I ended up loving Johnny Smith by the end and all the characters were fantastic, even the ones that you hated. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times compared reading the novel to the experience of watching "a particularly compelling movie", which he said is evidence of the novel's entertainment value, even if it does not speak of its literary value. [3] The Washington Post 's reviewer wrote, "It is not a book that will please everyone, but those who like it will probably like it a lot." [4] In a retrospective review, James Smythe of The Guardian wrote that The Dead Zone had become one of his favorite King novels after rereading it. Smythe said that although the novel seems to have no clear antagonist throughout the first two-thirds, it reveals itself as "a more literary novel about rehabilitation and loss". [5]

What I found more interesting here is what King did with Johnny’s mother, Vera. She starts out as someone with strong fundamental religious beliefs, but Johnny’s accident sends her over the high side and into the realm where she starts believing tabloid stories about Jesus living underground at the South Pole. She’s completely immune to facts and logic, and she’d rather rely on prayer than medication to handle her high blood pressure. Ed Glosser, Trivial Psychic", a Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Christopher Walken that parodies the film Stephen King’s The Dead Zone would have made a perfectly snappy short story or novella: A man gets into a car accident, slips into a coma, wakes up five years later, and can foresee a person’s future by touching them. He runs into an ascendant politician, realizes the man is a mortal danger to the nation, and sets out to stop him. The climax sets you up to expect one thing, then delivers another. Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: Next up on my Stephen King quest is The Dead Zone, again it’s not a review as such but a collection of my thoughts on the book. So there may well be spoilers but I think pretty much everyone has read it a long time ago anyway, all except me.Oh, and don't despair, The Wheel of Fortune, The Laughing Tiger, and Notes from The Dead Zone are all stories related to Johnny, just different phases of his life, as he experiences The Dead Zone. The Dead Zone, on the other hand, is the one with the ordinary schoolteacher (John Smith, no middle name) who might be a touch psychic, who gets in an accident, ends up in a coma, wakes up from the coma to discover he’s really psychic, avoids using this new ability, then (reluctantly) uses it a bit, mostly to save people/property from fires, once (reluctantly) to chase a serial killer, then … eventually … to try to save America and the world from a loose cannon politician. But it did make me a little sad at the end it’s about the only King novel I have read that I have wished for a happy ending! King found himself in a similar position after he was nearly killed in a car accident, so the scenes he´s describing the slow convalescence and therapy of the protagonist became a kind of self fulfilling prophecy. Most of Stephen King’s famous early novels have an iconic scene (Carrie at the prom), an iconic character (number 1 fan Annie Wilkes) or just a really simple hook (vampires; deserted creepy hotel; zombie pets; killer dog; killer car; killer clown etc… )

In my own personal opinion, this is the best story Stephen King has ever written. Not the most frightening, not the most thrilling, no: but this novel has true literary merit. And a tragic hero (not a mere "protagonist, mind you) who really qualifies for the title. This time around I did the audio. I was skeptical at first because it was James Franco and he usually seems kind of silly to me (most of my memories of him are Seth Rogan stoner movies). I am guessing he may have been invited to do this audio version because of his involvement in King’s 11/22/63 mini-series – which I still need to watch (Update 1/8/2020 - Just noticed I said I still need to watch this, but I did in 2019. It was great!)! I think he did a great job narrating this book and I will gladly do other books in the future narrated by him. Stillson, today the mayor of Ridgeway, nevertheless suffers from his psychological issues. Agree to “tear out” a buddy’s teenaged nephew for sporting an obscene t-shirt, he pops placing the top on fire and hammering the childhood using a broken bottle, threatening to kill him when he tells anyone about it.A real creepy read very hard to put down – it is also very current in 2020! I hadn’t really thought of the Dead Zone as one of SK greats as it is often overshadowed by IT, The Shining, Carrie and many MANY others – but this really was a stand out for me and maybe and good introduction to King. This book wasn’t as gory or ‘scary’ as a normal King but it is disturbing and thought provoking! The Dead Zone received the following accolades: Locus Award Nominee for Best Fantasy Novel (1980), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (1980), and Balrog Award Nominee for Best Novel (1980). [6] I'm so glad coming out of this that I finally got round to it as it is yet another great King adaptation worthy of its acclaim.

The FBI agent is killed by a car bomb. Meanwhile, Johnny's warnings that a disaster will occur at his pupil's graduation party are ignored by some, leading to several deaths. Now believing he must take more decisive action to prevent nuclear war, and learning his headaches are the result of a brain tumor, Johnny buys a rifle to kill Stillson. At the next rally, Stillson begins his speech and Johnny shoots from a balcony. He misses and is wounded by guards. Stillson grabs a young child and holds him up as a human shield. A bystander photographs Stillson's act. Unable to shoot a child, Johnny is shot twice by the bodyguards. He falls off the balcony, mortally wounded. Dying, Johnny touches Stillson a final time. He feels only dwindling impressions but knows the terrible future has been prevented. When published, the picture of Stillson using a child as a shield ends his political career. Note: If interested, you can listen to an online interview clip with James Franco about the audiobook experience HERE. The Dead Zone was the strangest experience of my rereading experiment thus far. It's the first book that is totally different to my memories of it; to the point where I even doubted that I had read it, and hadn't just watched the (admittedly excellent) David Cronenberg movie adaptation too much. I had read it, though – I still have the original copy to prove it – but it had slipped from my mind almost completely. (Into the dead zone?) Why? Maybe because, structurally, it's easily the strangest book King had, until this point, attempted to write; and maybe because, unlike other King (not Bachman) novels of the time, it doesn't really have a bad guy to focus on and drive the narrative. Not that it's any the worse for that, mind you … Evans, Bradford (February 17, 2011). "The Lost Roles of Bill Murray". Archived from the original on May 20, 2015 . Retrieved May 25, 2015. Johnny Smith wakes from a coma with the psychic ability to read a person when he touches them. Will he use this ability for good or for selfish reasons? And what's the deal with this Greg Stillson character that's swiftly becoming a heavy hitter in the political realm?

The dead zone

The Dead Zone is more of a drama than a horror, with some science fiction elements thrown in, but what is truly terrifying are the parallels that can be drawn between Greg Stillson, the politician that Johnny forsees causing a nuclear war, and Donald Trump. The similarities are so eerie! King MUST have some some Johnny Smith powers of this own! Dodd ( b. 1978; d. 2001) nearly murdered Allison Connover, but wound up killing Stacey Shephard instead. The next day, he took Johnny Smith's statement when he and Bruce Lewis tried to report Allison Connover missing. Cronenberg showed his own Dolby stereo version of the film in Toronto for a month as none of the theaters were playing that version and broke even without concessions. [26] Reception [ edit ] It's a pretty gripping read but it's not one of my favorite King books. I like the story but the only characters I felt any kind of attachment to were Johnny and his father. I was surprised by the ending, though, but I guess I shouldn't have. Stephen King was just getting started tearing the guts out of his readers at this point. Greg Stillson is currently the proprietor of an insurance and real estate broker in Ridgeway, New Hampshire. Flush with victory–he’s a pure salesman–he’s becoming a powerful figure in the area, and begins to look at running for mayor. An eccentric biker called Sonny Elliman drops in with Stillson and finally becomes his safety adviser and all-around dirty-deed-doer.

Sarah's husband Walt and the character of Sheriff George Bannerman were combined for the TV show into a new character Walt Bannerman, who marries Sarah during Johnny's coma and is the local sheriff. Walt regularly works with Johnny, the two combining police resources and psychic visions to solve many cases. While in the book, Sarah and Johnny only share a kiss before his coma, the TV series depicts them as childhood friends who then become long time lovers and conceive a child before Johnny's accident. When Johnny awakens from his coma, he learns he and Sarah have a son, Johnny or "JJ", who is being raised by her and Walt. Among the supporting cast, Johnny's physical therapist Bruce becomes his best friend and most trusted aid during his adventures and his eventual investigation of Stillson. A season 2 episode reveals that if Johnny and Bruce had never met, then Johnny would have become an isolated loner who dies while attempting to assassinate Stillson at a rally, just as occurred in the book. We all talk about Sadie and Jake, and Roland and Susan...our favourite King couples, but I gotta vouch for Johnny and Sarah. They are on the brink of falling in love at the beginning of the book before Johnny has his accident. We get such a short time seeing them together, but it is impactful and you just ACHE for them to be together. I love Johnny as a character - he has a great sense of humour and I just found him to be so damn likeable. Which makes it even more heartbreaking as he is dealt blow after blow. It hurt my heart.While he is asleep, John loses his career, girlfriend, everything. He wakes up a pauper in material terms, but endowed with the full-fledged version of his latent childhood gift. The Dead Zone is one of those critically acclaimed movies which I'm astounded has taken me this long to get around to.