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Aug 05, 2018deebitner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
It’s time for another Stephen King book! This is the inspiration (and I use that loosely) for the TV series of the same name from a few years back. Reading this review will tell you absolutely nothing about the series, but if you want to know more about that you can check https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-season-finale-of-under-the-dome-recapped-by-the-do-1340612358 for an index of hilarious recaps written from the point of view of the eponymous Dome. King opens with a highway leading into Yet Another Maine Town (this one, as with the others, located not far from Castle Rock). Abruptly an invisible, barely-penetrable-by-gases hemisphere slams down over the town, with the predictable car accidents the first human casualties. The town of Chester's Mill is in trouble, naturally, and the usual separation of the baddies and the good folk is set in motion. In this case, the baddies are led by Big Jim Rennie, owner of the auto dealership from out of town, his son, one of the other members of the town selectmen, and a deeply crazed meth addict. The good guys are led by a former soldier called Barbie, the town doctor, the town’s newspaper publisher and a very smart group of high school kids. The power lines and phone lines to the town are cut by the Dome, but at first cell phone signals and wireless can get through. (As an amateur radio operator myself, I think King missed a chance here by not having one in town, but oh well!) The government soon jams the signals, creating the isolation in which awful people thrive. Big Jim is the stereotypical horrible person masquerading as an elder of an evangelical church, and he sees this as a chance to make everyone in town, including those who have opposed him, kiss his boots. Barbie is on his way out of town when the Dome appears, since he had gotten into a fight with Big Jim’s son’s buddies. The Dome prevents him leaving, but sticking around provides a ready source of conflict. Human danger is soon joined by environmental danger, as the air begins to get more and more stale and polluted. And that meth addict’s drug-induced psychosis is coming to a head. It’s a wonderful read of a potboiler, and if you enjoy King’s typical fare you’ll like this. The ending is perhaps more than a little deus ex machina, but that won’t deter most King fans. It didn’t deter me. Four of five stars, with the caveat that opinions on this may vary wildly depending on whether you’re one of those King fans or not.