Under the Dome by Stephen King

I finished this behemoth of a book by Stephen King recently. Published in November I was able to purchase it from Target for a remarkably low price when Amazon, Walmart and Target were having their price war. The book itself was King at his best. Multitudes of characters who you instantly cared about and wished to see come to a good end. Of course, being a Stephen King book, many of them do not.

While there are quite a few villains in the story the major one is Big Jim Rennie, a caricature of every self important, small town blowhard selectmen you might have come across in your lifetime. The character is that person you have met to the tenth degree and then some and when he reaches his end it is not one you feel bad about.

However, like many of Stephen King's largest books, at least for me, the conclusion does not measure up to the very long lead up. Perhaps this is an unfair assessment of what is still a wonderful read. King sucks you so far into the story in this book, as well as other very long books of his such as Insomnia and It, that perhaps the ending in a book like this cannot measure up to the expectation. On the other hand King's book The Stand is still the best thing he has ever written and to me at least had no weaknesses in the beginning, middle or end.

The Stand's place in popular culture was reaffirmed this fall as the Swine Flu epidemic heated up and I heard a few radio personalities talking about Captain Trips and dreaming about Mother Abigail. No other book of King's has so permeated our popular culture.

Under the Dome is a good book. It also represents a significant investment in time. However, I subscribe to the too many books too little time philosophy so urge an informed decision. If you have not read The Stand pick that one up instead, you will not be disappointed.