Rating: 
Summary: Very good....
Review: As someone who loves Stephen King and reads practically everything he writes I have to tell everyone that this ISN'T his best work but then I haven't read anything that would rank as his best for years. So I have to say that this book is exceptional and even with it's rather large size is well worth the ride. If the first few chapters don't thrill you keep reading it DOES get better. Can't wait for his next book....
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely NOT one of King's best
Review: Stephen King's work can be divided into three distinct groups. First is his best work - "Salem's Lot", "The Shining", and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". On the other side is his worst stuff - "Firestarter", "Cujo", and "Gerald's Game". Most of the rest of his work falls into the third group - stories that are good but not great, or novels that King wrote on a day when he wasn't feeling quite up to snuff."Dreamcatcher" falls into this middle category. The plot moves along in a straight line (more or less), and the four main characters (Henry, Jonesy, Pete, and the Beaver - YES, the Beaver) keep the story moving well enough. But the whole idea, physiology, and purpose of the aliens is extremely confusing. Aside from the fact that they wanted to wipe out humanity, I'm not sure I understood anything about them. King doesn't do science fiction/horror that often, but he can and has done better - witness "The Tommyknockers". Coming as this does on the heels of "On Writing", "Dreamcatcher" is a big disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Funding King's therapy - An investment in his next book
Review: After King's accident two years ago, he vowed to never write again. Most people didn't take him seriously, but there was the chance that we had heard the last of him. Luckily, he is too dedicated to keep away. With "On Writing" King opened up his mind and heart to tell us how he writes and how he overcame the trauma of a near-death experience. Now with "Dreamcatcher" King has jumped back into fiction in full force...well almost. "Dreamcatcher" is clearly a transition work for King. He returns to everything that has worked for him in the past; eerie settings, Derry, Maine, childhood characters connected by traumatic shared experience, mysterious happenings and fast-paced narrative. His writing is as sharp as ever; clear characters, good dialogue, fast pace. He does a great job of pushing you to the next page, always holding out another carrot. The first 200 pages are extremely gripping. There isn't anything groundbreaking here though. King never really offers anything in the way of profound insight into the human psyche or social discourse. "Dreamcatcher" is no exception. He does touch on such things as suicide, telepathy, and the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life. However, he probably spends less than 50 of the book's 620 pages actually examining these issues. I think the book would have been much more interesting at around 500-550 pages. There just wasn't enough material to go as long as it did. I look at this book as an investment in his future work. Writing a long novel after planning to not write again is a huge step. The book is pretty good, and hopefully King has convinced himself that he can continue writing. With what he has learned from his accident and his growing skill as a writer, his next work should be incredible. "Dreamcatcher" is worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: Classic comeback- but not scary enough...
Review: It's not an understatement to call mr King's new novel a comeback. Not only is it his first "real" novel since his accident in 1999, but it's also a step back to the horror filled landscape that made him so great and so famous. With over 600 pages the man has written his first horror novel since, well, i guess The Dark half from 1993. And it makes you think of classics as It, The Stand and, although not a classic but anyway, The Tommyknockers. But it also brings out Kings love for horror and sci-fi movies, here a mix of X-files, Close encounters of the third kind, The thing and to top it of- a bit of James Bond. A fast-paced action- adventure with car chases, explosions and bodies that explode, but as the book comes along it is clear that King has bigger ambitions and it is also clear that his near fatal accident lies very near, so does his now beaten addictproblems, both in his mind and in the actual story. What begins as a creepy horror/- sci-fi story soon slows down to be more of a psychological and therapeutic journey through shatterad and battered minds- and bodies. Being a huge King fan, still i might add, being 36 years old, i hade big expectations regarding this book and to large extents they were fullfilled. It is rich and complex and sometimes both suspenseful and scary, not to mention gory. But the problems i had with the book were two primary things, and at least one of them is a very large problem considering it is what you really what from a Stephen King novel- scariness, you want the man to scare the beejesus of out you, because you know he can and then some. Dreamcatcher is a lot, but scary like Pet semetary, The stand, Salem's Lot or Christine? To be short-no. And sometimes, as is the case with mr King from time to time, he is bit too detailed and long-winded, the childhood sequences are a bit too sentimental and some of the characters are not so engaging. As usual King uses the horror, in this case the aliens, or the byrus, as a symbol for larger things concerning life and death-matters. But this time the goosebumbs didn't show on me.
Rating: 
Summary: One of my least favorite King books
Review: I guess I am one of the minority of those who reviewed this book, but I didn't care for it at all. I have been reading King for 20 years, and while I have my favorites (The Stand, Christine, Pet Sematary) I have never before disliked one of his books. I was very disappointed in this effort by him. Hopefully his next book will be more like the King we know and love.
Rating: 
Summary: Get This Book
Review: Mr. King has done it again. The Dreamcatcher is a spellbinding book. While I would agree that this book is not his BEST book ever (It, The Stand, and the Gunslinger Series are), it is till a solid piece of work. King has a real knack for creating characters for which the reader really cares. Read it, you will not be sorry. I genuinely enjoyed reading this book. My only regret is that I finished the book way too fast (5 days), and now have to wait till September 15, 2001 till his other book, The Black House comes out. Get The Dreamcatcher and you will not be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreamcatcher put me to sleep
Review: I am a Stephen King-a-holic. I buy everything as soon as it comes out... Even though there are few characters, I had trouble keeping up with them. Duddits speech patterns were annoying because I could never figure them out unless King translated. This is the only King book that I skipped over boring parts and had trouble reading to the end. I usually finish a good King book in a day or two but this took me a week because it wasn't good. I miss vintage King (The Stand, Salems Lot) those were good books. This one unfortunately, is not.
Rating:
Summary: This book is almost as bad as Amazon's censors!
Review: I originally rated this book a strong 2 but since Amazon's censors did not publish that review, I now have rethought my rating into a very weak 1. That's not to say that this would change if we were using the old fashioned alpha grading system, in which case I'd have to give this a resounding D-. We see in this novel King falling back on many tired and irritating stereotypes, the kind that Hollywood still likes to pander to the public as part of their empty dream factory -- namely, that all psychotic paramilitary types are Jesus freaks. This so old that it is laughable, if it didn't hurt so much that the publishers want so much dough for this lousy book. The story was trite and also did not go anywhere. Many hundred of pages were initially devoted to rambling stream of consciousness dreck, none of it making any sense, and most of it emphasizing trivial concepts and attachments. The characters were also too unbelievable, too goody-two-shoes. I sensed that perhaps Stephen King was trying to imitate Dean Koontz's style, and doing a banged up job of it too! This all combines to make this book the year's most immemorable performance by the late grand master of horror fiction. I'm glad I reviewed this from a borrowed library copy and did not go out to purchase this tome. Yuck!
Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: While I would not say this is the be all end all Stephen King book, I think traditional King fans will be pleased with this new offering. It is a throwback to It,and Tommyknockers and I enjoyed it much more than both of those. In a nutshell the story is about 5 friends, one having Downs Syndrome who is also a powerful Phychic, He in a way passes his gift along to his 4 friends who must use their skills to survive an alien invasion while hunting in the woods. It is very scary at times at really gross to (which is good to some people :)). In closing I will say you will never be able to sit on the toilet without thinking twice again.
Rating:
Summary: Good Start...Weak Ending
Review: Stephen King's latest work is a tale of redemption that starts out with real promise and originality. The ending is what killed this story for me, and seems to reinforce a pattern over the author's last few novels. Not his best work.
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