Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher
by Stephen King
2001
Pocket Books
882 pages
ISBN: 0-7434-6752-3
Read 8/24/12 - 8/27/12

We spent the last week of our summer vacation in southern Maine, so it seemed fitting to bring a little Stephen King along. The book I was reading before this took a bit longer to get though than I expected, so I didn't get started until the end of the vacation, but I was at least in Maine when I started this one.

I generally enjoy Stephen King's books, and frankly. Dreamcatcher was no exception. It's a fast-paced, plot-driven book that perfectly served its purpose of being a relaxing but riveting escapist vacation read. I had fun with it.

Example conversation with my husband:
Him: Are you OK? You're squirming.
Me: Yeahhhh. A guy's getting eaten by a monster.
Him: Is he alive?
Me: He was when it started. Now shush!

King, as usual pulled me in and scared me good. I admit to staying up reading well after bedtime to finish the story. There were certainly some weaknesses; in particular, I think that King failed to outline the rules of the supernatural world as well as he usually does. I found myself a little confused about what was happening towards the end of the book. So not King's best, but overall a pleasurable read.

I do have to say that after reading it, I am surprised by the fact that they attempted to make it into a movie, and perhaps not surprised that the reviews are bad. I can see where the weaknesses, particularly not-perfectly-defined magic, would just make a movie either confusing and hard to follow or seem to come out of nowhere. So yeah, I think that I'll skip that one and let this story be as it was in the book. Entertaining but not exceptional.