Nick
This is one of the most hilariously bad books I've ever read. I can't even begin to explain it. Read others' reviews and you'll understand why. Honestly, this book deserves one star for quality but gets an extra star for the cheese factor.
This may be my least favorite SK book I've read. Where to start? OK, the premise is decent. Although the Japanese horror film Pulse had already been out for some time and the American adaptation came out the same year, this one expands on the idea of technology and humanity warring with one another but swaps computers for cell phones. The key difference in Cell is that King comes off as a bitter technophobe. The book begins with a guy who just absolutely hates cell phones. In proper King fashion, a bunch of horrible stuff happens to those connected to the cell grid. I won't spoil anything, but he does a great job of setting the scenery for the rest of the book. From there, the story becomes flimsy nonsense and we're treated to one of the most head-scratching endings in the King-verse.
Quick rundown of the plot:
- Everybody is on their cell phone all the time
- Are zombies still cool?
- Antagonist named The __ Man (quite the SK trope there)
- ?
- Botched ending
One final thought: As with most any book about technology, the reader is treated with an outside-looking-in view of obsolescence 2 years after publishing. It's funny looking back knowing that King was writing about brick phones and not the smart phones of today. It makes me wonder what would happen in the story if everyone was on iPhones and Galaxys. Does the cell network include the Internet, too, or has the signal in Cell become obsolete as well?