Cell

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Campbell Scott

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)

Very, very compelling

Started listening to this last night. On one hand, I do have to recognize the similarity (on the surface, at least) to The Stand, The Langoliers, The Mist -- other King stories along the same general plotline. As the clock rolled by; 11pm, midnight, 1am, 2am, I was just facinated by this story. I don't know if it is the different world we live in at this time as opposed to the last time I visited the aforementioned stories (pre-9/11, I mean) or what, but I was unable to turn away from this story. The characters are very well fleshed-out (if a bit derivative) and interesting, the pacing is great, and I sat alone in the living room with moments of goosebumps, hoping my husband would not choose 2:00 in the morning to sneak up and say "Boo!" thereby giving me a heart failure. I'm not quite half-done, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.

The narration is superb -- a bit of voice interpretation for different characters, but just enough to differentiate, not aggravating in the least. I may be alone here, but I would have sworn (!!) the narrator was REM's Michael Stipe. I know it is not, but the cadence, accent and tone are dead-on. Maybe I'm just nostalgic for my college days.... :)

If you are a King fan or not, this is a great choice. Bear in mind this would be a NC-17 rated movie, though -- not for the fainthearted or squeamish.

Good story, bad voiceover editing

I enjoyed the story. I can honestly say I couldn't put it down until the end. Like most Stephen King novels, you can picture it as a movie as you read the book. The premise of cell-phone induced zombies and humans as computers who need to "reboot" their brains and get computer worms... well, it was a little far-fetched but entertaining. I was a little disappointed in the end... I felt like I was left hanging.

What I found terribly distracting was very poor quality voiceover editing, which sounded like it was done by a completely different narrator. I enjoyed the main narrator, Campbell Scott. His voice has a husky, Clint Eastwood sort of sound to it. But the very frequent voiceovers, often mid-sentence, by some other narrator really distracted me from the story.

I have read a few Stephen King books (The Stand, Pet Semetary, Misery) and seen a few of his movies. If you don't mind the gore and the poor voiceover editing, you'll find that the premise, the character development, and the action will keep you hooked until the end.

Not your ordinary zombie apocalypse. It's S. King!

I had just finished "Under the Dome" and I was also looking for a good zombie audiobook. When I came across "Cell", I was sold!! It started of very gruesome & chaotic. Then when the dust started to settle, so to speak, the storyline actually got every addicting. Ofcourse with a Stephen King twist! It doesn't follow your normal zombie story but it shouldn't have because it's Stephen King! The Narrator was alittle dry but I got thru it. Just another notch on my belt for a Stephen King novel. Not the best zombie apocalypse storyline but it was a great Stephen King story.

A Good Story

I really enjoyed this story and would have given it five stars if it had a more solid ending. There were quite a few questions left unanswered but pushing that aside, the characters were likable, the pace was steady, and the story overall was solid. If you like zombie type movies, you should like this one.

What did I expect?

I don't know but I didn't expect this highly predictable book by Stephen King. After all, it is Stephen King. If you have read 5 of them, you have read them all.

Cell

This story is read so well that I was making excuses to listen as much as possible. If you like King, you'll enjoy this story.

Great book

This was a good book, narration was good....Not fond of ending but good nonetheless...I will continue reading mr. kings books

much like the Stand

This book reminded me of his other book "The Stand" in so many ways , end of civilization, Good Group vs Bad Group. I liked the Stand , so I enjoyed this book as well but just didn't feel it was that original. If you haven't read the Stand choose that over this one.

I was completely annoyed by the little kid who was a computer whiz, its a cute smart character that George Lucas or Speilberg would add in that would ruin a movie.

Was very disappointed in the ending as well.

Cell Review

I read (listened to) the book called Cell by Stephen King. I enjoyed the book, but the ending left you hanging and you kind of had to write the ending in your mind. Typical King, but pretty enjoyable overall.

Hope there will be a Cell II

Loved the book and the narration.....
That being said I have to give it a 4 and not 5 for the poor ending. Hopefully, Mr. King will revisit this story again in the future...And Finish It. Too many loose strings at the end and there is a logical flaw. Without giving too much away for those who have not listened to it; Why doesn't Clay cover his ears?