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She hands me her cell phone, says it's my Dad. Maaan this ain't my Dad, this is a cell phone. I THREW IT ON THE GROUND.
In this recurring piece I'll be going book by book through the King's archive while providing mid new insights with expert literary analysis and ranking them in a totally objective manner.
The next book I picked up off the shelf is Cell. Before my hand even touched the spine I immediately thought of this.
Book Title: Cell
Year of Release: 2006
Chronological Position in King's Work: 55th
Pages: 449
The synopsis from the back of the book:
On October 1, God is in His heaven, the stock market stands at 10,140, most of the planes are on time, and graphic artist Clayton Riddell is visiting Boston, having just landed a deal that might finally enable him to make art instead of teaching it. But all those good feelings about the future change in a hurry thanks to a devastating phenomenon that will come be known as The Pulse. The delivery method is a cell phone--everyone's cell phone. Now Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization's darkest age, surrounded by chaos, carnage, and a relentless human horde that has been reduced to its basest nature...and then begins to evolve. There's really no escaping this nightmare. But for Clay, an arrow points the way home to his family in Maine, and as he and his fellow refugees make their harrowing journey north, they begin to see the crude signs confirming their direction. A promise of a safe haven, perhaps, or quite possibly the deadliest trap of all...
Right off the bat that was the wordiest recap to date. I honestly think when I picked it off the shelf I stopped reading halfway through that blurb as to not spoil too much for myself. It didn't really matter in the end as the story itself is a straightforward, quick read.
On the matter of it being a quick read I added in the page number as part of the summary. The reason being that typically Stephen King books are quite extensive reads. Cell being under 500 pages is somewhat an anomaly. At least that's been my experience thus far.
I'm betting that the short read is why the story immediately gets rolling (great insight I know). By page 8, the event that the book deals with is underway. As described in the book synopsis 'The Pulse' is something that effects everyone using a cellphone. While the reader needs to continue on for sometime to understand specifically what happened, it's made clear that those impacted are rendered immediately insane. It just so happens that some of these folks will become incredibly violent psychopaths. Some will kill themselves. Some will babble incoherently and take all their clothes off. Some manage to accomplish all of these feats!
I was only about 50 pages into the book when I realized that The Happening, a poor movie by M. Night, must have directly taken pieces of the book for its core. People in his movie are killing themselves left and right with a unsatisfactory payoff.
Why not just adapt the source material directly and get a better story on the screen?
Wait what?
What was that thud?
OH GOD NO WHY
I didn't realize this book had been 'adapted' before and there seems to have been a reason for that. Maybe it's harder to adapt a novel into a movie than I imagined. I'm sure it is and screen writers are probably scoffing so hard right now they are falling out of their chairs. I guess my confusion stems from a simple question. If the source material is solid and can generate an emotional response to the characters and overall story, why the fuck can't we have people successfully extrapolate the core of these characters into a movie? I'm the 1 millionth person to point out the strength of GRRM's Game of Thrones novels. The seasons of the show that had source material to draw on were excellent. Is translating horror and a constantly tense atmosphere to the screen a more complex issue? There are plenty of good horror movies out there. I bet its budget constraints that horror movies typically operate on. Why pay a top screen writer when you can just put a jump scare in there! Fuck yeah!
The story follows a graphic artist named Clayton Riddell who as mentioned above, get's throw into the shit right off the bat. His new found success in his profession is short lived as the world as it's known falls apart around him.
The first act of the book centers on him and a couple of strangers he meets focused on getting out of Boston alive. The sheer amount of violence that comes about on a clear sunny day is a jarring introduction to this new world for our protagonists and their first and only thought is survival.
All of the people impacted by 'The Pulse' are at first seemingly mindless. The violent ones are individualistic and opportunistic. As Clayton and his group move north (towards Maine where his son and estranged wife live) they begin to see the changed move in packs and in sync with one another. Unlike in film 28 Days Later, they do begin to scavenge for food and start to communicate with each other. Essentially it becomes clear that they are gaining an intelligence and more importantly a group intelligence that is exponentially increasing their threat.
After Clayton and his group meet up with some other survivors our group of protagonists seem to flesh out what has occurred. 'The Pulse' has seemingly acted as a factory reset on everyone's brain who was exposed to cell waves at the moment of transmission. It's not known if it was a terrorist group, government, or someone else who has released it but it does appear to be wide spread. Much like a computer rebooting itself, the brains of those impacted are rebooting themselves and as they do more and more let's say abilities, seem to present themselves.
Think the sad movie Lucy. WHAT IF WE USED 100% OF OUR BRAINS!
What becomes clear to Clayton's group is that these rebooted groups no longer think of themselves as human. They become a hive mind with ill intent towards anyone not evolving at their pace. Another side not, it also made me think of The Last of Us as the infected can move as a single organism although they aren't smart per se and can't communicate.
With Clayton's estranged wife lost to the group and a confrontation at the end of the book leaving this new world in an uncertain position, Clayton attempts to piece his family back together. While Stephen King's books are often bleak sometimes they afford a sliver of hope in the aftermath. Without trying to give too much away those books are usually the ones I'll pick up again in the future.
I ended up really enjoying this book. Partly because I feel it caught me at the right time. After reading some of his lengthier novels (haven't gotten them all reviewed here yet) Cell was quick and enjoyable. It throws the reader immediately into a chaotic environment and I ended up relating to the main character Clayton Riddell. His overall drive is to get back to his son no matter the cost. I like to think I'd be as single minded and driven to do the same if a similar event takes place.
I also feel that the third act didn't see a fall off from the prior acts. One of the reasons I love Stephen King's books so much is that he can draw you completely into a story with only a handful of pages. The downside there being that sometimes I feel the story can only go slightly down hill after such a strong start but I didn't feel disappointed here. Maybe it could be simply due to how compact this story was.
It was a fun read.
Rating: 3.82/5 King's
Kirk's Rankings:
Cell (3.82/5)
Salem's Lot (3.70/5)
The Institute (3.00/5)
If you have any comments, questions, or recommendations in regards to this series, feel free to email me at kirk@illandodd.com and I'll be sure to get back to you and may include them as part of a mailbag section.