Rating: 
Summary: A Page Turner
Review: Stephen King's 1979 novel about Johnny Smith, a man who comes out of a coma with psychic powers is, not surprisingly, much better than the recent TV series it spawned. The book is certainly darker and grittier, but most importantly, if makes sense. Where the TV show invents a nonsensical character who is part physical therapist and part sidekick, as well as a weird three-way relationship among Smith, his former fiancee, and her new husband; the book is far better written and has none of this. People make sense in this novel. Johnny Smith is a New England schoolteacher, the reluctant recipient of strange visionary powers after he emerges from a car-crash induced coma. He gains a momentary celebrity when he uses these visions to solve crimes and avert disasters. But Smith himself is unhappy, floundering in the question of why he was given such a strange gift/curse. His angst is resolved when he begins to realize that he bears the responsibility to stop a young, charismatic politician who, he sees, will evolve in the coming years into a major force of evil - a new Hitler. Smith faces a set of personal and moral decisions as he grapples with how to deal with this nemesis. "The Dead Zone" delivers on the promise of all of Stephen King's novels: an entertaining supernatural page turner that can be read in a weekend without unduly challenging a reader. Not great literature, but a great pop novel.
Rating: 
Summary: One of King's best.
Review: I believe that Stephen King considers this his best book. I'm not sure I can go that far, but it is very good. I assume you know the plot, what with the TV series and movies and all. I just re-watched the movie (which is one of the better King adaptations, by the way) and I realized why so many King movies turn bad: King movies are about scary things - the books are about people, who scary things happen to. If you ever doubt King's mastery of characterization, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: This has got to be one of the best books I've ever read. I really like the way Stephen King wrote this book. Keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next. Excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: One of his best,
Review: This book is a short read, it took me 3 hours or less to finish, yet I loved every moment. John Smith had an accident as a child which he does not remember, but which does enable him to live through a 5 year coma. When he awakes, his mother has become a religious fanatic, his girlfriend whom he liekly would have married is infact married with child, and he has missed the Watergate scandel, Nixon's shameful leave of presidency, and every other notable event from 1971 to 1975. He awakens with a startling gift to touch objects and people and see what happened in past connection with the person or item he holds or what will happen. John grips a political character named Greg Stillson, whom hires Hell's Angels and once kicked a dog to death while John was still a child, and sees the horrible future that will come in Stillson's rising career. He sees loss of many, many lives and comes with a tough decision in the end while saving lives and living a overall sad life of his own throughout. John Smith is a tormented man in this book, his life never fully becomes as it was before, and the end of the novel is where Johnny Smith finally gets his deserved peace from a world where a tabloid man tries to hire him, thinking him a scam artist fakin the psychic bit,where being sent items of people's missing loved ones, and frightening people while really helping them or proving the truths of his gift, while never truly wanting to. This is a Stephen King novel that simply must be read if you even want a small piece of the King experience. The book contains many political points which I, a 16 year old reader, did not find boring in the least. This is a short novel, true, yet will show many people why King is the master of Horror.
Rating:
Summary: The Dead Zone
Review: A number of men named John Smith find themselves in the strange area known as The Dead Zone.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, haunting book of psychic phenomena.
Review: I found this to be a haunting and sad story-- a love story. John Smith has met the love of his life, and is probably on the verge of tying the knot with her. His life is interrupted by a terrible auto accident that leaves him in a coma for 8 years. When he comes out of the coma, his girl is married to someone else, and the world has moved on without him. And when he awakes he has a powerful psychic ability to see the future, evidently triggered by the accident, and activated by touch. John Smith tries to adapt to his new life and his new power. The rest would be telling. However, it is fair to say that the book moves at a pretty good pace, with a decent storyline and good prose. This isn't one of those King novels that gets bogged down with far-out stuff--it is rooted essentially in reality except for Smith's psychic power. Even that is presented in a pretty believable way, not wildly different from the documented ability of psychic Peter Hurkos. This is my favorite King novel. I found it to be believable, moving, and upsetting. And a ripping good read.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite
Review: this is my favorite Stephen King novel. If you are looking for blood and guts, look elswhere, although there is enough gruesome material to make the most blodthirsty addict happy. "The Dead Zone" is very much character driven. While I may have been truly scared reading "The Shining," I was truly moved on emotional level when reading this novel.
Rating:
Summary: you cant put it down
Review: One of those books that really gets you hooked and interested, right from the start. Its hard to stop reading it. Ive read many of Kings books and I think this one is one of the best as far as how engaging and fast paced it is. Definitly check it out
Rating:
Summary: Not scary, but entertaining nevertheless
Review: I have heard this book described as "scary" or "terrifying," or whatever other adjective you can use to describe the feeling that makes you sleep with the lights on because it makes you feel more safe. Well, it's not really scary. But, it is an excellent story. It follows the lives of two men who are destined to have an encounter that will change both of them forever. John Smith or "Johnny" is the protagonist and his nemesis is Greg Stillson. After having an incredible run of luck at a state fair gambling table Johnny Smith has to take his girlfriend "Sarah" home because she ate a bad hot dog. After seeing her to bed he takes a cab home and they get in an accident because of some drag-racing teenagers. The cab driver dies and Johnny is left in a coma...for nearly five years. After he wakes up alot has changed, his girlfriend Sarah is now married, Watergate, and other things. He has also changed. His psychic feeling has become stronger in that he can see into people's lives and into their futures by simply touching them. This gift is a blessing and also a curse because it makes him feel that he has a duty once he knows the future of someone. Greg Stillson is an ambitious politician who's "apt to be president." The reader sees that he is not the most kind man in the prologue when the then 22 year-old has a revealing encounter with a farm dog in Iowa. These two characters' fates are intrinsically entwined with each others'. I really could not find any thing in this book that could be described as a fault or a weakness. The characters are interesting and the story is paced exactly right. King also raises some philosophical questions about whether or not to change the future if you could. In the end a gift such as Johnny's is so powerful and extraordinary that it ends up being a curse.
Rating:
Summary: one of king's best!
Review: though it is one of his early books, stephen king did a great job in this one. the characters were believableand the plot itself was good. this book has it all. drama, action, a love story, as well as the supernatural. i didn't like the ending though. it was sad, but i guess it's an ok ending. if you like stephen king, read this book. it's one of the best!
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