The Book Report: Cell

The recently retired Stephen King (ahem) releases his first of two new novels in 2006. King wrote a non-fiction novel in the early eighties called "Danse Macabre." In this book he decided to take on the task of critiquing horror in all of it's multi-media forms: Novels and short stories, Television, and Film. In the part about writing horror he divulges what he believes is the evolution of a horror writer. Initially, like any other writer, you are just trying to find your voice, the second step is to get down to the scares, and be able to knock your audiences on their asses with as many one-two punches as you can fit in the work. Then comes the psychological and surreal stages where you are trying to get past the genre's conventions and do something new with it. And lastly, when you have used up a lot of your will powere you're just going for the gross out factor. "Cell" is a definate stepping stone toward this last stage.

"Cell" is the story of a world gone to hell. Through some powers that are never explained, a "Pulse" is sent through the cell phone sattelites, and anyone who uses their mobile treasures becomes the equivalent of a zombie. The people become barbaric and start killing and in some cases eating their own kind. Three of the survivors of the initial catastrophe become the focus of the story as they try and decipher what is going on and at the same time try and rebuild what little is left of civilization.

Clayton Riddell is our hero of the story, a guy who just sold his first graphic novel before all this shit hit the fan. He's paired in the Stephen King tradition with a child, mature well beyond her years, and a yuppie named Tom who does very little but allow us to have a trio to follow. All of this makes it sound like I'm being sarcastic as hell, but actually the novel isn't half bad; at times it's pretty damn good.

King really had his heyday in the eighties from his scary debut, "Carrie," he followed the next decade with a slew of great horror novels that scared the bejesus out of us ("Salem's Lot," "The Shining," "Cujo," "Firestarter," "Pet Semetary," etc.) His most treasured work during this period was his post-apocalyptic epic, "The Stand," and for many people (with the exception of those Gunslinger fanatics; I am not one of them) it is their favorite. For me personally, I'll take "Salem's Lot" and "Pet Semetary" over "The Stand," but it's a great novel nonetheless. It should also be noted that this prime period for King was also at the time he was a major coke addict. Maybe, Chris, this is why you and I can't sell any of our material; we don't do enough coke.

But I digress. "The Stand" is what "Cell" is being compared to. And I can see why; it's a much more compacted version, and that's fine. At under 400 pages, this novel is a relief after ten years of those 800 pound gorillas King was throwing at us (Insomnia, Bag of Bones) that could have used a good editor. But like "The Stand," "Cell" shows us a world reliant on all of the technological advancements guiding us through the rest of our lives, and what chaos would break out if they were used against us. I applaud King for not making this a message story. I'm sure from reading this the man hates the cell phone; he claims he doesn't own one. But this story is not about that.

The book is dedicated to Richard Matheson (Who's own epic, "I am Legend" this strongly resembles) and George Romero. King wanted to write his zombie novel, and this is what we get. It's gory as hell; not for the squeamish. It's fast paced; the action starts up on page 2. For most of the 380 pages it's a lot of fun, and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Is it scary? Not really. Does it lack something at the end like most King novels? Yes. But is it good? I would have to go with yes. It's the best book of King's I've read since 1992's "Needful Things." King might be past his heyday, but "Cell" proves he can still put together a hell of a fun story. He might not being breaking any new ground, but he stood true to his scoped out evolution; he is in his gross out period, and for this story that seems to work out pretty well for him.