Under the Dome

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Raul Esparza

The “propulsively intriguing, staggeringly addictive” (USA TODAY) novel from master storyteller Stephen King—a #1 New York Times bestseller.

It is a typical October morning in Chester’s Mill, Maine: glorious weather, a perfectly blue sky, and quiet. Then, all hell breaks loose. Inexplicably, and simultaneously, a plane falls from the sky in flames; a woman’s hand is severed; and a farmer’s John Deere explores (with him on it). A few moments later, a pulp-truck crashes spectacularly. Somehow, an invisible and impermeable barrier—exactly following the town’s perimeter—has descended upon the town.

Life under the dome quickly becomes a hothouse—with the best in some people and the worst in others flourishing. There are unambiguous heroes and villains, from a supremely corrupt local politician to a very enterprising newspaper reporter. The situation under the dome deteriorates by the minute: supplies of everything are diminishing quickly, the citizens are panicking, and the police force, under the control of the diabolically devious alderman Jim Rennie, implement their own version of martial law. Meanwhile, Barbie, brave Iraq war vet and short order cook, and a band of intrepid pals engage in a race against time to find the source of the dome and raise it before there’s nobody left alive in Chester’s Mill.

Under the Dome is filled with a marvelous and enormous cast of over 100 characters. King’s trademark idiomatic language is pure pleasure to read. “Nowhere in Mr. King’s immense body of work have his real and fantasy world collided with such head-on force” (The New York Times Book Review).©2009 Stephen King; (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Excellent!!

What made the experience of listening to Under the Dome the most enjoyable?

Not only was the story a real "page turner," the narrator did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed how he was able to bring out all of the distinct personalities of the characters!

Any additional comments?

I would have loved to have heard more on "Big Jim" at the end. It was truly a great book! I hated to see it end!

You won't be disappointed

I just finished "Under the Dome" a few minutes ago. What a great novel! Don't let the length of this audiobook dissuade you from buying it. Stephen King needs every minute to develop the characters and to weave his plot. I can't think of a single word he could remove without damaging the storyline. I agree with King's assertion in the book, the herd can be a heartless, cruel bunch. We agree to do things, sometimes bad things, all because we're part of a group.

A fascinating character study

Though Stephen King has covered this ground before, it is still a great read. The premise of small town folks being thrust together by an outside force, and then devolving into 'Lord of the Flies', is an oldie but a goodie.
The characters are fantastic and you'll find yourself quickly drawn in and asking yourself how you would fit in to this town. Would you hide in your home? Fight 'The Man'? Join the resistance? It helps that the reader is really good.
For me, audio books fall into three categories: those I abandon before finishing, those I look forward to making my 1 hour commute with, and those that I bring in to the office and pretend to work because I just have to hear what happens. This one made it in to the office.

Stephen King at his best

This is a must read. My husband and I are team truck drivers and we could not stop listening to this one. We drive in shifts so one of us would be ahead of the other and we could not wait to talk about it. WOW what a story!

I'm a younger King fan

I started reading King books in college (I'm now 29). I feel like I've stuck with him through the good and the bad, but through them all, I've never read one twice. I'm just not that kind of girl. With books, I normally pass them on and with audiobooks I even delete them from my library (bad.. I know).
BUT, I've already listened to this book twice. I'm quite certain it's my favorite SK book. It's long, but not long enough. The character development is typical King you jump right into their lives and feel like it's right where you belong.
The narrator was not the best for this book, I found that sometimes he'd interchange the characters voices. But his voice does have a pretty even tone (not too high, not too low), which makes it easy to listen to.
I'd recommend this book to anyone. King fan or not. It's a great story.