Review Of Stephen King's - "Under The Dome"

Stephen King literally returns to his roots with has latest novel, Under The Dome. The western Maine setting of Chester’s Mill may as well be Lisbon Falls, where he attended school in the mid 1960s; or the Castle Rock of The Dead Zone fame. Long time King fans will enjoy the constant references to such familiar locations as Castle Rock, Harlow, the TR90 (Bag of Bones) and Derry, as well as the Maine Yankee feel. In fact, those with a keen eye will tracks dozens of references to other King stories, even a specific reference to the movie version of The Mist.

Of course Under the Dome is King’s third shot at this story – having lost the original manuscript in 1976 and failed to make the second attempt (The Cannibals) works to his satisfaction. In September King published the first 61 pages of that tale (which is only superficially similar) at his official website. Hardcore King fans will want to read that but it has little real connection with this new novel.

With no warning an invisible Dome descends on Chester’s Mill, separating it from the World, and setting off a series of human interplays that may destroy the town and all in it. As is generally the case with King’s fiction, it is the choices his characters make, under pressure (or not), and the way they respond that will reveal the true horror. The source of the Dome, although a minor part of the tale, is largely irrelevant. The isolation it imposes, which releases the worst impulses of the town megalomaniac, is not.

King is the master of the very long novel, and this is his longest since his apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand. While not to the impossibly high standard of that novel, Under The Dome is one of his King’s better recent offerings – masterfully manipulating a huge cast of characters ranging from the short-order cook living with his Iraq tour of duty guilt, through the tough local newspaperwoman, to a host of dour Yankees – a type the author always portrays so realistically (having lived with them all his life). The antagonist, used car lot owner and petty politician ‘Big Jim’ Rennie, is crooked, manipulative, an egomaniac Christian, and all too believable as he sets about creating a not-so-petty dictatorship. The ka-tet of locals who stand against him, led by the cook, now reinstated as a US Army officer, finds themselves caught in a series of moral dilemmas ordinary enough to present as totally believable, yet dangerous enough to present as life-threatening.

Reminiscent most of King’s Needful Things this novel demonstrates just how thin the veneer of civilisation can be, all the time humanising the horror to the individual level in a manner that shines a light on King’s empathy for the individual. Readers who recall King’s uncanny ability to put readers in the mindset of young teenagers (Stand By Me, It) and even canine characters (Cujo, The Dark Tower) will not be disappointed. In the universe of King tales, the book falls more with The Dead Zone, Dolores Claiborne and Bag of Bones, than say The Shining or Lisey’s Story.

He uses his strong foreshadowing skills, which also assist in suspending any disbelief about the Dome’s origins, to create deep tension from the opening scene – a tension that rapidly escalates to such a level by mid-telling that the reader literally cannot put the book down. Under the Dome delivers a non-stop ghost train ride of emotion as the situation in Chester’s Mill escalates towards the inevitable final confrontations. Fans of dark fiction will enjoy the book; King’s legion of fans will simply gobble it up.

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