Cell. – Stephen King.

Synopsis from the back of the book.

Civilization slipped into its second dark ago on an unsurprising track of blood, but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist… and the world as it had been was a memory. The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cellular phone operating in the world. Within hours, those receiving calls would be infected. Clayton Riddell, a young artist, knows he has to reach his son before the boy turns on his phone. And time is running out.

***

My thoughts.

I’d never read anything by Stephen King, before I picked up this book, so I did not really know whether his work would suit me. I’d heard of many people recommending his novels, so I was looking forward to it. I probably would have never started on this particular book; but after trudging up to the co-op and discovering they had a book sale, I snapped it up for a mere 50p. I thought why not!

***

Cell starts out immediately with the action. On a pleasant ordinary October afternoon downtown in Boston everything suddenly goes crazy. People attack and bite strangers, smash things up and speak in wild gibberish, all this because of the mind-probing called The Pulse. It has been delivered via cellphone. Only the people that don’t own a mobile phone, or heard in time not to pick it up, are safe.

***

The author’s main character, a comic book artist named Clayton Riddell, immediatly caught my attention. From the start of the novel to the very end he is frightened, but he keeps going and takes control of the situation by trying to fight back. In his search for his son and wife, Johnny and Sharon; Clay, as he prefers to be called in the book, must battle with his conscience when making some important decisions. Clay is thrown together with a few comrades, throughout the book. These include; Tom, a short man with thinning dark hair, a tiny mustache, and gold-rimmed spectacles, and Alice; a teenage girl that has lost her mum in the early onset of The Pulse. The characters band together and begin heading north, road by road where they meet others in their journey.

***

King spends part of Cell considering the darkness of human nature. The people infected can be found reeling, staggering, biting eachother or fighting over Twinkies.

***

The cell-from-hell story-line gives this novel an instantly powerful attraction. However, there are times when the book threatens to come to a stand-still. Though Cell is not long, it moves slowly and somewhat repetitively along its highway of horrors. And King is in no hurry to build upon the Pulse idea after he has deployed its initial shock value. However, the book, after awhile, seems to regain some original steam. The zombies evolve in interesting ways, which keep you turning the pages wanting more.

***

My only criticism would be that at some points it struggled to keep my attention. However, I enjoyed it, and recommend to anyone that likes a good action-packed adventure.

7/10.