It took me ages to get round to reading this and ages to get through it. This was not because it was a bad book and in fact if time had allowed me to I would have opened it in the morning and not closed it until my eyes shut at night. That's how much I enjoyed it in fact and although a lot of Stephen King fans have enjoyed this it does not seem to come across in the reviews I have read here and elsewhere and this surprised me.
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Clayton Riddell, known as Clay is on his way home after sealing the deal on a very lucrative drawing contract that will finally allow him some financial security and he is thinking about how pleased his ex-wife and son will be with his good news when he finally sees them.
Stopping at the ice-cream van for something to cool him down, the girl in front of him takes a call on her mobile phone. That is on the fourth page of the story and that is where the terror and carnage starts for Clay. The Pulse that has been emitted over the mobile phone signals is turning everyone who was listening at the time into a throat ripping, ear eating zombie and it is not getting any better.
The remainder of the book tells us how Clay begins a terrifying journey to find his son, where he meets new friends who help and heed and new enemies. The Raggedy Man being the leader of the phone crazies, as they are called, is particularly hot on Clay's heels for good reason and is using all the telepathic power he can muster to scare Clay and his group and keep them in check for the finale he has planned for them. Clay and his group are led by dreams and personal courage to complete the mission and the reason for still being alive.
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I have to say I really enjoyed this whole book. I have read that it has been likened to The Stand by King but although I see a few similarities most of it was fresh for me and I read it as a story in it's own right, not anything affiliated with another story and this seems to be the best way to go about it. Don't go in with high expectations and don't go in with low, go in as though you have not read Stephen King before and you will not be disappointed. I have never needed to do this though as I do love King and have only ever come across one book of his that I thought was really boring but if you have read a lot of reviews that are not quite so appealing than think about what I have said.
Clay is a great character for me. He is pretty tough having to face up to what is happening around him with everyone turning crazy before his eyes and the first hand knowledge of what is happening and the realisation that it is the mobile phones causing this psychotic behaviour leads Clay down a path he is trying to avoid. The path of panic. Knowing that his son owns a mobile phone is torturing him. Knowing that his son quite often forgets to charge it up is torturing him even more. His one mission along this exhausting journey is to find Johnny, his son, and see what state he is in.
Stephen King leads us from a scene of total chaos, with humans turning into phone crazies everywhere and lunching on their friends necks, to relative calm and quiet as Clay and his newfound friends, Tom and Alice, begin their journey to find Clay's son. I wanted Tom to stay with Clay and Alice forever as they made such good friends in the middle of a nightmare and for me Tom was the second favourite charcater in the book, with his meek look yet couragoeus attitude.
The phoners flock together at night, in a kind of sleep trance and stay away from the streets, allowing Clay and his group free access to travel along the car littered roads heading north. I think Tom and Alice both go along just so they won't have to be alone and this kind of makes Clay the group leader straight away, as he is the reason they are going.
I loved the sense of adventure King managed to instil in me and even though there is clear and present danger all around it is still almost like a major camping trip, where I almost wanted to go along. The sense of having a target to reach, while having to overcome particular hurdles, like zombies and travelling at night really excited me. I felt part of that group fixing dinners along the way from whatever they could find that hadn't spoiled in peoples houses and sleeping at the next house they came to before it grew light and the phone crazies were up and about again. It was a real buzz, thinking about where they might end up or what item they would find next that could be of help to them on their quest to find Johnny.
For me the ending was a bit of an anti-climax and although it was satisfactory I wanted so much more. Maybe I wasn't ready for the story to finish so that's why I felt let down but maybe he is setting us up for a Cell 2. Or even better, maybe this will be made into a film, which would be a pretty good one I think, and he was setting this up for a Cell 2 on film!
Whatever happens in the future with this story, it will go down as one that I thoroughly enjoyed and will read again in a year or so when the kids give me the time again and if you have not read it yet I suggest you do. If you liked The Stand then this will appeal but don't read it expecting it to be the same as for me it wasn't and I am glad I began it with an open mind as once the story grips you it won't let go until you have turned the last page.
I brought mine from Amazon on hardback for 10 but it is available cheaper than that if you look around on eBay and the like.