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Summary: Stephen King or The X-Files?
Review: After reading over some of the reviews for this book, I noticed that everyone seems to be comparing it Tommyknockers. Dreamcatcher reminded me more of The X-Files. Ok X-Files fans lets see it this plot line sounds familiar. Aliens from space come to Earth to spread an intelligent virus so "it" can take over the planet. King did write an X-File story with Chris Carter a couple of years ago. Maybe Carters influence rubbed off a little more then he knew. But if you're going to borrow from your buddies at least do it with your own style, and that's what King has done. The book is written with Kings familiar characters, locations and dark since of humor. Thank you very much! This might not be one of his most thought provoking stories, like Apt Pupil or Hearts In Atlantis, but it's still a fun ride.
Rating: 
Summary: Something missing
Review: I am a die hard Stephen King fan, and I haven't enjoyed this book. It started out with a very scary scene, but it's been downhill from there. I forced myself to finish the book, after about the middle of the book I just didn't care about the characters anymore. King's exceptional character building is always present, but he seems to have reverted to the type of writing he did in his earlier novels. The emotional power and depth that have been present in his recent novels are not there, despite the 'connection' of the five friends. Novels like Bag of Bones, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Hearts in Atlantis marked a maturation in his writing. He probed the emotional depths of some extrodinary characters going through extrodinary circumstances. Dreamcatcher is a step back from these masterpeices, with the emotional depth of an episode of Survivor. I was dissapointed by it, yet I still pressed on. It is Stephen King after all. Even the bad is good. Just finished an interesting thriller "A Tourist In the Yucatan" fun book!
Rating:
Summary: A great book with little minor flaws
Review: I enjoyed this book enough to be satisfied. But there were little things that keep it from a five-star review. First, while this is a plot to remember, in the middle of the book, it all gets confusing when King describes Jonesy's mind games with Mr. Gray. I had to at least read Chapter 11 and 12 three or four times to know what the heck was going on! The story starts off great, then it tumbles, and gets a push at the end when everything explains itself(especially with Duddits's ability). The ending of the main story is overall good, but the epilogue is one of the worst writing I've seen from King.Overall this is not King's best, although being King, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
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Summary: Not the sequel we were hoping for
Review: For months before the release of Dreamcatcher I was crazy with anticipation, certain that Dreamcatcher was a sequel to IT (based on the promotional material, can you blame me?) I was upset when my hopes were dashed (for a while I even tried to convince myself that MAYBE Dreamcatcher was taking place in a parallel world, in which Jonesy is Big Bill's twinner...) Needless to say, this didn't work for long, and I eventually had to come to terms with reality: Dreamcatcher is not very good. What amazed me was that the prologue contains some of King's best writing (I can only assume that the prologue and the rest of the novel were written at separate times). My advice to you is this: read the prologue while enjoying a coffee at your nearest bookseller / cafe. Purchase something else, such as Hearts in Atlantis (which is, in my opinion, one of King's best!)
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Summary: Could the clown rise again?
Review: Pennywise lives.If you walk away from "Dreamcatcher" - Stephen King's first novel after his 1999 hit-and-run accident - holding nothing else, hold on to that. Pennywise, of course, was the supernatural clown villain who stalked "The Losers Club," a band of childhood misfits in what is arguably King's penultimate thriller, "It." Pennywise was ultimately vanquished by the kids, their adult selves and (as "It," which began so grandly, sputtered to an uneven finale) a mystical turtle. Right smack dab in the middle of "Dreamcatcher," however, one of King's characters stumbles across the message with which this review begins: Pennywise lives. Whether or not it actually proves to be true, however, remains to be seen... It's a little moment, completely unrelated to the entire "Dreamcatcher" story and one you might miss if you blink, or are not well versed in King lore. But it's enough to further fuel my theory that something big ultimately is going to go down in the Stephen King kingdom, tying together all of his major works, if not all his works. (This theory is given further support by the new book "The Stephen King Universe," copyrighted May 2001.) The possible Pennywise revival might be the most exciting thing "Dreamcatcher" has to offer, unfortunately. Oh, it starts out well enough (King's strengths are typically his beginnings; some endings still need work), with a quartet of boyhood friends reuniting for their annual hunting trip. A mysterious visitor named McCarthy, who smells really rank and unleashes a mixture of foul stenches and odors upon the cabin, interrupts the festivities. It's not very long before readers are caught up in a tale that greatly resembles something like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," leaving two men dead and two in a very precarious situation. Woven into this present-day tale is a story of the boys as children (opening the line for discussion of further parallels to "It") and their remarkable friendship with a boy with Down syndrome named Duddits. The question is, how does Duddits' influence affect the present-day goings-on surrounding McCarthy? If this were all "Dreamcatcher" were to include, it would be heralded as King's return to true horror after lackluster offerings like "Insomnia," "Bag of Bones" and "On Writing." The story is creepy enough, and contains some of the best elements of King's fiction, a throwback to "It," "Misery" and "The Stand." But King decides to play like Tom Clancy and builds another story arc around the military officers tracking McCarthy, which drags on way too long and makes the book much heavier than it actually needs to be. When you get to page 431 and see the chapter entitled "The Chase Begins," for instance, and realize there's still a long way to go, it's enough to make you want to cry. That, or shake the book up and down and scream, "Send in the clown!"
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Summary: breaks the mold
Review: This was a really good book! It has a really complicated plot and is therfore difficult to explain, but i'll give a brief summary. 4 friends go on their annual hunting trip in Maine, during which time, the earth is invaded by aliens-in the same area as the guys. 2 of the most likeable guys die early on in the book (i told you it breaks the mold!) The other likeable guy is then taken over by an alien while the suicidal guy is put in a containment camp. The suicidal guy breaks out of the camp to rescue the invaded guy. And i refuse to tell the ending! (Notice i didn't give any names so as not to give away the entire book!) It's definitely worth buying, especially if you're already a big Stephen King fan!
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Summary: Professional Reviews can be misleading
Review: First I have to admit to not having read a Stephen King book in a long while. It was the promise and eventual failure of the Dark Tower series that burned me out. However my interest was piqued by the professional reviews that proclaimed the old Stehpen King (Pet Semetary, Cujo, The Stand, Misery, etc.) was back. I truly loved reading those horror novels and was looking for more of the same with Dreamcatcher. The first 200 pages did seem vintage King, however afterwards it became a "B"-grade science fiction movie. I like King best when he merely touches the boundaries of the true horror central to his work. Revealing bits and pieces over the course of the novel and leaving we the reader to guess as to what is out there in the woods or under the bed. This is what keeps me awake at night in mindnumbing suspense. For me the revelation came much too quickly and therefore the adreline producing suspense was abandoned early on. Let me know when vintage King is truly back. Cheers!
Rating: 
Summary: The Man is Back!!
Review: The bedrest has obviously served Stephen well, as this may be one of his best stories ever! Like other reviewers, I've also read everything by King..blah, blah, blah..hasn't everyone? This story combines King's fascination with disease and bodily functions (ala the "shit-weasels"),which will give anyone the creeps, with an alien visitor scenario similar to Tommyknockers. The tale takes a unique course with the inclusion of telepathic abilities shared between four friends and a fifth friend afflicted with Downs Syndrome (Duddits.) It is their unique abilities that allow them to prevent the assimilation of the alien creatures into the human population...with about 20 seconds to spare! One facet of the novel which King handles particularly well is the deep relationship between the male friends. Men are typically protrayed as unnurturing by the media, but King successfullly conveyed the love the four friends had for Duddits without going "over the top." If you've read King in the past, you'll love Dreamcatcher as much as any other. If you haven't tried one of Stephen's books yet (is there anyone in this category?) then this is a great place to start!
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Summary: cobbled together, it's a re-hash of earlier works
Review: I found that this book to be much like other books written by King, and it even mirrors King's apperance in the 80's film "Creepshow", in the segment where King himself plays a character who is reduced to the "Hemingway solution" when a certain green growth overtakes his person and house like kudzu after a meteor falls. (Sound familiar?) Certain elements from "Stand By Me" (the four childhood pals), "The Stand" (telepathy and the end-game plot) and of course, "TommyKnockers" (aliens who make your teeth fall out) are also re-hashed in this novel. I feel that Robert McCammon's "Stinger" is a better novel depicting human-to-alien transformations.
Rating:
Summary: How Good Is This Book?
Review: What a fantastic book. King not only does what he does best - horror/suspense - but does a terrific job of developing the sub-plot of 5 friends who are brought together as children and carry that friendship long into adulthood. You won't be able to put this book down.
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