Well, almost.
Some Stephen King books have as much in
common with the horror genre as Bridget Jones's Diary, but Cell certainly isn't
one of them.
The book starts like a punch to the face, smack, and you're in; you're in the middle of
Boston to be precise, and the world is going mad, losing its head; people are
starting to go crazy, committing mass suicide, attacking each other with gut retching,
blood thirsty ferocity. (The incident is later referred to as the Pulse).
A proper Horror then? You bet; don't
read this if you’re squeamish.
Our main character, Clayton Riddell - he's
just managed to sell some artwork and has a spring in his step when the shit
hits the fan - links up with the somewhat bookish Tom McCourt and rather
excellent Alice Maxwell, (who quickly became my favourite character), her
mixture of vulnerability and teenage verve being reminiscent of Beverly Marsh
from 'It'.
The story centres round Clayton and his
small posse, escaping the ever apocalyptic Boston, to begin the journey that
will result (we hope) in Clayton finding his son.
They hole up in Tom McCourt's house for a
night before pressing on, they find a school headmaster and a single pupil,
(Jordan), who they try to convince to join their quest, and commit mass
murder on the way.
Bloody, thoughtful, slightly SCI-FI,
horrific and touching in equal measure, this book is Stephen King doing what
everybody thinks he is doing, in all of his books, but rarely does, (most of
his books are nowhere near as bloodthirsty as this one) and coming up
trumps.
It did feel like something was missing
thought, and I won't spoil it by telling you the end, but it stopped very
abruptly, and unlike a lot of his books, there was very little backstory to
most of the characters.
It wouldn't surprise me it there's an
unabridged version of this book somewhere in the SK vault; one with a bit more of
a beginning, more character development, (like what happened at Jordan's
school) and maybe even, what happened after Clayton finds . . .
Almost spoilt it!
Three and a half stars then, but if you're
a King fan, I'm sure you'll read it anyway.
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