Not Bad...Fun Even

I finished reading Stephen King's Cell. It's the first book by him which I've read in well over a decade.


The characters are surprisingly interesting, and the quasi-zombie plot is very engaging. It has flaws, but they are what they are. High points:

1. The first 100 pages are some of the best apocalyptic writing ever done.
2. One of the main characters is gay, but it only becomes apparent later. This character is not stereotyped, nor is he put out there for humor or politics. King's nonchalant treatment of him is actually quite sweet and modern.
3. Gross, gross, gross, and sick, sick, sick. So creepy at points it reaches the level of the Screaming Heebie Jeebies.
4. Having visited Boston, I had a vague recollection of the geography described during its destruction.
   
5. Brilliant, unresolved ending, but not in a schlocky, cheap way.
6. The "moral" of the story is not as overt as one might expect from King. Like any good zombie story, you have to think about it for a while before it hits you. And it's a good one.
   

Short, mostly fun read...