The Dead Zone
Written by Stephen King
Narrated by James Franco
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Description
Johnny Smith awakens from a five-year coma after his car accident and discovers that he can see people's futures and pasts when he touches them. Many consider his talent a gift; Johnny feels cursed. His fiancé married another man during his coma and people clamor for him to solve their problems.
When Johnny has a disturbing vision after he shakes the hand of an ambitious and amoral politician, he must decide if he should take drastic action to change the future. The Dead Zone is a "faultlessly paced…continuously engrossing" (Los Angeles Times) novel of second sight.
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About the author
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, and Doctor Sleep are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
Reviews
What people think about The Dead Zone
4.4Reader reviews
- (5/5)This was the very first Stephen King book I ever read (at age 12, btw), and I'm surprised I never re-read it until now. It's the one that got me hooked on King- - and I mean HOOKED. Yet, I never revisited this one....
I saw that it was recently released inn audio, with James Franco reading it. I was convinced: time tho luck this baby up again! So glad I did! It's even better than I had remembered, plus Franco brings such richness to the story with his reading of it! I highly recommend this book to you, even (especially?) if you're not a King fan.... it's different from his usual fare. - (5/5)There are probably some faults with this book, but I easily love it the best out of all of my Stephen King favourites so I had to rate it as "amazing".
I still remember the first (of many, many, many) time that I read it and how it got me so emotionally worked up that I wanted to shake characters and shout in their faces "just believe him! Why don't you believe him?"
Frustrating, emotional, gripping, and overall a book that left me better off than it found me. - (4/5)Yeah...Stephen King is a good writer. Amazing, actually. I was disappointed by the ending of this book. Don't get me wrong. I had a better time reading this than trying to look for something to watch on TV. The ending just didn't sit right with me.
- (3/5)I like King's early novels, I feel they're the best in his catalog. That being said, I was quite disappointed with The Dead Zone. The storyline felt all over the place - nothing held my interest throughout the book.
- (2/5)This novel is not so much horror as it is, say, maybe suspense ... if you could even call it that.
I found The Dead Zone to be very slow, short of boring. And I can remember the feeling of wanting to abandon it midway through, but I dislike starting something and not finishing it, so I trekked on...
Maybe for some The Dead Zone would be a great and cozy read, but the writing, as far as I'm concerned, is "uncharacteristic" of King. - (4/5)A coma patient awakens after several years and finds that he can see future events just by touching people. He didn't ask for this gift and he doesn't want it! A later TV series was made from this book with all the characters created by Stephen King. The fist couple of seasons stayed close to the book but began to take on a life of their own in later seasons.