The Dead Zone

As you know, these last few years I've been revisiting a number of Stephen King classics. It's quite interesting to reread these novels as an adult and see if my outlook is different from that of the young teenager who used to devour every new King title. Some have aged better than others, but's it's been great to return to such early works. I'm currently reading Carrie, the novel that launched King's career, and you can expect reviews of 'Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary, and more in the months/years to come.

Oddly enough, unlike The Shining, The Stand, and It, I had never read The Dead Zone before. I have no idea why, to be perfectly honest. It's even weirder given the fact that most fan sites rank this book in King's Top 5. Considering how many novels Stephen King has under his belt and the number of memorable reads that comprise his backlist, one would have thought that I would have read it by now. Alas, no. So when I found a copy at a used bookstore a while back, I decided that it would be a worthy investment. At 3.99$, you can't go wrong, right!?!

The Dead Zone is King's seventh published novel, but only the fifth written under his own name. I've never read any of his Richard Bachman titles and I figure I will have to give at least one a shot at some point. Given the enormous commercial success his previous books enjoyed, I was surprised to discover that The Dead Zone was King's first work to figure among the Top 10 bestselling novels of the year in the USA. I guess that there were a lot more people purchasing books in the late 70s than there are now.

All of which made me want to read it, of course. Yet what clinched it was the fact that the American Library Association named The Dead Zone the 82nd-most banned and challenged book in the United States between 1990 and 1999. I mean, how could I not want to find out more about this story after learning that?

Here's the blurb:

A #1 national bestseller about a man who wakes up from a five-year coma able to see people’s futures and the terrible fate awaiting mankind in The Dead Zone.

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 fiancée 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 compelling tale that showcases Stephen King's extraordinary talent and imagination. It features ideas and concepts that appear in past and future King works. Mental powers and a religious nutjob parent are just two of them. What I found fascinating was that one of the themes explored, namely to travel back in time to kill a monster like Hitler and whether or not it would be a good thing, became the backdrop of 11/22/63, one of my favorite King novels of all time. But as good as it is, I found that there was something missing. It's a little too straightforward for my taste and lacks the depth of other King novels. Having said that, it is a book with heart and soul, no doubt about it. In many ways, The Dead Zone is more about Johnny's rehabilitation and his coping with loss than anything else.

Johnny Smith is a remarkable main protagonist. It's impossible not to feel for him. The poor guy lost nearly five years of his life, his girlfriend, his teaching career, and the world has moved on. Accepting all this and trying to get his life back on track will not be easy. As if the operations and physical therapy aren't enough, the neural damage to his brain now allows him to experience precognition when he touches certain objects or people. When he helps solve a murder case, Johnny becomes an instant sensation, but all he wants is a quiet existence as a high school teacher. Unfortunately, fate puts him in the way of Greg Stillson, an ambitious politician on the way up, and a man who might one day become the president of the USA. Something that could spell doom for countless innocents. As a matter of course, Stillson is the antagonist of this novel. Problem is, I don't think the author did as good a job making him a well-drawn character and his entire storyline is a lot weaker than Johnny's. The supporting cast is made up of an interesting bunch of people, chief among them Sarah, Johnny's ex-girlfriend, Johnny's parents, and Dr. Weizak.

The Dead Zone does suffer from some pacing issues, but it's never a deal-breaker. Certain portions, especially those dealing with Johnny's rehabilitation, are slow-moving but never dull. Although you know where Greg Stillson's storyline is headed, the man only really takes his rightful place in the plot in the last third of the novel. A better balance may have helped a little, yet I doubt that there was enough material to warrant more air time for him. Still, while no page-turner, The Dead Zone nevertheless makes for an enjoyable reading experience.

The endgame wasn't exactly what I expected and I was pleasantly surprised by how King used readers' expectations against us. The ending, often something the author has problems with, was quite good and the final scene extremely touching.

In the end, I wouldn't put The Dead Zone anywhere near Stephen King's Top 5. And yet, it's a good read that shows us glimpses of the blockbuster author King was about to become. For that alone, it's worth the read.

The final verdict: 7.5/10

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