Under the Dome: Part 2: A Novel (Paperback) - Common

Imagine if you will you are driving out of your home town when you notice the traffic stopped in front of you. You exit your car to look up ahead and see the first car in line crashed into an unseen barrier that isolates your town from the rest of the world. No one knows where the barrier came from; no one know why it was there and who caused it to appear.Now, imagine you have a narcissistic leader of the town counsel who gets drunk with power and sees this as an opportunity for himself. People are dying - no one knows when this will end, the air quality declines, planes crash into the barrier from the outside; people commit suicide on the inside.A leader is appointed by the military, who has taken active control of the situation - but only on the outside of the dome. Because "Big Jim", the leader of the town sets himself up as the hero and the outsiders as the enemy, the military/government is seen to have done this - it is a conspiracy in the eyes of the town.There are a couple of ex-military on the inside, one of whom is contacted by cell phone. (Cell phones continue to work.) He's told to take control. The conflict between Big Jim and Colonel Barbie is intense. But, with Barbie the newcomer to the town and Big Jim seen as it's parading hero, it seems to be a losing battle. I won't go any further than this, but suffice it to say that the plot thickens and gets quite intense.Reading it reminded me strongly of Animal Farm. The town is on an island and someone has to be in charge. What happens when the power goes to their heads? What happens to people who stand in their way (perceived or real)?Don't be afraid of the bulk of the book. Topping in at about 1,100 pages it could seem overwhelming. But, King's style flows well and the book reads pretty quickly. This is a real page turner. If you are fond of Steven King's writing, this one will get you going. Enjoy.

*This review is for Under the Dome: Part 2, but Amazon has now merged reviews for the half-book with the all the ones for the full novel, which seems very confusing.*In case you haven't read any of the reviews for Under the Dome "Part 1," be aware....and BEWARE. This is NOT a sequel to Under the Dome. Greedy publishers have made a horrible decision to take the original 1,000 page novel and split it into two parts. If you fall for this and buy both Part 1 and Part 2, you will have paid more for the book than you would in some other formats, but the worst part of this is the treatment of those readers who don't like paying around $20 or more for a new hardcover or around $15 for a new large paperback, who wait for the smaller mass market paperback to buy a writer's newest book. Those readers now will have to pay the same amount as everyone else for the book because they'll have to buy two paperbacks at regular price to get the whole story. When I was younger, I didn't have money in my budget to buy brand new hardcovers, so when the small paperback finally came out, I'd get it for about $7 and be able to read the story. A few years ago, beginning with the book Cell, they increased the size of Stephen King mass market paperbacks and raised the price to $10. That apparently wasn't enough, as now they want you to pay for two books to get one full story. It can't have anything to do with the quantity of pages in the book; they've printed regular sized, regular priced paperbacks before of the novels It and The Stand: Complete and Uncut. This boils down to misleading advertising and a desire to squeeze as much out of loyal readers as possible. Not a good move.**Update** It's nice to see that Amazon has finally added a "Product Alert" in the description of this half-book. It should have been done immediately upon the book's release, but I guess better late than never. Maybe not for all the people who got duped into buying it initially, however.

A brilliant plot (like so many great novels, I wish I'd thought of it) that could only come from the twisted genius of Stephen King and amazing character development are what I enjoyed most about this book. What would happen in a sleepy little town if it was suddenly cut off from the rest of the world. What happens is things fester. Long before the flora and fauna are threatened, the social structure begins to break down - and that's the most compelling thing about this book. It is somewhat reminiscent of "Lord of the Flies" in that way. The bad people really show how bad they are and the good people fall prey to power and politics. Sadly, I found myself frequently reminded of the parallel between the main antagonist "big Jim" and some of the things currently happening in our own political environment. Let the reader draw their own conclusions, but for me it was a little unsettling in ways even King couldn't have imagined when he authored this book. I may have given this one five and a half stars, but that's not an option. Perhaps that last half star not given was because there are occasions where relationships between certain characters can seem a bit idyllic or even sophomoric. This is a contention I have with many of King's works, but it's a very minor thing that I think is specific to my own taste. However, it was a very fun and perpetually compelling read that I highly recommend.