Dreamcatcher

Rating:
Summary: King takes on some aliens
Review: When Stephen King tackles Alien Invasion, you can be sure not to expect E.T., Close Encounters or Independence Day (even though all are referenced by characters), expect.... bowel movements. Sure, it sounds ridiculous just saying it, but in the context of the story and in the hands of King, it's quite terrifying.

But aside from that, the story is about a special bond between four friends, strengthened by a fifth. We start out with our heros as adults, troubled in their own ways, joining together for their annual hunting trip. This is when weird things begin. Through all of this, we see flashbacks of their childhood that make you care more for our crew. You see their general "goodness" in these scenes. And you're scared about what may happen to them now.

Enter the army, led by Abraham Kurtz. We'll just say he's not all there and he's a delight to read. As is his right hand man, Owen Underhill, who may or may not be on his boss's good side.

Characters and storylines meet, revelations are uncovered and an alien takes over someone's body. This leads to some good cat and mouse moments in the person's mind. And through it all, King entertains us while keeping a sense of impending doom over the story as the pages fly by.

So, yeah, I guess you could say I got a kick out of Dreamcatcher and I heartily recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but too long
Review: This is typical King writing (and I am a fan) but it could have been told well in about 300 pages. The concept is interesting and the writing is good, but maybe I was just bored by the end. By the time it was over, I wasn't quite sure I really understood it. Of course, as long as he continues to write, I will continue to read his books.

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Summary: Welcome back, Stephen! Great book
Review: I was really pleased when I started reading Dreamcatcher- Stephen King has returned back with a gory, creepy, sickening, novel. I loved it! I admit that I loved Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, and Green Mile. But these books were a more "grown-up" romantic Stephen King... Dreamcatcher gets back to the creepy King of old. (Think Carrie, Salem's Lot, and IT with a touch of Tommyknockers.)

I won't repeat some of the other reviewers comments. I do kind of agree that the ending was a bit disappointing, and parts of the novel were just to weird to fully understand. (I didn't get most of the psychic "vision" scenes between the characters and the bad creatures.)

On the plus side, you get some wonderful characters, especially the goverment/army characters. I'd love to see a book about them!

The plot is an original, unique take on the old "bad aliens invade earth" idea... very ingenious. I'd love a sequal written from their point of view.

If you're a King fan, you'll like it. Non-King fans might be suprized.

Rating:
Summary: The X-Crement Files
Review: Typically, my time spent on a Stephen King novel goes something like this:
Day 1: one hundred pages (man, is that the time, I should've known better than to start a King book so late.)
Day 2: three hundred pages.
Day 2 and a half: well past bedtime, finish the book.

With Dreamcatcher, day one was the exact same, but at the end of day two, I was okay to move on into day three and then day four. It felt a little like going on an easter egg hunt, but having all those little plastic eggs filled with nothing but emptiness. Not to say that the book is bad, it just drags. The car chase at the end is nearly 150 pages long. There is a sense that King thinks he is kicking the action up a notch every fifty pages or so, but he isn't... a very distinct interest plateau was reached early on. Solutions might have been to cut a few hundred pages, as another reviewer suggested, or to time out some of the key moments a little better. Once more, a certain amount of repitition is good... a certain amount of repitition is good... a certain amount of repitition is good... but Dreamcatcher has too much.

All that said, I must make the similar atonement as do other reviewers here: I am a Stephen King fan. I read all of his books, and always will. I grade him against himself. If someone came to me and asked, should I read this book, holding aloft Dreamcater, I would absolutely tell them yes. Also, the afterword that 'reveals' King's state during the writing of this novel is unneccesary. It was obvious to me that he was in great pain as he wrote. This book is filled with physical pain. Never have I read more about excrement in my entire life. It sounds funny, but if ever there was a novel about farting, this is it. It so lends itself to a smelly, stale, and painful hospital room that it is no surprise to me that it was written in one - - and by hand.

Here's to long life and a terrific recovery by the great master!

Rating:
Summary: Get to the point, King!!!
Review: I was very excited to read the new King book, especially since this was supposed to be his big comeback to horror. However, with the exception of ONE scene in the book, NOTHING at all was terrifying. Not scary, not even a little creepy. King had 879 pages to work with and did nothing with them. Sure, the writing itself is good -- no one denies that. But he needed to get to the point a lot sooner. Master horror authors such as Bentley Little and Richard Laymon could have wrote this book much more effectively in less than half the space! He rambles on and on and on. Maybe the reason this book is so mediocre is that King's real-life car accident did permanent damage to his brain.

Rating:
Summary: Not his best but King's Always Worth Reading
Review: I have been a huge Steven King fan for more than twenty years. I have read every novel he has ever written as well as his story collections and novella collections. I can say without hesitation that King is one of the finest writers I have ever read. His mechanical ability to put words on paper and bring characters and situations to life are second to none. Perhaps no writer has ever gotten inside the heads of his characters, male or female, better. Nevertheless, the quality of his work varies considerably. Where King occasionally veers off course is when he allows his plots to move out of control. The history of King's novels shows a tendency towards two types of books. These are the "epics" which have large expanisive plots and multiple characters and the "little novels" which tend to involve few or even a single character and a simple plot. On the whole, King's best work has been with the simple novels. An exception is The Stand which is his greatest book and a truly sprawling epic. His little novels such as "Pet Sematery", "Cujo" and "Misery" to just name a few are uniformly excellent. Other epics like "It" and "Insomnia" get lost in their bizarre ever expansive plots.

"Dreamcatcher" falls somewhere in between. In this epic, King imagines a horrible predatory alien incursion in the woods of New England. Most often the aliens invade and take over the minds of their victims before slowly killing them. In a few horrible cases, they grow in the intestines of their victims into horrible monsters before bursting out, killing the victim and anyone else they can sink their teeth into. King chronicles the experience of four childhood friends (a common King motif) on a hunting trip who are caught up in this disaster. He also follows the top secret military people sent to the area to finish off the aliens. (and any people caught within the red zone) The book is a decent yarn as all of Kings books really are. The characters are straight out of the King stockroom: The [mentally challenged] man with "special insight"; the long haired ex hippy the depressed establishment guy, the evil G-man. I recommend the book because I recommend all of King's books. But it is not in my top ten.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisizingly good
Review: Great character development and a compelling story line.

Rating:
Summary: Finally
Review: Finally finished that is. I struggled with this one, and King is one of my favorites. I gave it a three because parts of the book were interesting. This book could have been written in about 300 pages rather than the close to 1000. I just had to finish, but it was a struggle. I do not feel the need to write a review of the book since there are so many and from people that can write much better than me. This is one that you may want to skip.

Rating:
Summary: SITTING ON THE EDGE
Review: I GOT THE AUDIO VERSION AND WHILE ON A LONG DRIVE I PLAYED IT. IN THE BEGINNING ITS KIND OF STUPID BUT THE AUTHOR IS GETTING READY TO SET YOU UP FOR A REAL STINGER. HANG IN THERE AND EVEN THOUGH THE LANGUAGE SOMETIMES IS NOT THE BEST, I HAVE TO SAY THOSE WORDS DO MANAGE TO DEVELOP THE AMBIANCE OF THE CHARACTERS. SDSS YOU WILL FIGURE THAT ONE OUT FROM THE STORY. FUNNY IN MANY CASES BUT SPOOKY AND SCAREY AFTER THE LAUGHTER.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but does have some nice touches
Review: This is not the best King book I've ever read, but its a good read that holds your attention, with good charcter development. The end of the book is a little goofy. The best thing about the book was all the refrences to other King books such as "It" and the Gunslinger series.