From the dust jacket: “Beware the Wheel of Fortune… Johnny, the small boy who skated at breakneck speed into an accident that for one horrifying moment plunged him into… the dead zone.  Johnny Smith, the small-town school teacher who spun the wheel of fortune and won trip into… the dead zone.  John Smith, who awakened from a seemingly interminable coma with an accursed power: the power to see the future and the terrible fate awaiting mankind in… the dead zone.”

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This was my first bout with Stephen King, and I must say, I’m not impressed.  I’ve never had a hankering to read King’s novels, but just this once I decided I’d give it a go.  This book was the predecessor for the television show, after all, and I did love that show!  But the book… just doesn’t cut it for me.  The idea behind The Dead Zone is great, but I really wasn’t into the story line King presented.  It’s a shame, really.  There was so much potential for this novel, and it just fell flat.  While reading the book, I felt like I was reading a Charles Dickens novel, and that King was being paid per word!  It was unnecessarily long.   I need a fast paced story, and while the book deals with the paranormal, which I usually love, there are just too many boring sections in the novel to win my affection. 

 The fact that I have no affection for any of the characters is also a drawback.  That seems to be one of the biggest issues I have when reading a novel.  If I don’t care for the characters, it’s all over.  Nothing in the world could make me like that book.  And, that is the case with this novel.

I wanted to see Johnny running around forecasting the future, battling evil, saving lives, etc., but in all the 400 pages of the novel, there were only three riveting sections that dealt with Johnny “seeing.”  And, each time he did combat the future, it pushed him further into himself, until he shut out the world completely.  Now, I agree that being able to “see” could be viewed as a curse, which is the mind-set that Johnny adapts, but even so, he is a very melodramatic character.  For instance, he falls in love with Sarah after only a month, and once he wakes from his coma, he never gets over her, even though five years have passed, she looks different, and he ultimately loses contact with her.  Really?  A month long relationship has that much hold for him?   But that’s not even my main issue with the book.  The main issue I have is that it’s depressing.  Not one good thing happens to Johnny, and the story left me depressed.  Though there are periods in the book when things are “looking up,” they inevitably crash down just as quickly.  I certainly won’t be giving this to my students to read.  Two stars is all I award this novel.