Review: “Under the Dome,” by Stephen King

Please Stephen, can’t you give us a good story without writing the Bible? If you’re watching the T.V. series, do not read this book. They are completely different animals and although the series if fine on it’s own, it is incredibly disappointing when compared to the book. The book is nasty from the beginning and most of the way through. Nasty, meaning unrelenting and fairly perverse in parts (rape, necrophilia) none of which is in the T.V. show. The build up is good and the beginning is very nice. It muddles around for hundreds of pages, not going much of anywhere (of course, they’re stuck under the dome, how can it go anywhere?) But honestly, it was a heavy lift and somewhat boring, that’s why it took me forever. AND…although the huge explosion at the end had lots of juice, the ultimate payoff and reason for the dome was just so ridiculous and ungratifying that I wanted to throw the book into a deep lake somewhere. I think King had written himself into a corner and needed an ending. If this is what he has to come up with, I’m losing faith in him. (although he wrote Joyland afterward and delivered.)