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

Love

Love this book. Sure gives you something to think about. At times I wanted to climb in and put A gun to certain characters heads and pull the trigger. And it's funny how a book can make you feel. There is one character that you normally would not look at twice but you will fall in love with him towards the end.

Seemed to drag on at times

I have to admit that often when choosing which book to spend my 1 monthly Audible Book credit on, I try and find books longer in length. In this case, I regret it.
The first 10 hours of the book kept a good pace and I was thrilled to think that I had another 24 hours to go. It slowed down a good bit unfortunately. I guess I am also a traditionalist when it comes to books and movies. I want all the good guys to live and the bad guys to get what they have coming to them, hopefully at the hands of the good guys.
This book sways far from that. Another reviewer made comment on how the narrator made it difficult to distinguish between characters. This book has so many characters that I think it would be difficult for anyone to tackle the feat. If I could have given this book 3.5 stars I would have. It just drug on at times which kept it from getting 4 stars. I could see this easily becoming a movie, under 2 hours long.

Ending not worthy of the book

Love Stephen King. The Dark Tower is my favorite book (series) of all time and the ending is absolutely fabulous and simultaneously explains everything and nothing. Keeps you thinking about the book FOREVER. Not so with Under the Dome. Totally enjoyed the book...narrator, character development, story...all great Stephen King. But the ending is confusing, falls flat after so many hours of listening. Only vaguely thought provoking which was a great disappointment. Good book..don't get me wrong. But I am always looking for King that will at least equal The Dark Tower or The Stand...and sadly, this isn't it.

another hit

King strikes again with another amazing book. From the beginning to the end this will keep you wanting more.

New respect for Stephen King

I got this audible book per recommendation from another author, despite a number of bad listener reviews.
I didn't find the narrator hard to listen to, He did several characters with unique accents.
I have new respect for the writing prowess of Stephen King! I have read a couple of his other 'non-horror' books, but this one was exceptional!
Sadly, they turned this into a TV series, which really diverged from the book. I won't waste my time on that.

Great

One of my favorite of Stephen King’s later novels. I read it a couple years ago, but listening to it in 2020 makes it feel eerily relevant. The narration was pretty good, but the voices for some characters (especially female characters) were distracting, sounding almost English or mid-Atlantic.

Disappointed

I loved the whole book until the end. I feel the ending was rushed... from survivors point on

The Narrator Brings the Story to Life!

Where does Under the Dome rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Raul Esparza did a wonderful job narrating this book. One of the best books I have listened (not read) in a while. King does a fantastic job with character development. No one can unfold personalities like he does. The story moves quick and keeps you interested the from beginning to end. King knows how to give just the right amount of description without being to wordy or putting you to sleep. I was extremely pleased with this book.

Amazing

Narrator was perfect. Story was heart wrenching and unforgiving. 32 hours of pure entertainment. I LOVE Stephen King and this might be my new favorite. The characters were cruel intense humans voiced convincingly by the narrator. The dome is a fast paced world that brings out the best and the worst of the characters meaningless lives. 5 stars across the board.

Infuriating in a good way

Steven King writes in such a way that you get sucked into this world he creates and you're yelling at these characters that you love to hate.