Dreamcatcher by Stephen King: Novel Review

Four childhood friends from Derry, Maine go off on a hunting trip into the woods and happen across a hunter who has been lost for quite some time and is frightened by dazzling lights that sweep the sky periodically. Army helicopters seem to be chasing down these lights. Animals desert the forest in exodus. Not to mention a snow storm is making any contact to the outside world very difficult. When something seems to grow straight out of the lost hunter's bowels, these four childhood friends get wrapped up in a plot with global ramifications if it is successful.

Outside this window is 3-ft of snow

(SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

The story begins in rather classic King fashion. Four childhood friends gifted with something remarkable are going about their adult lives, until one gets hit by car. Fast forward some time later, they are on a hunting trip. Then the story develops into this alien-abduction plot straight out of X-Files. The narrative then includes the POV of select military men on a mission to eradicate alien visitors. The rest is about our surviving hunters trying to stay ahead of the military cogs and one escaped alien.

Maybe I have the attention span of a goldfish, but I prefer my stories concise and eloquent so that when I look back on it, I can pull powerful images and scenes as if for the first time. When I finally found the courage to read through this King tome, I had no idea what I was in for. I feel King is stronger when he is brief  but I kept reading despite the book's intimidating length (Seriously, this book is weapon if hurled across a room). The length of Dreamcatcher may be it's only drawback, because the entire work is rather good. By rather good, I mean I wouldn't be upset if this was the only book available and I was trapped in by a storm (which is exactly how I came to read Dreamcatcher).

King mixes the heart of lasting friendships and relationships with a dollop of suspense and fear. He even has time to spin some elements of It back into the story.

In my research for this review, I discovered that King didn't like Dreamcatcher much, because it was written under the influence of oxy (prescribed while he was recovering from an incident). That may explain the near 600 pages the book clocks in at. He was on some good isht!

All in all, Dreamcatcher is slightly above average (3.5/5), but the pile-up of characters and shifting POVs could leave you confused.