Under the Dome

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Raul Esparza

Length: 34 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens - town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing - even murder - to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

©2009 Stephen King (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Holy cow....

I love Stephen king for his quick thrilling rides but this book blew me away...by far my new favorite

It was a little depressing.

It seemed like the hero didn't live up to his potential. The end was not very satisfying. It felt like it was written for a sequel, which would probably be better.

No Slow Parts

Amazing book. Steven king doesn’t let up and give you time to catch your breath. Just amazing

Great, but not the greatest.

I always enjoy King books because the characters are real for me. Dialogue, thoughts and (usually) actions seem plausible. I have to admit, I was appalled by the ending. I felt King had cheated me in a way. Then, I stopped to think on it a bit and realized what themes King could be playing with. I will not say the ending is King's best, or even good, but I get it. I am an English professor and many peers would disagree about King being anything more than a "popular culture shock writer akin to danielle steele or el james.." However, people who refuse to think of any of his novels as anything more will not see what ideas he grapples with. I suggest reading almost any of his work (everyone has a few bad apples).

Best action from Stephen King

The action never stopped, which made it impossible to put down. I was breathless and disappointed when it ended. I have known many Col. Cox’s and really respected his concern yet frustration of not being able to act. Loved everything about this novel

excellent story but only moderate reading

the reader in this story made the majority of the characters voices have British accents--- even though they are in New England. it's a little strange, but the actual story itself makes it so you can look that over while listening.

Great story, not so great narration

This is really a good story, I definitely recommend it. The narrator is not very good for King stories though. He has a very patronizing, almost cheesy, narrating style and his small town northerner accent sounds more like a pretentious southern plantation owner accent. Great story... bad narration.

Wow!!! Finished in record time! Breathless!

Under the Dome is the best King novel I have read to date, 11/22/63 is #2 and The Institute #3.
Audio books are much more enjoyable than reading the novel. The talent of the narrator can make or break the experience! Mr. King has chosen wisely. Now I must get back to reality and jobs I put aside so I could immerse myself in this book!
Looking forward to choosing another new spellbinder!

Ending was disappointing

The ending was not exactly as high quality as the rest of the book. The narration was magnificent. Mr. Esparza is incredibly talented.

Great story, questionable voice performance

Story is great, everything the reviews say is accurate - this is one of Stephen King's most interesting and compelling books.

This recording, however, features voice acting that is, at times, so absurd that I felt compelled to write a review. Having otherwise enjoyed the content of the narrative, I think that some of the choices made by the narrator and/or producers are really detrimental to the overall work.

Too much effort was expended trying to give the characters individual 'voices' using differing cadences and affected accents without much return on the investment. Most of the time the 'voices' are inconsistent, accents will come and go and sometimes they sound like comedic parodies - ie, the single French Canadian character is often in full on Pepe Le Pew mode.

The most consistently notable failure is the narrator's attempt at a Maine accent, which I think perhaps they have confused with a Maryland accent, netting the result that half the characters sound like Keanu Reeves. Even sillier, the younger a character is, the more thickly they are voiced as Keanu parody circa 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'. This, combined with King's somewhat amusing understanding of contemporary youth internet speak, results in a performance that is difficult to take serious at often critical junctures in the narrative.

So in summation, good book, but the narration made for a really odd listen and, I feel, detracts from how good the story actually is.