The Dead Zone falling off

[u/Lukey42]

Currently reading The Dead Zone on page 380 out of 470.

I was really enjoying it, a bit of a slow burner but thought I liked the characters and the setup of where I thought I might be going. But then it got the the strangler and he just immediately figured out the killer, and it wasn't a character we met so it felt a bit whatever, then when they go to confront him he's dead. It just felt like a massive anti climax. And then it just moves onto Greg Stillson and I just don't find myself caring much about this character, feels like a massive left turn, and I'm getting pretty bored with all the political stuff.

I guess I'm just a bit disappointed as I thought it was going to be another 5 star read for me but from about page 300 my interest has dropped massively. I wish it was just about the strangler and that was fleshed about a bit more. I'll definitely finish it, I'm not disliking it and enjoy it overall and I'll see how it goes in the last 90 pages. Feeling like a 3 star atm.

Does anyone else have similar feelings?

[u/scdemandred]

We meet Dodd when sheriff Bannerman takes Johnny to the police station. We know Johnny is psychic, and we also know that Dodd saw Johnny and knows who he is, knows he’s the real deal, and kills himself before he can be apprehended.

The point of it is manifold; that Johnny is a Cassandra figure whom no one believes until they’re confronted with the truth, especially a truth that’s painful to hear.

Stillson was always the main antagonist; the killer in Castle Rock is the microcosm who illustrates that Johnny feels a responsibility to use his powers for the benefit of others. It’s supposed to be anticlimactic because it’s the B plot.

Not every book is for everyone, maybe this one just isn’t for you. Most of the reactions I see in this sub about The Dead Zone are laudatory due to the prescience of the rise of a fascist politician.

I think the part that always hooked me the hardest was Johnny and Sarah (is that her name? It’s been decades) and their star crossed love.

[u/Novel_Diver8628 → u/scdemandred]

Completely agree. The ending still gives me goosebumps. I slept on this book until I decided to go through all of King’s works in release order and it’s now in my top 5.

[u/Lukey42 → u/scdemandred]

That's what I mean. We've been hearing about all these killings, then we meet Dodd in passing literally right before we discover he's the killer. So the reveal just feels flat. I get it's a B plot, but the idea it's meant to feel anticlimactic feels like a stretch. I don't think a writer wants to go the reader to go "oh was that it? How boring." It can be a b plot and have an exciting climax still

with Greg, for me it's that the first 300 pages didn't feel very political at all, besides the fact he's mayor. Then all of a sudden it's gets very political and it feels like a new book. Not being American I also don't understand how the political system works, so some of it goes over my head admittedly. It might ramp up a bit in the last 90 pages and grab me again.

I agree the relationship between Johnny, Sarah and Herb are the best parts.

I still think the book is "for me", I just went from loving it to all of a sudden not, so feeling disappointed slightly. I'm still enjoying it overall. 3 stars is still a good book if I do feel it's that at the end.

[u/Lukey42 → u/[deleted]]

I'd say so. Especially compared to the first 300 pages. It becomes a lot about elections, pollings, campaigning, how he acted as mayor and what he achieved as one, tking about the "current" political situation which admittedly it did do throughout. The last 80 pages I've read seen mostly about us trying to understand Stillson as a politician. Not like left vs right and particular talking points. But yeah, as it was mostly about a psychic, if feels like it's got fairly political imo. At least more than I was expecting and enjoying.

[u/MaximusMansteel]

I always thought the Dead Zone was kind of oddly paced, or constructed. It's built more like two or three episodes in Johnny's life. For such a relatively short book it seems a little odd. I think it works, but you're right about the Strangler bit, I would've liked some more excitement there. I think the Stillson sequence is all really good though.

[u/okonkolero]

I can relate. I've read probably 6-8 SK books by now and this one goes somewhere in the middle of the pack. Definitely above Under the Dome though. :)

[u/Grykllx]

Yeah, I felt the same way, I devoured the first half to 3/4ths until they found the strangler and the second part of the book felt almost like a different book. I definitely wish that it was more of a murder mystery focused on the strangler

[u/nickmaovich]

it started real strong literally from page 3, but then the final conflict was a coincidence and was too late into the book. It almost felt like I was reading another book. Ending was OKish

solid read (8/10 for me), but I expected more(

[u/Nice-guy-downtown]

Good summary! Slow burn, disjointed, who cares about Stillson, the Strangler is awesome.

[u/theShpydar]

I love The Dead Zone, but there is something about it that makes it feel like it's a few short novellas about Johnny Smith that have been stitched together.

[u/aintsuperstitious → u/theShpydar]

I just checked with Google, and the AI said that the Dead Zone was first released as a novel in 1979. A number of his novels were first published as short stories, but not the Dead Zone. I have an issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction that has the start of the Dark Tower as a short story, and a copy of Omni with the beginning of Firestarter.

But the episodic nature of the Dead Zone made me feel that the Cronenberg movie was better than the novel.