But you still need to activate your account.
CELL, by Stephen King, Scribner, New York, 2006, hardcover, 350 pages, $26.95.
Everyone has his or her own opinion about the impact of technology on our lives today. But people will actually pay to read what Stephen King thinks.
Thus comes “Cell,” King’s first full-length novel published since his latest “retirement” (another book is coming in October). And, naturally, the Bangor author’s view is a tad, shall we say, darker than most. After all, this is a man who writes his novels longhand on legal pads and doesn’t own a cellular phone.
For years, many have posited that putting a device emitting an electronic signal close to your brain is a bad idea. In “Cell,” King shows readers why.
“Cell,” which comes out Tuesday, opens with Maine comic-book artist Clayton Riddell in the big city of Boston to peddle his work. That’s where all hell breaks out, with people inexplicably going mad.
Clay soon deduces that cell phones are causing the problem, and only the technological Luddites and those who were without their cells that day were unaffected.
He quickly hooks up with a couple of other “normals,” gay Tom McCourt and teen Alice Maxwell. Among them, they figure out that some unknown terrorist group had sent a pulse through the cell phone signals, which wipes users’ brains clean.
The trio decides to leave behind the chaos of Boston (on foot since all the roads are clogged with crashed vehicles) and head north to Maine, so that Clay can check on the fate of his estranged wife and son.
On this post-apocalyptic road trip, they meet up with other “normal” survivors, some of whom join them. They also discover many frightening things about the new powers of the zombielike “phone-crazies.”
They end up at KASHWAK=NO-FO, the unorganized Maine territory toward which the affected population has been herding the unaffected, where they face a final reckoning.
“Cell” visits familiar territory for King, with an intrepid band seeking to save society from destructive forces (see “The Stand” and “The Dark Tower” series).
At a neat 350 pages, the novel is a welcome, fast-paced change from the author’s lengthy recent works. He does an admirable job handling weighty themes with concise, plain-spoken prose. King makes readers think without making them struggle.
“Cell” is King in fine form, as he offers a biting indictment of technology, which never cuts out. Some may feel that he’s dialed a wrong number, but he will certainly connect with the unvoiced fears of many.
Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.
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