lives. The implications of lives that never existed in our timeline suddenly being thrust into our era are staggering. The reshuffling of the DNA deck is mind boggling. On a micro level it could change your own personal history significantly. Your grandfather might marry someone different or your mother might meet someone before your father that didn’t exist before. You could wink out of existence before you can even fire up the time machine to return to 2015. Knowing the historical results of Hitler being alive, even though there is always the risk that someway, somehow by altering history you might make our present worse, I would still have to vote that I would gladly assassinate Hitler. On top of being a monster, Adolf was also monstrously annoying.
I might even take a short detour and take out Joseph Stalin as well. I’m already rolling the dice, so why not cast them out there one more time? I’d chalk up another couple of million lives saved.
Alter another gazillion time lines of history.
Good lord, the enormity of it and the logic and the illogicalness of it all start to circle back around until it becomes very easy to talk oneself out of such a risky decision.
Nobody wants to destroy the world while trying to save it.
Johnny goes through the same thought processes. Logically, he should find a way to stop Stillson, but there is the nagging worry that he could just make things worse.
This is not a horror book. It is a psychological thriller written by a writer near the top of his game. While working in the book business, I have always puzzled over why Stephen King was read by so many people. Of course, then I didn’t read him. I didn’t need to read him because there were already plenty of people queuing up to buy and read his next book. My job, of course, was to read people like Cormac McCarthy or Alan Furst, or writers like John Williams and try to bring them to a wider audience. I have tried a couple of newer King offerings, but have found them to be bloated, overwritten, and ponderous. I read The Shining, fairly recently, and realized that the King’s gold is in the dusty trunks of his early writings.
The book spawned a movie, which spawned a popular TV show starring Anthony Michael Hall.
King even made a playful reference to his book Carrie in this novel which made me laugh-out-loud. It was a bit of tongue in cheek referring to his own celebrity.
This book also fits very nicely into my 1970s nostalgic tour of horror books even though technically I can’t call this horror. Here are the other books that I've read on this quest.
The Exorcist Review
The Shining Review
Jaws Review
The Omen Review
Harvest Home Review
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
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, maybe a more responsible direction not driven as much by physical attraction as by mental stimulation.
She has no idea who Johnny is, but that can’t be helped because Johnny doesn’t really know who he is either.
We get our first inkling that something is different about Johnny as they are leaving the fair. The Wheel of Fortune guy running a crude version of the roulette wheel tempts Johnny over to try his luck with his last few remaining dollars. Johnny starts by betting on black or red and wins. As his confidence grows, he starts picking exact numbers and keeps winning. A crowd is drawn to this run of luck.
But is it luck?
He turns his meager money into three months pay.
Sarah becomes sick from a bad hot dog. Johnny quits the game to take her home. Since they came in her car, he takes a taxi back to his apartment.
There is an accident, and Johnny goes through the windshield.
He doesn’t wake up for four and half years.
His mother, never a stable person before, becomes more frantically religious. She throws herself at every new religious concept, even going so far at one point to joining a commune who are waiting for alien space ships to come pick them up to take them to God. With each new religious venture she brings the Smith’s closer to bankruptcy. Religious zealotry is always so scary to me. They believe it, whatever it is, so fervently that any rational thought is wrestled to the ground and pinned by unquestioning faith.
When Johnny comes out of his coma, he has the ability/curse of being able to touch someone or something owned by that person (psychometry) and see pieces of their future. Some key elements always seem to be missing, and those murky parts Johnny calls The Dead Zone.
An ability like this? Well...it scares people.
”The nurses were lined up against the glass of the nurses’ station, staring at him. Suddenly they reminded him of crows on a telephone line, crows staring down at something bright and shiny, something to be pecked at and pulled apart.”
That does seem to be our nature to fear what we don’t understand, quickly followed by the need to destroy what we fear. Anyone different, whether they have a unconventional sexual orientation or a disfigurement or just see the world differently, will feel the constant pressure to conform or...disappear. It is only logical of course that if Johnny knows about a fire before it happens that he must have been involved in setting that fire. The possibility of clairvoyance is too unique, too extraordinary for others to comprehend.
Johnny is ridiculed, exposed as a charlatan. He is fine with that. It might mean he has a chance to find a normal life.
He is doing well until a small town Sheriff can’t catch the Raincoat Serial Killer.
A handshake can be so revealing. And yes that is Martin Sheen playing Greg Stillson.
As Johnny is finding himself back in the spotlight, there is another man, a Bible salesman by the name of Greg Stillson, who is starting to have big thoughts, dreams of more power than any lunatic should ever have.
Stephen King is setting up a collision course between the two men, both unusual, both psychotic, but on opposite sides of the same scale.
When Johnny shakes Stillson’s hand, he sees a future that can not be allowed to happen.
If you could build a time machine and go back to 1932 and kill Adolf Hitler, would you do it? It seems logical that you would save millions of lives, which I can’t even calculate the number of descendants of those saved lives. The implications of lives that never existed in our timeline suddenly being thrust into our era are staggering. The reshuffling of the DNA deck is mind boggling. On a micro level it could change your own personal history significantly. Your grandfather might marry someone different or your mother might meet someone before your father that didn’t exist before. You could wink out of existence before you can even fire up the time machine to return to 2015. Knowing the historical results of Hitler being alive, even though there is always the risk that someway, somehow by altering history you might make our present worse, I would still have to vote that I would gladly assassinate Hitler. On top of being a monster, Adolf was also monstrously annoying.
I might even take a short detour and take out Joseph Stalin as well. I’m already rolling the dice, so why not cast them out there one more time? I’d chalk up another couple of million lives saved.
Alter another gazillion time lines of history.
Good lord, the enormity of it and the logic and the illogicalness of it all start to circle back around until it becomes very easy to talk oneself out of such a risky decision.
Nobody wants to destroy the world while trying to save it.
Johnny goes through the same thought processes. Logically, he should find a way to stop Stillson, but there is the nagging worry that he could just make things worse.
This is not a horror book. It is a psychological thriller written by a writer near the top of his game. While working in the book business, I have always puzzled over why Stephen King was read by so many people. Of course, then I didn’t read him. I didn’t need to read him because there were already plenty of people queuing up to buy and read his next book. My job, of course, was to read people like Cormac McCarthy or Alan Furst, or writers like John Williams and try to bring them to a wider audience. I have tried a couple of newer King offerings, but have found them to be bloated, overwritten, and ponderous. I read The Shining, fairly recently, and realized that the King’s gold is in the dusty trunks of his early writings.
The book spawned a movie, which spawned a popular TV show starring Anthony Michael Hall.
King even made a playful reference to his book Carrie in this novel which made me laugh-out-loud. It was a bit of tongue in cheek referring to his own celebrity.
This book also fits very nicely into my 1970s nostalgic tour of horror books even though technically I can’t call this horror. Here are the other books that I've read on this quest.
The Exorcist Review
The Shining Review
Jaws Review
The Omen Review
Harvest Home Review
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
September 27, 2020
A heavily shattered psi protagonists deals with the demons his unwanted gift shows him by playing the more or less voluntary hunter .
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 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.
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...
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 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.
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...
June 6, 2020
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 politician hopeful in action with his deadly threats and evil intentions.
Oh, and don't despair, The Wheel of Fortune, The Laughing Tiger, and Notes from The Dead Zone are all stories related to Johnny, just different phases of his life, as he experiences The Dead Zone.
For those leery of KING reads, don't be......for those opposed to animal cruelty (like me), there is a quick incident, but just wait till you see what happens to the evildoer and find out his identity, AND......for those who like song lyrics and current events of the time interspersed with their stories, you'll find that here too!
THE DEAD ZONE......a 2016 super favorite!
November 7, 2021
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.
July 31, 2021
“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 thing, then delivers another.
Boom. The End.
Like I said, this would have made a fine short story, or even an episode of The Twilight Zone. The concept takes a very common trope – the apparent blessing that is actually a curse – and overlays that onto a very clean, very effectual story arc. Indeed, in his adaptation, Cronenberg boiled the plot down to its bones, yet his film – a sleek hour-and-forty-three minutes – doesn’t miss a single story beat.
But this is Stephen King we’re talking about.
While a solid short-story writer in his own right, King is best known for his ability to write massively entertaining doorstoppers of prodigious length. Coming in at 426-hardcover pages, The Dead Zone does not have anywhere near the mass of The Stand, It, or Under the Dome, but it is expansive enough to provide an epic character study of an ordinary man named Johnny Smith, who flies through a windshield, falls into a half-decade slumber, and awakes with the terrible gift of prophecy.
By the end, my only wish is that it was longer.
In many ways, this does not feel like a typical Stephen King novel (and I feel I am slowly reading enough of his vast back-catalogue to venture these observations). For one, it is a psychological thriller, with nary a horror element in sight. For another, it has a certain seriousness of purpose. Many of King’s literary tics – the careful curating of pop cultural trivia; the garrulous characters who answer yes/no questions with lengthy monologues; the fetishization of rock-and-roll – are missing. Instead, he plants his story (published in 1979) firmly in the midst of Nixon’s America, riffing on the governmental mistrust and paranoid politics that defined the era. The shadow of Vietnam and the specter of Watergate have cast their pall over others of King’s books. Here, it takes up a podium on center stage, as King delivers a rather pointed critique along with the usual twists and turns.
It also features a brief cameo by Jimmy Carter!
I have found King to be at his peak when his focus is tightest. My favorites – Pet Sematary, Christine, The Shining – have a limited number of characters, powerful themes, and the emotional wallop you get only when an author knows exactly what he is attempting to convey. The Dead Zone falls into this category, to a point.
Johnny Smith is the star of this show, and though King allows his third-person viewpoint to rove at will, most of the novel is devoted to his experiences. While Johnny is prone to bouts of self-pity (which is probably an accurate depiction, but is a personality attribute that doesn’t exactly leap off the page), he is genuinely compelling, especially as the years go by, and the aftershocks of his car accident take their toll. Despite the lackluster name, Smith is really well drawn. He often acts in an irritating way, or says irritating things, but he always acts and speaks in a way that is in keeping with his fundamental nature.
(As an aside: The novel proper begins in 1970 and ends in 1978. King does a marvelous job of efficiently evoking the passage of this time, especially the years when Johnny is in a coma).
The supporting cast, however, is a bit of a mixed-bag in terms of quality and memorability. Roger Chatsworth, for instance, a wealthy man who hires Johnny as a tutor, is complex and multifaceted. There were times when I expected him to act in rote, stereotypical ways, and he didn’t, which is always a nice surprise. The relationship between Johnny and Dr. Sam Weizak is also effective, conjuring a real sense of mutual affection.
Others, though, are underwritten or bluntly cliched. Johnny’s onetime girlfriend Sarah is nothing more than “the one who got away,” and their brief romance is too slender a reed to support the weighty emotions King heaps upon it. Johnny’s mother is a religious zealot who we are asked – more like demanded – to despise. It would have been far more interesting if King had allowed that she was right about certain things. An entire subplot – featuring a Castle Rock sheriff and a serial killer – feels rushed and half-baked.
Then there is conundrum of Gregory Ammas Stillson, the big-bad of The Dead Zone. If we were to place him on the moral spectrum, he would be all in black. There is not a hint of gray, not even the suggestion of shading. When we first meet him, he stomps a dog to death.
That is Greg Stillson in a nutshell.
Thus, in a certain sense, Johnny’s antagonist is one step away from cartoon villainy. And frankly, cartoon villains are boring.
On the other hand, King’s portrait of an insurgent political candidate, a maverick gone rogue, a man-of-the-people populist who wears a hardhat, gives out hotdogs, and is able to whip up his constituencies’ base emotions, is rather captivating.
Other than a rather weak bench, my main criticism of The Dead Zone is that it was too short. Sure, up top, I said this was short-story material. But King convinced me there was a lot more to explore with this idea. Unfortunately, partway through, he seems to have abandoned the notion, and settled for something less ambitious. The Castle Rock serial killer subplot, for instance, either deserved more space, or should have been excised completely. The other characters in Johnny’s orbit could have used an extra dimension or two. Towards the end, it really felt like King was finding ways to cut corners, as a lot of the story’s heavy lifting is done with cheap epistolary techniques, such as quoting letters, newspaper articles, and legal testimony. This left me with a lot of questions, questions that should have been confronted directly, especially with regards to Johnny’s late-game decision-making.
These shortcomings probably keep The Dead Zone out of my personal pantheon of undisputed King masterpieces. Nevertheless, when the harshest condemnation that comes to mind is my desire for more pages, that is rather telling indeed.
- 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 thing, then delivers another.
Boom. The End.
Like I said, this would have made a fine short story, or even an episode of The Twilight Zone. The concept takes a very common trope – the apparent blessing that is actually a curse – and overlays that onto a very clean, very effectual story arc. Indeed, in his adaptation, Cronenberg boiled the plot down to its bones, yet his film – a sleek hour-and-forty-three minutes – doesn’t miss a single story beat.
But this is Stephen King we’re talking about.
While a solid short-story writer in his own right, King is best known for his ability to write massively entertaining doorstoppers of prodigious length. Coming in at 426-hardcover pages, The Dead Zone does not have anywhere near the mass of The Stand, It, or Under the Dome, but it is expansive enough to provide an epic character study of an ordinary man named Johnny Smith, who flies through a windshield, falls into a half-decade slumber, and awakes with the terrible gift of prophecy.
By the end, my only wish is that it was longer.
In many ways, this does not feel like a typical Stephen King novel (and I feel I am slowly reading enough of his vast back-catalogue to venture these observations). For one, it is a psychological thriller, with nary a horror element in sight. For another, it has a certain seriousness of purpose. Many of King’s literary tics – the careful curating of pop cultural trivia; the garrulous characters who answer yes/no questions with lengthy monologues; the fetishization of rock-and-roll – are missing. Instead, he plants his story (published in 1979) firmly in the midst of Nixon’s America, riffing on the governmental mistrust and paranoid politics that defined the era. The shadow of Vietnam and the specter of Watergate have cast their pall over others of King’s books. Here, it takes up a podium on center stage, as King delivers a rather pointed critique along with the usual twists and turns.
It also features a brief cameo by Jimmy Carter!
I have found King to be at his peak when his focus is tightest. My favorites – Pet Sematary, Christine, The Shining – have a limited number of characters, powerful themes, and the emotional wallop you get only when an author knows exactly what he is attempting to convey. The Dead Zone falls into this category, to a point.
Johnny Smith is the star of this show, and though King allows his third-person viewpoint to rove at will, most of the novel is devoted to his experiences. While Johnny is prone to bouts of self-pity (which is probably an accurate depiction, but is a personality attribute that doesn’t exactly leap off the page), he is genuinely compelling, especially as the years go by, and the aftershocks of his car accident take their toll. Despite the lackluster name, Smith is really well drawn. He often acts in an irritating way, or says irritating things, but he always acts and speaks in a way that is in keeping with his fundamental nature.
(As an aside: The novel proper begins in 1970 and ends in 1978. King does a marvelous job of efficiently evoking the passage of this time, especially the years when Johnny is in a coma).
The supporting cast, however, is a bit of a mixed-bag in terms of quality and memorability. Roger Chatsworth, for instance, a wealthy man who hires Johnny as a tutor, is complex and multifaceted. There were times when I expected him to act in rote, stereotypical ways, and he didn’t, which is always a nice surprise. The relationship between Johnny and Dr. Sam Weizak is also effective, conjuring a real sense of mutual affection.
Others, though, are underwritten or bluntly cliched. Johnny’s onetime girlfriend Sarah is nothing more than “the one who got away,” and their brief romance is too slender a reed to support the weighty emotions King heaps upon it. Johnny’s mother is a religious zealot who we are asked – more like demanded – to despise. It would have been far more interesting if King had allowed that she was right about certain things. An entire subplot – featuring a Castle Rock sheriff and a serial killer – feels rushed and half-baked.
Then there is conundrum of Gregory Ammas Stillson, the big-bad of The Dead Zone. If we were to place him on the moral spectrum, he would be all in black. There is not a hint of gray, not even the suggestion of shading. When we first meet him, he stomps a dog to death.
That is Greg Stillson in a nutshell.
Thus, in a certain sense, Johnny’s antagonist is one step away from cartoon villainy. And frankly, cartoon villains are boring.
On the other hand, King’s portrait of an insurgent political candidate, a maverick gone rogue, a man-of-the-people populist who wears a hardhat, gives out hotdogs, and is able to whip up his constituencies’ base emotions, is rather captivating.
Other than a rather weak bench, my main criticism of The Dead Zone is that it was too short. Sure, up top, I said this was short-story material. But King convinced me there was a lot more to explore with this idea. Unfortunately, partway through, he seems to have abandoned the notion, and settled for something less ambitious. The Castle Rock serial killer subplot, for instance, either deserved more space, or should have been excised completely. The other characters in Johnny’s orbit could have used an extra dimension or two. Towards the end, it really felt like King was finding ways to cut corners, as a lot of the story’s heavy lifting is done with cheap epistolary techniques, such as quoting letters, newspaper articles, and legal testimony. This left me with a lot of questions, questions that should have been confronted directly, especially with regards to Johnny’s late-game decision-making.
These shortcomings probably keep The Dead Zone out of my personal pantheon of undisputed King masterpieces. Nevertheless, when the harshest condemnation that comes to mind is my desire for more pages, that is rather telling indeed.
October 29, 2025
لماذا انا؟سؤال انساني نكرره كلما اصابتنا مصيبة
جون مدرس علوم يحب مهنته..يعتني بطلبته..يعشق خطيبته..عالمه ينهار ذات ليلة بعد حادث مروع..يدخله في غيبوبة لخمس سنوات يصحو منها ليجد انه صاحب قدرات تخيفه قبل غيره
.تنبؤ..تخاطب..قراءة ماضي..سايكومتري ..و اجمل ما في القصة انها حدثت بالفعل و لم يتعب كينج كثيرا في تأليف احداث مثيرة
ا"لماذا انا"سؤال يطاردنا في المحن.و هل هناك مصيبة اكبر ..من الاصطدام بالشر في أعتى صوره؟..
كلما مسست بشر ستجد مصاءبهم تهبط على عقلك..و بالطبع الرواية مأخوذة بتصرف عن قصة حقيقية
الأنانية..كلمة لابد إن تمحوها من حياتك..ما ان تبتلى بتلك القدرة
السايكوميتري
التي تمكنك من معرفة ماضي الجماد و البشر ..ما ان تمسهم يديك
ا"ان تعرف اكثر من اللازم..فلابد من دفع الثمن"..حتى لو خسرت كل شئ
تدور الأحداث عبر 10سنوات ..مليئة بتفاصيل طبية..وأخرى سياسية عن الولايات المتحدة في السبعينات. .بها الكثير و الكثير من الشخصيات الثانوية
ولكن يظل جون سميث المدرس البسيط مثالا للرجل العادي عندما تلقى عليه مسئولية غير عادية ..و قد أقتبس كينج شخصيته من الواقع لرجل كانت الشرطة تستعين به بسبب قدراته سالفة الذكر
لغة كينج كانت اكثر سلاسة وشاعرية..لم اتعاطف كثيرا مع علاقة جوني وسارة
ولكني تعاطفت مع مبادئ جوني و مثاليته و تضحياته..حتى صار بطل ذو معدن أصيل
"We all do what we can and it has to be good enough..nothing is ever lost.."johnny choose good for others ..and finally knew that everything thing happens for a reason ..
A novel about faith. .goodness. .and sacrificing. .Just brilliant
جون مدرس علوم يحب مهنته..يعتني بطلبته..يعشق خطيبته..عالمه ينهار ذات ليلة بعد حادث مروع..يدخله في غيبوبة لخمس سنوات يصحو منها ليجد انه صاحب قدرات تخيفه قبل غيره
.تنبؤ..تخاطب..قراءة ماضي..سايكومتري ..و اجمل ما في القصة انها حدثت بالفعل و لم يتعب كينج كثيرا في تأليف احداث مثيرة
ا"لماذا انا"سؤال يطاردنا في المحن.و هل هناك مصيبة اكبر ..من الاصطدام بالشر في أعتى صوره؟..
كلما مسست بشر ستجد مصاءبهم تهبط على عقلك..و بالطبع الرواية مأخوذة بتصرف عن قصة حقيقية
الأنانية..كلمة لابد إن تمحوها من حياتك..ما ان تبتلى بتلك القدرة
السايكوميتري
التي تمكنك من معرفة ماضي الجماد و البشر ..ما ان تمسهم يديك
ا"ان تعرف اكثر من اللازم..فلابد من دفع الثمن"..حتى لو خسرت كل شئ
تدور الأحداث عبر 10سنوات ..مليئة بتفاصيل طبية..وأخرى سياسية عن الولايات المتحدة في السبعينات. .بها الكثير و الكثير من الشخصيات الثانوية
ولكن يظل جون سميث المدرس البسيط مثالا للرجل العادي عندما تلقى عليه مسئولية غير عادية ..و قد أقتبس كينج شخصيته من الواقع لرجل كانت الشرطة تستعين به بسبب قدراته سالفة الذكر
لغة كينج كانت اكثر سلاسة وشاعرية..لم اتعاطف كثيرا مع علاقة جوني وسارة
ولكني تعاطفت مع مبادئ جوني و مثاليته و تضحياته..حتى صار بطل ذو معدن أصيل
"We all do what we can and it has to be good enough..nothing is ever lost.."johnny choose good for others ..and finally knew that everything thing happens for a reason ..
A novel about faith. .goodness. .and sacrificing. .Just brilliant
September 29, 2017
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.
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.
April 25, 2024
“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.
2024 reread #kingfromthebeginning - I love this book more each time I revisit. One of his best.
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.
2024 reread #kingfromthebeginning - I love this book more each time I revisit. One of his best.
March 7, 2022
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 back in time like, 11:22:63 his other book, and take out a despot, or foil an assassination. The repercussions today would be...
Anyhow, the world would be a different place today. Even just one simple thing, changed in the past would have such an impact today. Ripples in the pond of time. 👍🐯
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 back in time like, 11:22:63 his other book, and take out a despot, or foil an assassination. The repercussions today would be...
Anyhow, the world would be a different place today. Even just one simple thing, changed in the past would have such an impact today. Ripples in the pond of time. 👍🐯
August 11, 2020
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 site to ask for underrated King books. The Dead Zone was part of this recommendation. Everyone knew except for me. So, yeah.
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 site to ask for underrated King books. The Dead Zone was part of this recommendation. Everyone knew except for me. So, yeah.
January 21, 2016
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.
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.
September 22, 2021
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 that you hated.
The Dead Zone isn’t really horror, but it could feel like horror if you suddenly have the same ability that Johnny Smith does after his accident.
Years ago, I watched the movie staring Christopher Walken that was made in 1983. I was a bit surprised by some of the differences in the book vs movie.
My advice to you dear reader is, if there’s a movie being made of a Stephen King book, read the book first!
The movies usually don't compare and I can only think of a few examples that did a fantastic job with one of King's books.
Some thoughts after reading the book.
✔️ The book is more heart wrenching and raw. After reading this, I felt like I’d been stabbed in the heart.
✔️ I was more reflective while reading this and wondering how I would react if I had Johnny's abilities and life.
What’s that saying? It’s a gift and a curse.
Yep, that about sums it up.
✔️ The book is a wonderful character study about a happy and unassuming man, and then watching him go through dreadful changes when his life is shattered and he's given God like abilities.
Yeah, I'm really glad I finally showed up at the party!
I loved everything about this book and was not disappointed!
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 that you hated.
The Dead Zone isn’t really horror, but it could feel like horror if you suddenly have the same ability that Johnny Smith does after his accident.
Years ago, I watched the movie staring Christopher Walken that was made in 1983. I was a bit surprised by some of the differences in the book vs movie.
My advice to you dear reader is, if there’s a movie being made of a Stephen King book, read the book first!
The movies usually don't compare and I can only think of a few examples that did a fantastic job with one of King's books.
Some thoughts after reading the book.
✔️ The book is more heart wrenching and raw. After reading this, I felt like I’d been stabbed in the heart.
✔️ I was more reflective while reading this and wondering how I would react if I had Johnny's abilities and life.
What’s that saying? It’s a gift and a curse.
Yep, that about sums it up.
✔️ The book is a wonderful character study about a happy and unassuming man, and then watching him go through dreadful changes when his life is shattered and he's given God like abilities.
Yeah, I'm really glad I finally showed up at the party!
I loved everything about this book and was not disappointed!
March 20, 2023
Reread of one of my all-time favorite books. I read it every few years or so and always find something new. I adore it. I also love the audio narrated by James Franco. I said what I said :)
December 1, 2020
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 family (and Sarah) and the progression of his ability/the perception of his ability by others, was the driving force of this novel. In fact, it was more entertaining than the ultimate climax of the text, which dealt with the question of "if you could stop Hitler before he rose to power would ya?"
John felt an inordinate amount of pressure from his gift, which I thought serviced this book well. Rather than making him a superhero, his gift became more a question of mankind and morality.
Just another lovely King book that makes him the legendary author he is.
The development of John, his relationship with his family (and Sarah) and the progression of his ability/the perception of his ability by others, was the driving force of this novel. In fact, it was more entertaining than the ultimate climax of the text, which dealt with the question of "if you could stop Hitler before he rose to power would ya?"
John felt an inordinate amount of pressure from his gift, which I thought serviced this book well. Rather than making him a superhero, his gift became more a question of mankind and morality.
Just another lovely King book that makes him the legendary author he is.
July 23, 2024
Continuing my journey on reading all SK's books in publication order and The Dead Zone was the next on the list. I feel like this is a little underrated.
A really creepy read very hard to put down, it is also very current in 2020. I hadn’t really thought of the Dead Zone as one of SK greats as it is often overshadowed by IT, The Shining, Carrie and many many others – but this really was a stand out for me and maybe and good introduction to King. This book wasn’t as gory or ‘scary’ others but it is disturbing and thought provoking.
The characters are so believable in this book somehow even though the circumstances seem impossible! I really love Johnny and rooted for him throughout this book. This book is 100% worth the read and is just long enough at just shy of 500 pages.
"We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn't good enough, it has to do."
"The Question was this: If you could jump into a time machine and go back to 1932, would you kill Hitler?"
This is my second read of this book and I enjoyed it just as much if not more. I also watched the film straight after which is also really worth a watch.
A really creepy read very hard to put down, it is also very current in 2020. I hadn’t really thought of the Dead Zone as one of SK greats as it is often overshadowed by IT, The Shining, Carrie and many many others – but this really was a stand out for me and maybe and good introduction to King. This book wasn’t as gory or ‘scary’ others but it is disturbing and thought provoking.
The characters are so believable in this book somehow even though the circumstances seem impossible! I really love Johnny and rooted for him throughout this book. This book is 100% worth the read and is just long enough at just shy of 500 pages.
"We all do what we can, and it has to be good enough, and if it isn't good enough, it has to do."
"The Question was this: If you could jump into a time machine and go back to 1932, would you kill Hitler?"
This is my second read of this book and I enjoyed it just as much if not more. I also watched the film straight after which is also really worth a watch.
October 19, 2019
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 here who will give you a run for the money. Eyes shining with a crazed light, she gibbers maniacally, spewing dire warnings of hellfire, and spraying spittle far and wide in her self-righteous fervor. Bring in the clowns, even the spiders, if you must. They are nothing compared to the nut job inside these pages.
Originally published in 1979, it was a stroll down memory lane for me with reference to thirteen cent stamps, those old rabbit ears antennas augmented with the aluminum foil, and Walter Cronkite closing out the evening news with his signature "And that's the way it is." I bought it hot off the presses when it was released and now, 40 years later, my estimation of it has gone up with this second read.
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 here who will give you a run for the money. Eyes shining with a crazed light, she gibbers maniacally, spewing dire warnings of hellfire, and spraying spittle far and wide in her self-righteous fervor. Bring in the clowns, even the spiders, if you must. They are nothing compared to the nut job inside these pages.
Originally published in 1979, it was a stroll down memory lane for me with reference to thirteen cent stamps, those old rabbit ears antennas augmented with the aluminum foil, and Walter Cronkite closing out the evening news with his signature "And that's the way it is." I bought it hot off the presses when it was released and now, 40 years later, my estimation of it has gone up with this second read.
February 16, 2025
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This is very apropos to the current political climate, but maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy my time with this as much the second time around. I get enough of that through the osmosis of daily life, and don’t need any more added to the continuous microdose drip.
The Good…
Johnny Smith remains one of King’s best characters, and I love his relationship with Sarah, despite its Shakespearean tragedy fate.
The Less Good…
The first half of this book is incredible, and is indelibly imprinted in my mind. It goes downhill for me as soon as the Castle Rock story ends. This would have been a better book had King lingered on the serial killer cat-and-mouse game, and made that the centerpiece of the second half.
The Conclusion…
It’s a classic King book, and I can see why many people love it, but for me the Stillson storyline drags this book down and makes it one I’d rather not return to again.
This is very apropos to the current political climate, but maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy my time with this as much the second time around. I get enough of that through the osmosis of daily life, and don’t need any more added to the continuous microdose drip.
The Good…
Johnny Smith remains one of King’s best characters, and I love his relationship with Sarah, despite its Shakespearean tragedy fate.
The Less Good…
The first half of this book is incredible, and is indelibly imprinted in my mind. It goes downhill for me as soon as the Castle Rock story ends. This would have been a better book had King lingered on the serial killer cat-and-mouse game, and made that the centerpiece of the second half.
The Conclusion…
It’s a classic King book, and I can see why many people love it, but for me the Stillson storyline drags this book down and makes it one I’d rather not return to again.
October 29, 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 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.
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.
October 30, 2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Horror + Thriller
Summary
“The Dead Zone” starts with Johnny Smith, a perfectly normal schoolteacher who could’ve lived a perfectly normal life—until a freak accident throws him into a 5-year-long coma. He wakes up to a world that has politely moved on without him. His girlfriend, Sarah, has married someone else, his parents are shells of the people he remembers, and he’s suddenly the guy who knows things he shouldn’t. Literally. A handshake or a touch, and boom—visions of people’s futures, secrets, tragedies waiting around corners.
Trying to figure out how to exist again would already be heavy enough, but Johnny’s new ability keeps dragging him places he never signed up to go. A kidnapped child. A hidden killer. Old friends who suddenly see him as either a miracle or a cautionary tale. Every time he steps in to help, he loses a little more of the quiet life he wants back. It’s heartbreaking to watch him yearn for normal while everyone else treats him like some kind of cursed superhero.
While Johnny is stumbling through his second chance at life, we also get Greg Stillson, a smooth, loud, politically ambitious, and the sort of guy whose grin makes you check your back pocket. His rise feels uncomfortably real, the kind of political arc that makes you mutter, “Yeah… I’ve seen this movie in real life, and it didn’t end great.”
By the time Johnny realizes what Stillson might become, the story shifts from eerie personal tragedy to a deeply moral “what would you do?” moment. The finale isn’t all fireworks and chaos. It’s sad, unsettling, and almost quiet in the way real irreversible decisions sometimes are, which honestly makes it stick harder.
Characters
Johnny is written as painfully human. He’s not a chosen-one-type psychic; he's tired, confused, grieving for a life that slipped away while he slept. His powers don’t give him swagger, but they give him migraines, isolation, and a guilt complex big enough to block sunlight. That vulnerability may sound depressing, but it’s exactly why he works. He feels like someone you could’ve known, or maybe someone you could’ve been if life rolled the dice differently.
Stillson, on the other hand, is almost alarmingly familiar: the charming, cruel, self-made “man of the people” with a smile that seems like it might bite. King doesn’t make him a cartoon villain; he makes him the kind of dangerous that sneaks up wearing a handshake and campaign button. He represents all the corrupt politicians we see on TV every single day.
The supporting cast—Sarah, Johnny’s parents, the small-town cops—ground the story emotionally, with his mother being the standout among them. They may not all get deep arcs, but they feel lived-in enough that Johnny’s loneliness hits harder.
Writing Style
King uses third-person narration with a very steady, sometimes patient pace. The psychic visions don’t jump out with special effects; they slide into the story like unwanted memories. The writing is straightforward and emotional rather than flashy, and every once in a while, he’ll drop one of those one-sentence gut punches he loves. If you like your supernatural stories realistic enough to be uncomfortable, this one fits.
Setting and Atmosphere
Most of the book takes place in ordinary American suburbs and towns—ice rinks, diners, school classrooms, campaign halls. Nothing grand, nothing gothic, and that’s the point. The everyday settings make Johnny’s psychic episodes feel like intrusions into a world that really doesn’t want them. That contrast helps anchor the story and keeps it from drifting into pure fantasy territory.
The atmosphere leans anxious, sad, and steadily tense. Not jump-scare horror—more like lying awake at 3 AM replaying choices you can’t change. There’s an eerie inevitability to everything, as if fate keeps clearing its throat in the background. Even when nothing supernatural is happening, you feel the weight of what might.
Final Thoughts
I’d put this at a solid four stars. It’s thoughtful, grim in a way that sneaks up on you, and emotionally messy in the best way. Johnny’s journey is compelling precisely because nothing feels clean or easy. That said, there are stretches where the pacing slows, and you may catch yourself glancing at the page count. Still, the themes and emotional impact land hard.
“The Dead Zone” may not be King’s flashiest or scariest novel, but it might be one of his most haunting. It leaves you thinking about fate, about duty, and about whether knowing the future would be a gift or a punishment. It’s a story that lingers, not because of monsters in the dark, but because it quietly reminds you how terrifying power and sacrifice can be when they show up in real life.
The review here:
https://constantinebooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-dead-zone.html
Genre: Horror + Thriller
Summary
“The Dead Zone” starts with Johnny Smith, a perfectly normal schoolteacher who could’ve lived a perfectly normal life—until a freak accident throws him into a 5-year-long coma. He wakes up to a world that has politely moved on without him. His girlfriend, Sarah, has married someone else, his parents are shells of the people he remembers, and he’s suddenly the guy who knows things he shouldn’t. Literally. A handshake or a touch, and boom—visions of people’s futures, secrets, tragedies waiting around corners.
Trying to figure out how to exist again would already be heavy enough, but Johnny’s new ability keeps dragging him places he never signed up to go. A kidnapped child. A hidden killer. Old friends who suddenly see him as either a miracle or a cautionary tale. Every time he steps in to help, he loses a little more of the quiet life he wants back. It’s heartbreaking to watch him yearn for normal while everyone else treats him like some kind of cursed superhero.
While Johnny is stumbling through his second chance at life, we also get Greg Stillson, a smooth, loud, politically ambitious, and the sort of guy whose grin makes you check your back pocket. His rise feels uncomfortably real, the kind of political arc that makes you mutter, “Yeah… I’ve seen this movie in real life, and it didn’t end great.”
By the time Johnny realizes what Stillson might become, the story shifts from eerie personal tragedy to a deeply moral “what would you do?” moment. The finale isn’t all fireworks and chaos. It’s sad, unsettling, and almost quiet in the way real irreversible decisions sometimes are, which honestly makes it stick harder.
Characters
Johnny is written as painfully human. He’s not a chosen-one-type psychic; he's tired, confused, grieving for a life that slipped away while he slept. His powers don’t give him swagger, but they give him migraines, isolation, and a guilt complex big enough to block sunlight. That vulnerability may sound depressing, but it’s exactly why he works. He feels like someone you could’ve known, or maybe someone you could’ve been if life rolled the dice differently.
Stillson, on the other hand, is almost alarmingly familiar: the charming, cruel, self-made “man of the people” with a smile that seems like it might bite. King doesn’t make him a cartoon villain; he makes him the kind of dangerous that sneaks up wearing a handshake and campaign button. He represents all the corrupt politicians we see on TV every single day.
The supporting cast—Sarah, Johnny’s parents, the small-town cops—ground the story emotionally, with his mother being the standout among them. They may not all get deep arcs, but they feel lived-in enough that Johnny’s loneliness hits harder.
Writing Style
King uses third-person narration with a very steady, sometimes patient pace. The psychic visions don’t jump out with special effects; they slide into the story like unwanted memories. The writing is straightforward and emotional rather than flashy, and every once in a while, he’ll drop one of those one-sentence gut punches he loves. If you like your supernatural stories realistic enough to be uncomfortable, this one fits.
Setting and Atmosphere
Most of the book takes place in ordinary American suburbs and towns—ice rinks, diners, school classrooms, campaign halls. Nothing grand, nothing gothic, and that’s the point. The everyday settings make Johnny’s psychic episodes feel like intrusions into a world that really doesn’t want them. That contrast helps anchor the story and keeps it from drifting into pure fantasy territory.
The atmosphere leans anxious, sad, and steadily tense. Not jump-scare horror—more like lying awake at 3 AM replaying choices you can’t change. There’s an eerie inevitability to everything, as if fate keeps clearing its throat in the background. Even when nothing supernatural is happening, you feel the weight of what might.
Final Thoughts
I’d put this at a solid four stars. It’s thoughtful, grim in a way that sneaks up on you, and emotionally messy in the best way. Johnny’s journey is compelling precisely because nothing feels clean or easy. That said, there are stretches where the pacing slows, and you may catch yourself glancing at the page count. Still, the themes and emotional impact land hard.
“The Dead Zone” may not be King’s flashiest or scariest novel, but it might be one of his most haunting. It leaves you thinking about fate, about duty, and about whether knowing the future would be a gift or a punishment. It’s a story that lingers, not because of monsters in the dark, but because it quietly reminds you how terrifying power and sacrifice can be when they show up in real life.
The review here:
https://constantinebooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-dead-zone.html
October 15, 2025
Първата книга на Краля, която прочетох още като младеж (тогава тийнове нямаше още).
Естествено, бях запленен и съм му заклет почитател, ако и през годините понякога да не са ми допадали творбите му.
Но "Мъртвата зона" си остана една от любимите ми книги, заради интересните герои и страхотно развитата история. Многократно съм я препрочитал, винаги с голямо удоволствие.
И не веднъж съм се чудел, как ли щях да действам, ако аз бях на мястото на Джони и какви избори бих направил.
Да успееш читателят да се припознае с героя ти е много трудно постижимо и се отдава на малцина автори, но за това Кинг е Краля и няма втори като него!
За да дойдат после "Гняв", "Дългата разходка", "Кристин", "Сейлъмс лот", "То", "Особени сезони", "11/22/63", "Сестричките от Елурия" и последващите патила на стрелеца Роланд, и още, и още...
Естествено, бях запленен и съм му заклет почитател, ако и през годините понякога да не са ми допадали творбите му.
Но "Мъртвата зона" си остана една от любимите ми книги, заради интересните герои и страхотно развитата история. Многократно съм я препрочитал, винаги с голямо удоволствие.
И не веднъж съм се чудел, как ли щях да действам, ако аз бях на мястото на Джони и какви избори бих направил.
Да успееш читателят да се припознае с героя ти е много трудно постижимо и се отдава на малцина автори, но за това Кинг е Краля и няма втори като него!
За да дойдат после "Гняв", "Дългата разходка", "Кристин", "Сейлъмс лот", "То", "Особени сезони", "11/22/63", "Сестричките от Елурия" и последващите патила на стрелеца Роланд, и още, и още...
May 26, 2017
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 this audiobook, but King did a superb job in his writing of it. I loved this book and not only because of Franco. I found King's storytelling intoxicating. I have always enjoyed the books I have read by King but I have never felt as invested in a main character until The Dead Zone. Johnny is a well-written and complicated character, the many integrated situations he intervenes in are engaging, mysterious, and thrilling, and this fictional character written in the 70's who can foresee the future appears to have predicted America's current political dynamic, almost 40 years later. I don't discuss politics on social media and will always respect and support whoever holds the office of president, but I have to admit this element was more than a bit eerie. If you like King, Franco, the existing adaptations of this book, or just want to see what all the buzz is about (politically speaking), I strongly recommend checking out The Dead Zone!
Note: If interested, you can listen to an online interview clip with James Franco about the audiobook experience HERE.
My favorite quote:
“Ninety-five percent of people who walk the earth are simply inert. One percent are saints, and one percent are assholes. The other three percent are people who do what they say they can do.”
Note: If interested, you can listen to an online interview clip with James Franco about the audiobook experience HERE.
My favorite quote:
“Ninety-five percent of people who walk the earth are simply inert. One percent are saints, and one percent are assholes. The other three percent are people who do what they say they can do.”
July 12, 2023
Reread in 2023. Here’s my review from 2018:
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.
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.
November 23, 2021
La historia sigue a Jhonny Smith, quien luego de un accidente despierta casi 5 años depués. Sí, mucho tiempo. Demasiado. Lo bueno (o lo malo) de esto es que despierta con un extraño poder; visiones. Todo objeto y a cada persona que toque inmediatamente sabrá cosas de ella. Una habilidad que a lo largo de todo el libro hará pensar al protagonista si es un don o una maldición.
Hablemos primero de Jhonny, que es lo más importante y es quien nos cuenta la mayor parte de la historia. En el prólogo lo vemos como un niño que sufre un pequeño accidente y tiempo después, ocurre lo mismo, pero esta vez peor, dejándolo en coma. Cuando despierta se encuentra con la realidad, que lo golpea con rudeza pues el tiempo se lo ha arrebatado todo. Es un personaje con muchísimos matices. Pasa por distintas circunstancias que te harán pensar y reflexionar. Y lo bueno del libro es que nunca te aburre. Y no, no es que haya mucha acción sino que el personaje pasa por momentos interesantes, haciendo que el lector tenga una montaña rusa de emociones.
Los demás son secundarios y sí aportan a la historia pero no es mucho lo que aparecen; Está Sarah, la ex-novia que ha seguido con su vida luego del accidente; Herb, el padre comprensivo y Vera, la madre religiosa fanática, quien deja una marca muy fundamental en Johnny; también tenemos al Dr Weizak, al sheriff Bannerman, Frank Dodd, Chuck y muchos más que tienen una pequeña pero importante relevancia. Ah y no nos olvidemos de Greg Stillson, El Tigre que Ríe.
Ahora, la sinopsis me llamó muchísimo la atención desde siempre, pero a medida que leía me decepcionaba mucho porque pensaba que era una trampa para el lector; donde este creía que esa sería la trama principal pero se estrellaría con otra cosa distinta, pero no del todo mala. Sin embargo, Greg Stillson sí fue un villano en la obra, con sus dotes de grandeza y sus actos descarados y aberrantes... pero al fin y al cabo no fue un villano con mucha relevancia. Él simplemente aportó algo indudable en el clímax de la trama: fue la desicion más díficil e importante de Johnny. Al principio, me decepcionó mucho que no fuera tanta su importancia como había pensado, pero una vez que terminé el acto final comprendí el por qué.
Así que hay tres cosas que no se deben esperar de La zona muerta:
1. Esta no es una historia donde el protagonista tratará en todo el libro de asesinar al futuro presidente de Estados Unidos.
2. Tampoco donde veremos al villano haciendo y deshaciendo en muchas páginas, como en otras obras de King, que lo profundiza más.
3. Mucho menos una historia llena de constante acción.
No se dejen llevar solo por la sinopsis (como me pasó a mí). La historia es mucho más que eso; lo vemos todo con los ojos del protagonista, a personajes con miedos e inseguridades pero con decisiones que van dejando marca, sea para bien o para mal. La historia de Johnny Smith es triste, cautivadora, reflexiva, emotiva y en cierta parte tranquilizante. Es una historia donde gran mayoría de los personajes no se olvidan y eso es gracias al protagonista.
Lo bueno: los personajes, todos ellos, pero más Smith; ese se lleva el puesto.
Lo malo: Quedé con ganas de más. Después de mucho pensarlo eso fue lo peor que me pudo pasar y es que el final me dejó frío.
Hablemos primero de Jhonny, que es lo más importante y es quien nos cuenta la mayor parte de la historia. En el prólogo lo vemos como un niño que sufre un pequeño accidente y tiempo después, ocurre lo mismo, pero esta vez peor, dejándolo en coma. Cuando despierta se encuentra con la realidad, que lo golpea con rudeza pues el tiempo se lo ha arrebatado todo. Es un personaje con muchísimos matices. Pasa por distintas circunstancias que te harán pensar y reflexionar. Y lo bueno del libro es que nunca te aburre. Y no, no es que haya mucha acción sino que el personaje pasa por momentos interesantes, haciendo que el lector tenga una montaña rusa de emociones.
Los demás son secundarios y sí aportan a la historia pero no es mucho lo que aparecen; Está Sarah, la ex-novia que ha seguido con su vida luego del accidente; Herb, el padre comprensivo y Vera, la madre religiosa fanática, quien deja una marca muy fundamental en Johnny; también tenemos al Dr Weizak, al sheriff Bannerman, Frank Dodd, Chuck y muchos más que tienen una pequeña pero importante relevancia. Ah y no nos olvidemos de Greg Stillson, El Tigre que Ríe.
Ahora, la sinopsis me llamó muchísimo la atención desde siempre, pero a medida que leía me decepcionaba mucho porque pensaba que era una trampa para el lector; donde este creía que esa sería la trama principal pero se estrellaría con otra cosa distinta, pero no del todo mala. Sin embargo, Greg Stillson sí fue un villano en la obra, con sus dotes de grandeza y sus actos descarados y aberrantes... pero al fin y al cabo no fue un villano con mucha relevancia. Él simplemente aportó algo indudable en el clímax de la trama: fue la desicion más díficil e importante de Johnny. Al principio, me decepcionó mucho que no fuera tanta su importancia como había pensado, pero una vez que terminé el acto final comprendí el por qué.
Así que hay tres cosas que no se deben esperar de La zona muerta:
1. Esta no es una historia donde el protagonista tratará en todo el libro de asesinar al futuro presidente de Estados Unidos.
2. Tampoco donde veremos al villano haciendo y deshaciendo en muchas páginas, como en otras obras de King, que lo profundiza más.
3. Mucho menos una historia llena de constante acción.
No se dejen llevar solo por la sinopsis (como me pasó a mí). La historia es mucho más que eso; lo vemos todo con los ojos del protagonista, a personajes con miedos e inseguridades pero con decisiones que van dejando marca, sea para bien o para mal. La historia de Johnny Smith es triste, cautivadora, reflexiva, emotiva y en cierta parte tranquilizante. Es una historia donde gran mayoría de los personajes no se olvidan y eso es gracias al protagonista.
Lo bueno: los personajes, todos ellos, pero más Smith; ese se lleva el puesto.
Lo malo: Quedé con ganas de más. Después de mucho pensarlo eso fue lo peor que me pudo pasar y es que el final me dejó frío.
September 25, 2017
Amazing really enjoyed 💕'
March 5, 2021
یکی دیگه از کتابای کینگ که شخصیت اصلیش بصیرت داره و میتونه گذشته، حال یا آینده رو ببینه و سعی میکنه از قدرتش درست استفاده کنه
با اینکه یه جاهاییش خستهکننده میشد و اضافه به نظر میرسید ولی راحتخوان بود. به جز قسمتی که مربوط به شرح یه جنایت میشه، چیز ترسناکی هم نداره
اقتباس سینمایی کراننبرگ هم جالب نبود. همون قسمت ترسناک رو هم تغییر داده بود. فقط داستان رو پیش میبرد و تقریباً فیلم هندیش هم کرده بود و شخصیت پردازی درستی نداشت. شخصیت پردازی کتاب خیلی بهتره
با اینکه یه جاهاییش خستهکننده میشد و اضافه به نظر میرسید ولی راحتخوان بود. به جز قسمتی که مربوط به شرح یه جنایت میشه، چیز ترسناکی هم نداره
اقتباس سینمایی کراننبرگ هم جالب نبود. همون قسمت ترسناک رو هم تغییر داده بود. فقط داستان رو پیش میبرد و تقریباً فیلم هندیش هم کرده بود و شخصیت پردازی درستی نداشت. شخصیت پردازی کتاب خیلی بهتره
July 15, 2025
Second reading and really enjoyed this. The first time I read this I gave it a 3.75 but I think it's more of a 4.
April 26, 2025
Update: (01.10.2024 г.)
Кинг е потвърдил, че Стилсън от „Мъртвата зона“ е Тръмп. Ако не сте чели този страхотен политически трилър, силно препоръчвам!
Първоначално ревю:
Джони е талантлив млад учител, който наскоро си е намерил приятелка и животът му е започнал като цяло да се подрежда. Една вечер обаче претърпява тежка автомобилна катастрофа, заради която изпада в кома за почти 5 години. След като се събужда, нищо вече не е същото... Приятелката му Сара се е омъжила и си има дете, майка му се е превърнала в религиозна фанатичка, а пък него го очаква трудно възстановяване и връщане към нормалния живот... Още в болницата Джони открива, че вече притежава необясними парапсихически способности. При допир до друг човек, той може да види части от неговото минало или бъдеще... Този новопоявил се „ясновидски“ талант се превръща в непосилно бреме, тъй като много хора започват да странят от него и да го презират, а пък жълтата преса не го оставя на мира, следейки личния му живот... Джони се опитва да помага на други хора, като предупреждава за бъдещи опасности, а и помага на полицията за намирането на мистериозен убиец. След време, когато се среща с известен политик, невероятната му дарба го изправя пред много труден житейски избор...
„Мъртвата зона“ е прекрасно съчетание между свръхестествен и политически трилър! Чрез този страшно силен и въздействащ роман, Стивън Кинг дава на читателите различни теми за размисъл, както и по увлекателен начин описва американската действителност от онези години.
Кинг е потвърдил, че Стилсън от „Мъртвата зона“ е Тръмп. Ако не сте чели този страхотен политически трилър, силно препоръчвам!
Първоначално ревю:
Джони е талантлив млад учител, който наскоро си е намерил приятелка и животът му е започнал като цяло да се подрежда. Една вечер обаче претърпява тежка автомобилна катастрофа, заради която изпада в кома за почти 5 години. След като се събужда, нищо вече не е същото... Приятелката му Сара се е омъжила и си има дете, майка му се е превърнала в религиозна фанатичка, а пък него го очаква трудно възстановяване и връщане към нормалния живот... Още в болницата Джони открива, че вече притежава необясними парапсихически способности. При допир до друг човек, той може да види части от неговото минало или бъдеще... Този новопоявил се „ясновидски“ талант се превръща в непосилно бреме, тъй като много хора започват да странят от него и да го презират, а пък жълтата преса не го оставя на мира, следейки личния му живот... Джони се опитва да помага на други хора, като предупреждава за бъдещи опасности, а и помага на полицията за намирането на мистериозен убиец. След време, когато се среща с известен политик, невероятната му дарба го изправя пред много труден житейски избор...
„Мъртвата зона“ е прекрасно съчетание между свръхестествен и политически трилър! Чрез този страшно силен и въздействащ роман, Стивън Кинг дава на читателите различни теми за размисъл, както и по увлекателен начин описва американската действителност от онези години.
November 17, 2024
خوب اولین کتابم از کینگ هم خوندم و باید بگم تجربه خیلی خیلی لذتبخش و جالبی بود🫠
حقیقتا علتی که سمت کینگ نمیرفتم این بود که اکثر عناوینش ترسناک هستن اما این کتاب منطقه مرده نه تنها ترسناک نبود بلکه توش قاتل سریالی هم داره🥹
قبل از شروع کردن کتاب خیلی میشنیدم که میگفتن کتابای کینگ (اولش کند پیش میره) یا اینکه( هیجانش کم هست) اما من همچین چیزایی احساس نکردم.
روند کتاب خیلی روون و خوب و مناسب بود و به قول دوستی سرعت مختص خود کینگ داشت
شخصیتهارو خیلی دوست داشتم و خیلی واقعی بودن و میشد به راحتی افرادی مشابهشون در اطرافمون ببینیم
و جانی اسمیت ... این معلم ساده و عاشق و آروم ... نمیشه دوستش نداشت و نمیشه براش دلسوزی نکرد🫠
بحثای سیاسی جوامع امریکا هم تو کتاب خیلی بهشون اشاره میشد که مترجم لطف کرده بود برای هر اسم و شخصیتی که بهش اشاره میشد پانویس گذاشته بود🥰
و اما اخر داستان که باید بگم جدا دوست داشتم. نمیدونم اما حس میکنم اگه هر پایانی غیراز این میداشت مخاطب راضی نمیشد🫠
خلاصه اینکه بشدت از اولین تجربه کینگخوانی راضی هستم و این کتاب چیزی هست که میدونم بازهم میرم سراغش تا بازخوانیش کنم🤭
حقیقتا علتی که سمت کینگ نمیرفتم این بود که اکثر عناوینش ترسناک هستن اما این کتاب منطقه مرده نه تنها ترسناک نبود بلکه توش قاتل سریالی هم داره🥹
قبل از شروع کردن کتاب خیلی میشنیدم که میگفتن کتابای کینگ (اولش کند پیش میره) یا اینکه( هیجانش کم هست) اما من همچین چیزایی احساس نکردم.
روند کتاب خیلی روون و خوب و مناسب بود و به قول دوستی سرعت مختص خود کینگ داشت
شخصیتهارو خیلی دوست داشتم و خیلی واقعی بودن و میشد به راحتی افرادی مشابهشون در اطرافمون ببینیم
و جانی اسمیت ... این معلم ساده و عاشق و آروم ... نمیشه دوستش نداشت و نمیشه براش دلسوزی نکرد🫠
بحثای سیاسی جوامع امریکا هم تو کتاب خیلی بهشون اشاره میشد که مترجم لطف کرده بود برای هر اسم و شخصیتی که بهش اشاره میشد پانویس گذاشته بود🥰
و اما اخر داستان که باید بگم جدا دوست داشتم. نمیدونم اما حس میکنم اگه هر پایانی غیراز این میداشت مخاطب راضی نمیشد🫠
خلاصه اینکه بشدت از اولین تجربه کینگخوانی راضی هستم و این کتاب چیزی هست که میدونم بازهم میرم سراغش تا بازخوانیش کنم🤭
March 27, 2025
I'm not going to fully review this just yet but I will say this is an absolutely belter of a book.
'Nothing is ever lost, Sarah. Nothing that can't be found.'
'Nothing is ever lost, Sarah. Nothing that can't be found.'
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