Dreamcatcher

This is one of my favourite SK books. 4 friends do a brave, kind deed, defending a intellectually disabled boy being bullied. They become a tight group, complete with their own sayings and shared experiences. They grow up and it appears some bad s**t was coming their way and they need to deal with it. There's no religion in this one, some magic but not to the extent it can go in a SK novel. It's about a group of friends. It's about growing up together. It's about the possible end of the world. It's not too slow, no punches are pulled. The disabled guy is enabling and able - a nice change to many books if they even appear at all. Listen to it!

No other author seems capable of merging horror, sci-fi and tales of ordinary folk as masterfully as Stephen King. If you have seen the film but not read the book (or listened to it) then I recomend that you do so today. You will not be dissapointed.

I'm sure the book is great as all Stephen Kings work is, but this one sounds like you're listening to an old record player! So hard to listen to, it's so muffled that it's distracting.

I'm not overly impressed with the sound quality of this audio book. It sound like an old cassette recording.

Once you get over how many words are devoted to vivid descriptions of bottoms and foul smells coming out of them, then you've got an interesting and entertaining story about aliens, psychic powers, car chases and the kind of characters that you would expect from a Stephen King story. The descriptions of what the aliens are (or, at least, what the characters think they are) and the escalation of events from "trip to a cabin" to "an alien virus could destroy the world" were both great, even if the plot does run out of the steam by the end.

Colonel Kurtz. He was too ridiculously evil to hate and I thought that he had all the best dialogue.

I knew him as an actor in a couple of different things and he was a great narrator. He managed to handle some pretty ludicrous text and kept the story flowing really, really well. He also gave every character an identifiable voice, but didn't overdo any of the accents (which was a very good thing when it came to all of Duddits' dialogue).

Yes, I'll admit that most of the parts with Duddits tugged at my heartstrings. A bit. A tiny bit. I also laughed far too much at how THE POWER OF BACON saves the day at one point.

I was disappointed by how predictable the last couple of chapters were. Once it got to a certain point in the story I guessed pretty much exactly what was going to happen and then it was just a matter of listening to the end (although, there was some interesting dialogue in the epilogue).

"It's the one about aliens?" Is the way so many have put it when I tell them about Dreamcatcher but it's so, SO much more than 'aliens'. Sure the premise centres on the invasion of aliens in the Jefferson tract area of Maine in the early 2000s but it soon you'll realise there's so much more. There's the mind-reading, the dual aspects of the past's importance on the present, alternate realities but above all it's the Stephen King book that best sums up friendship for me. The friendship of Henry, Jonesy, Beaver and Pete; the backbone, the brain, the heart and the mouth, their friendship with Douglass Cavell and how one simple act of bravery and kindness changed their lives forever and potentially saved the world.

A magnificent piece of literature and one of my all time favourites from the Grand Master

Yes, it's a good story and easy to follow. I enjoyed the reading and the story flowed.

It was good to read the interpretation of the 'possession' by the alien creature in Jonesy's mind.

He's probably better known for playing Dale in The Walking Dead. The delivery and intonation was perfect and easy to listen to. The speech for Duddits was tastefully done where it could have been overdone and unkind. I'd happily listen to more novels read by him.

They hide inside us

A good story which made my daily drive fly by!

Even I can't quite believe it, but it's true. Rather good it was too. While it was a bit longer than I ideally like, at no point was I bored or wanting to move along at a faster pace. No, it's perhaps not a literary masterpiece, which I often enjoy, this had plenty of character and warmth of humankind. Duditz (hope I've spelled correctly) was a wonderful character in a way that I hadn't expected when he was introduced. I won't leave it so long before I try another King novel, and hope it's as good.
I'd not come across Jeffrey DeMunn before, but he did a fine job with the narration. He helped imbue the warmth of character, but avoided the trap of imbuing the more military personnel with easy villainous traits.
I suspect that it was the sci-fi aspects that drew me into this, and I don't know if King has written other similarly themed stories. The supernatural nature of some of his filmed works don't have quite the same pull for me, but I shall have a good look-see.

A great story from a great writer not an easy read but well worth the effort.

king at his very best is almost impossible to beat. Just the right mixture of imagination, horror and humour. Unmissable!