Cell

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Campbell Scott

Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

On October 1st, God is in His heaven, the stock market stands at 10,140, most of the planes are on time, and Clayton Riddell, an artist from Maine, is almost bouncing up Boylston Street in Boston. He's just landed a comic book deal that might finally enable him to support his family by making art instead of teaching it. He's already picked up a gift for his long-suffering wife, and he knows just what he'll get for his boy Johnny. Why not a little treat for himself? Clay's feeling good about the future.

That changes in a hurry. The cause of the devastation is a phenomenon that will come to be known as The Pulse, and the delivery method is a cell phone. Everyone's cell phone. Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization's darkest age, surrounded by chaos, carnage, and a human horde that has been reduced to its basest nature...and then begins to evolve.

There are 193 million cell phones in the United States alone. Who doesn't have one? Stephen King's utterly gripping, gory, and fascinating novel doesn't just ask the question "Can you hear me now?" It answers it with a vengeance.

©2006 Stephen King (P)2006 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"King's imagining of what is more or less post-Armageddon Boston is rich, and the sociological asides made by his characters along the way...are jaunty and witty." (Publishers Weekly)

Stephen King at His Scary Best

Being new to audio books, this was a new experience for me, and I wasn't sure I could get into listening to a book, rather than actually holding one in my hand. With this Stephen King book, however, I shouldn't have had any worries, and the narration with the various accents was great. My only regret was that I had to power down during take-off and descent on the plane while we were on vacation. The characters were incredibly real, and I cared about them very much. I felt much of their anguish. The geography was so real that even though I don't live in the Northeast, I felt as though I knew exactly where the "Normies" were heading, and when there would be a trap laying for them. As usual, King picked the perfect setting for this situation. Several times I actually reached for my cell phone to be sure it was turned off. I'm looking forward to finding another book as totally engrossing as this one. Stephen King lovers (or simply lovers of this genre) must definitely read this book.

Really wanted to love it, but

Just couldn't be drawn into it as I'd hoped. Not scary enough, not shocking enough, which is what I expect from King. Husband read hard copy and really liked it, maybe I was a bit distracted while I listened, but, still don't think I'll listen a second time. Cool concept, though. Very imaginative.

Classic situational fiction

This is King doing what he does best...situational fiction. What if you took all the people with cell phones and turned them into raving lunatics???
The story unfolds very quickly and as usual, King's characterization is superb. I felt like I knew the main characters personally.
Yes, there are some tonal variations (likely corrections during post-production), and the ending is *very* King. It leaves you wondering quite a bit. Overall though, an excellent listen.

THE STAND for the CELL phone era

Campbell Scott can narrate anything and make it interesting...which is why I gave this a 4 Star Overall.
For plot, King has written a Readers Digest version of his best novel, THE STAND, and updated it with technology, however, the same type of protagonists and antagonists are in this novel. When I first read CELL-when the novel came out- I didn't realize how similar the plots were but having listened to "THE STAND" a few months ago made me realize how much these two stories are similar.
If you love every novel King writes and can't find fault with anything, you'll enjoy CELL, otherwise I suggest you just purchase THE STAND...Though Scott isn't the moderator it's still a grand listen and thats not something I can say about CELL.

Endings

As usual he does a very good of making you care about the everyday characters. I think that is because of this that the ending disappoints me so. I love the story and the feeling of thinking twice about answering my cell. Not that I would have wanted to see a full conclusion but a little more closer would have been nice.

Couldn't Turn Off My IPod!

As usual, an excellent book by King! How many times have I thought what would happen if we didn't have cell phones, or what if we were poisoned via digital methods via our cell phones. This book only validates that I am not yet insane, but rather have a vivid imagination (although, I briefly looked at my teenager and shuddered at the very thought of a world without this age bracket).

The book was excellent, and I look forward to King's next near-life adventure! BRAVO!

Stephen King Is THE Master

I gave CELL a 5 out of 5 because it is perfect. King has done it again. It starts out straight in the action and just keeps getting better. This is a great read for anyone. The first part of the book is great but after about two hours the action realy starts to pour in. The book is a little over 12 hours and as the old saying goes, ITS GOOD TO THE LAST DROP. By the time you finish this book you will not be dissapointed. All of kings books are great. I also recomend BLAZE a book King wrote under the name Richard Bachman. In my opinion Blaze is even better that CELL but you should deffinitly read them both. OK enough said...Happy Reading, Or Listening.

Not bad

I did like the book, but somewhere in the middle I almost had a feeling that no ending would be possible out of this incredibly tragic Armageddon. I was surprised to find out that it was true, the ending was not there at all. It felt almost as if the author cornered himself and could not find any kind of answer to anything... there was just no resolution, which made the story so unbearably sad. You understand that even if the outcome of the last action proves to be positive, the world has truly come to an end, and there is no way out... Kist left be, very, very sad. But I did like it. :)

Love it

Chapter 71 was the exact same as I think 70, as in it repeated that chapter, and in one of the last chapters the narrator must have made a mistake, because they came back through and impossed a automated voice saying "clay said". Bad production quality, but amazing book.

Stephen King with Another Winner!

Very well narrated, very well written, and all around enjoyable. I can never get enough of his writing style and the little connections to all of his books.