If you read this blog regularly, and I hope you do, you may notice that I like to read about politics. Strangely enough, Stephen King, who I really like, wrote a book about politics and my first response to it was less than enthusiastic. I read it again a few years later, and it really drew me in. Just goes to show that the same book won’t be the same every time you read it. Since then, I reread it several times and it’s one I suggest to people when they dismiss King as just another scary writer.
The basic story: John Smith is a young teacher, a nice guy falling in love with a nice girl. Then an accident puts him into a coma, and years of that good life just melt away, along with all its possibilities. When he recovers, he has gained a frightening ability. Just by touching something or someone at an emotional moment, he gets flashes—visions of the past, intuitions of the present, knowledge of the future. Some might think it a wonderful power, except he can’t turn it off and can’t get people to believe him.
Johnny has no idea what he is to do with this ability and no interest in exploiting it. He wants to go back to teaching, to pay off his enormous hospital bills, and to find that nice girl he’s still in love with, but word of his ability spreads and he becomes infamous. He also becomes sensitive to the reluctance that people—even the ones he loves?—feel towards touching him. And through a powerful experience he learns that he does have a purpose, even if it isn’t one he believes or wants. He sets off on his own to avoid it and to rebuild the wreck of his life.
Johnny’s story is populated with memorable characters: Sarah Bracknell, his girl; Greg Stillson, the ambitious salesman intent on riding the winds of change; Sam Weizak, Johnny’s doctor and friend; Sonny Ellison, a reformed biker; Sheriff George Bannerman, a desperate cop; and Chuck Chatsworth, the student Johnny finally connects with. Each becomes a reminder to Johnny that he cannot escape his purpose and it becomes more and more apparent that this good and sensitive man is the only person able to prevent an apocalypse.
Politics is the background Johnny’s struggle is illuminated against. From the radical disturbances of the early Seventies to the post-Watergate cynicism of the American public, Johnny is a witness to public life. The story becomes a lesson in political history as told through the eyes of a time traveler adrift in a culture he doesn’t recognize. People have become personalities, character has become charisma, ideas have become ideologies. But Johnny’s struggle is an eternal one—can the ends ever justify the means?
Check the WRL catalog for The Dead Zone
Blogging for a Good Book 
The Dead Zone was the first book I read from King. A friend gave me a beat up old paperback copy and it sat on the shelf for a couple of months. At the time I figured he was just another hack. (I was so pretentious about my reading back then.) I picked it up and was shocked. It was good! The characters had depth, the situations felt real and… well, I couldn’t put it down. Say what you will about King, when he’s on his game, he’s a remarkable story teller. I think The Dead Zone is one of his best books, but often overlooked. 11/22/63 had the same kind of vibe for me… an unfolding tragedy that you hope will turn out all right, but you know the inevitable will happen. Thanks for blog, Michael. I may have to pick this up again, just so I can get back to the reason I’ve followed King for all these years.
I remember this book like it was yesterday. King was definitely ahead of his time. The tv series and movie did not do justice to this important work.
I haven’t read any of Stephen King’s scary books yet, but I want to read Carrie before I see the movie remake. I did, however, read his Memoir, On Writing. I really enjoyed that book and got to read about his writing journey.