Dreamcatcher

Rating:
Summary: S.K. is like chocolate, even when he's "bad", he's good...
Review: No, Dreamcatcher is not the best SK book ever written, by far. However, it is really quite entertaining just the same. In fact, if I had read this book by any other author, I would have given it four stars. I gave the book three because I know that SK is capable of better.

Unlike some reveiwers, I did not find the beginning of the book tedious at all. In fact, I thought that is was the very best part of the book. I loved the development of the characters and their relationships. I was not at all offended by the foul language, I found it completely appropriate to the characters and their setting (four guys hanging out without their parents/wives/society, of course it's going to become foul, I would think it odd if it did not). For those who don't like the alien birth scenes from the Aliens movies, don't read this book.

Similiar to other reviewers, I did have some problems with the ending of this book. While I didn't find the chase scene as unnecessary as some, I did think the inclusion of the Kurtz character and his fellows was. Kurtz was never really developed enough for me to care much about him one way or the other, so I did find his inclusion in the scene a bit tedious. What should have been a chase scene about good guys trying to stop a bad guy from doing something turned into good guys, chasing a bad guy, while being chase by other, but different, bad guys. It doesn't look good even in that simplified format, does it?

I actually like the part of the book that included Jonesy trapped in him "mind warehouse/safehouse". I thought it cool to watch him and Mr. Gray play with each others minds. The parts where Mr.Gray learns about sensory input include gorging on bacon and loving it(something many of us can relate to), except when he tries to eat it raw.

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the ending when we find out that Mr.Gray is supposedly only a figment of Jonesey's imagination. It felt to me like a rushed in last minute idea for a plot twist that wasn't terribly well thought out. Nevermind that it wasn't terribly well written out, either. Not one of SK's finer moments.

I also had similiar feeling about the end business of Duddits, a really great character, having been the one who killed Richie (a plot point that wasn't really annoying, but was completely unnecessary) and the boys having been "used". Again, felt like a last minute idea thrown in without thought.

Overall, I say that this book is entertaining and worth a read. It is not one of SK's better books. There are a few places where the plot is unclear (I suspect even to itself) and some things didn't need to be at all. Still, it's a fun and entertaining book just the same. So, like I titled my review, SK is like chocolate, even when he's bad (for SK, who is held to a higher standard), he's still good (very entertaining read).

Rating:
Summary: Almost there . . . but not quite.
Review: King's diabolically imaginative writing is in full swing as usual. A melange of ideas threaded into an up-all-night novel. The story includes U.F.O.s, aliens, telepathy, and a very unusual bond between four friends and a gifted "boy." The way in which he weaves the plot together is 100% King.
Unfortunately, this is not one of his best works. This is due to the shoddy way in which he portrays a military operation and the hardware involved. Technically speaking, the descriptions of the helicopters (inside and out) and the way in which the crews interract was far from the mark. Due to the fact that I am a military helicopter pilot, this aspect was downright frustrating and annoying in some cases! He would have done better to suspend reality rather than to tear it to shreads. Although he is in desperate need of a technical advisor on this one, highly recommended for fans or otherwise.

Rating:
Summary: Not exceptionally original
Review: The good news is that Stephen King still can write, even after suffering from being hit by a van. The bad news is that this, his first novel after the accident is only a mild entertainment.

The main problem with this story is that it revisits a lot of the ideas he has explored in other stories. The idea of alien visitation and people slowly falling apart (both physically and mentally) is reminiscent of The Tommyknockers. There are psychic powers that hearken back to The Shining. There is plague like The Stand. There is a back-and-forth storyline between adulthood and childhood as in It. And I could go on.

I suppose when you've written as much as King has, you will revisit old ideas, but it is uncommon to revisit so many. Not that this story doesn't have a degree of originality or a lack of suspense, it's just at times, I felt been-there-done-that.

There are other flaws in this story too, in particular one villain (Kurtz) who is more insane than evil and in some implausible fashion is in a position of leadership. It is a testament to King's abilities, however, that even in this essentially weak effort, he still puts forth a book that isn't really bad but is just so-so.

Rating:
Summary: All I can say is "woah"
Review: This novel of Stephen King was the first book by him I have read. Having tried to read a few others and turned off by them, I was hesitant to buy it, but not seeing anything else at the airport bookstore of particular interest and needing something to read on a flight, I picked it up. Almost instantly, you're drawn into the mindsets of four men who often look back into the childhood of their lives. It's a fascinating voyage through their past with some warped adventures going on in the present. I don't think the vivid imagery of the bathroom scene will ever leave my mind. Stephen King in this book excellently pulls you into the story and gives you detailed images of everything that is going on. I could almost feel the pain in my own knee that was felt by one of the characters scrambling to get some beer.

The book is great. The story is captivating, and the imagery is detailed. Try this book NOW!

Rating:
Summary: Very catching!
Review: The master has done it again. I am really glad that Stephen King has found his roots again. He is always at his best when the setting is the wilderness of Maine and when he describes and follows characters with social, mental or physical defects. We find all of these in this novel. The alcoholic, the mentally retarded victim of stupid bullies, the suicidal intellectual, and the teacher who has had a close encounter with death and who is still suffering psychologically. They are accompanied by an inhuman sociopath who personifies the old American trauma of anonymous administrative powers gone wild, which seek to destroy the liberty and life of the individual. Together with aliens that want to conquer this world after several attempts this mixture of characters guarantees a plot of utmost suspense, unexpected turns and a constant compulsion to read on and on.
King is also at his best when he writes about friends, about what ties them together and when they as ordinary and often weak people become heroes. This motif of his has fascinated us in "It" and "The Body" and others. Here we find a new variation of the theme.
Although the novel is very long I read it in record time and was disappointed when I came to the end. Not that there would be need for a sequel, but my fascination was still switched on after the last lines.
Who cares that there are some minor faults (fault is too strong a word, actually)? King is often a bit too talkative, which makes some passages just a wee lengthy. The solution of the alien plot is a bit too vague and even for the aficionado not exactly plausible. But as I said, who cares? The master has deserved his five stars. Absolutely!

Rating:
Summary: "It--The Next Generation"? Naaaaahhhh
Review: Not even close. A group of early middle agers from Derry, Maine who as a group once did something really great as kids are back together years later facing something horrible. The problem with this book is that it's far too long at just short of 900 pages to be just a Saturday monster movie in print. It also involves too few supporting characters for a story this long. It's far from unusual for King to do grossout, but when that's all there is to one of his books, it's usually a lot shorter. When he does it in epic format ("It", "The Stand"), he does a "Herman Wouk of horror" number with a heavy-duty story and a whole lot of people involved--the horror aspect is just the nature of the dilemma his protagonists face, the same way Wouk's Henry family faced World War II ("Winds Of War") and Ferber's Benedict family faced social changes in Texas ("Giant"). Another thing King should watch out for is overuse of school bully scenarios as subplots--in this case, Our Heroes' rescue of a retarded kid who was being picked on when they were kids. 25 or 30 years ago, society in general was a lot more sympathetic towards the weak than it is now. Despite the greater number of mechanisms in place to help the unfortunate, there tends to be a grassroots "human garbage" mentality towards individuals who don't fit in nowadays--sort of a social Darwinism that might have many readers wondering why King brings the juvenile human predator issue into so many of his books. Personally, I don't find it off-putting, but then again I used to be a liberal. And King needs to address a wider readership than us "compassion fascists" if he wants to remain popular.

Rating:
Summary: My last Steven King novel
Review: My only hope is that Steven King occasionally reads some of these reviews because if he did, he would notice a growing number of us who have become increasingly unhapphy with his work.
My theory is that the author has an adversion to any form of editing. The result a 350 page novel that is bloated to almost 900 pages. Fortunately for the author, there are still a large number of die-hard fans who will always buy and praise anything he writes. I'm convinced that Steve King could publish the white pages of a large city phone book and not only his loyal fans buy it, they would also give it their customary 5 star rating.

Rating:
Summary: Has Potential, but Not Delivered
Review: My review will probably echo ideas many people have given, but they are true: I thought the book was a little bit long and drawn out. The chase scene from Maine to the Quabbin was much too long! The overall premise of the book has potential, kind of an "alien bodysnatcher" theme, but I didn't find much to be excited about with the characters, or plot. At least as far as King's standards go. Were it another less prestigous author I might have given it more credit, but King's standards are way too high! Echoed too many plots/themes of past books like "It," "Tommyknockers," and "The Stand" for example. Better luck next time Mr. King !

Rating:
Summary: Come ON Now
Review: I've been an avid King reader for years, I've read many of his novels, if not all. I love his characters and I love the nightmares of humanity his books force you to embrace. But I will not be embracing anything but another book on my bookshelf from this novel. The only reason I rated this 3 stars was because Stephen King's name was on the front cover, and any book with that deserves at least 3. In my opinion, this book was ridiculous and left much to be desired. Like the other novel based in Derry after It, Insomnia, this novel was lacking in true plot and real, identifiable characters. Derry is a place of nightmares and in the middle of the night horror, and Dreamcatcher, which by the way, drew me in by the name of Derry, did not live up to the reputation. Perhaps it was because the little portion of the book actually in Derry had little to do with the wanting plot and outcome anyway. I feel that Stephen King used the name simply to draw devout readers into buying the novel, if the fact that it was his first novel after his accident alone did not give reason enough. Dreamcatcher killed off the more interesting characters within a few hundred pages, and left you with dry shells of characters past. The plot was confusing and lacked the spice of a true King thriller. I haven't been impressed with any of his more recent novels, and this one truly disgusted me with its lack of preparation and editing. The profanity and vulgarity which is usually amusing and helpful to his novels was downright pathetic as it was used everyother word in Dreamcatcher, and it hardly made up for his inattention to the more important matters which could have been focused into to create at least a decent novel. If King truly wants to recreate a Derry thriller, he needs to stop throwing out these wayward, ridiculous stories such as Insomnia and Dreamcatcher, which have the redeeming grace of mentioning happenings from It in each, and find a way to bring It back in some form. Even then, it would take a miracle to salvage the disappointment true King fans have felt during these dark times and immature stories we have been given.

Rating:
Summary: Horror?
Review: In some funny way, this is absurd humor. Horror it ain't. Grasping at straws, it gets boring, so humorous it also ain't. So what's the point? I guess living up there in Maine, a body's got to do SOMETHING to while away the time.