This was a classic Stephen King if you ask me. He wrote it together with one of his sons, Owen to be precise, but I never felt the presence of another author. This entire novel was so vintage Stephen King.
I think I could read one of these and instantly guess the author if it wasn't on the cover. His manner of telling a story is so unique.
The story itself is about women falling asleep and not waking up. It's not a metaphor for dying, because they are alive, just not conscious.
This sparks a panic attack when the male population realizes they have to fend for themselves.
The pandemic is around the globe, but King chooses to put his magnifying glass above a small Appalachian town called Dooling County. It's not entirely backwards, it even got a female sheriff, but it still got that vibe you get as soon as you leave the city. Not that it's a bad vibe, I'd like to feel more like them. I think that living a somewhat simple life is complicated enough as it is. But enough on my opinion on the town, it's the author's choice to choose a time and place for battle and he has chosen Dooling County.
Dooling County has a variety of inhabitants, some of them good people, some bad, most inbetween.
But they are chosen to be the ones whose behavior the future will depend.
It's a good story, it's a supernatural story with some elements that makes the story go smoother, that delivers surprises, but in the end it stays believable. It's set in a day and age we know, in a town we can imagine, with people we might be friendly with or not, but covered with a veneer of supernatural events.
I liked to read it, but I'm a great fan so probably very biased. I finished it in a few days, even though it's almost 700 pages long, so that's in itself says enough.
What I do regret is the anticlimax of the ending. There's a lot of build up and I felt myself weary of turning a page to see some events turn haywire, which happened less often than I am used to in a King novel. Maybe that's the influence of Owen. On one hand I was relieved because in the end I too keep rooting for the good guys, but it did have its effect on the story because even though a sucker punch (for which George RR Martin is known) is momentarily hard to bite through, it gives the story a more layered emotional resonance.
But despite this, the story held its own and I'm glad they wrote it for us Constant Readers to enjoy!!
