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Wow, what a book! Stephen King is the master of story-telling, and has created a wonderful cast of characters to play with. Every person in this book feels real, and there are a lot of people.The story itself is about a man-made virus, originally known as Project Blue, that wipes out 99% of the worlds population. The books explosive opening follows a man, with his wife and daughter escaping an army base in the middle of the night, all of the personnel they pass are dead. A few days later, his car crashes into a petrol station, his wife and daughter are dead, and he's not got long left. Just enough time to spread the virus to those in the garage, along with the ambulance crew who retrieve the bodies, the sheriff who investigates the deaths, and then everyone that they all go on to meet. The virus which becomes known as Captain Trips is out and its spreading, fast.The book is initially a survivors story, you follow individuals as they randomly find other survivors and seek companionship. Larry is a singer, who's song has just hit the top of the charts, Stu was at the petrol station when the car struck and was held by the army for testing, Fran is a few months pregnant and leaves her town with Harold, a very clever but emotionally immature young man. Nick is a deaf-mute with such incredible intellect, and Tom is a mentally disabled lad who will have you spelling moon for years to come. M-O-O-N, that spells fantastic! I could go on naming more and more.These characters, and many more, are just trying to survive. Then the dreams begin. Everyone, in each of these separate groups all experience the same dream. That of an old woman, sitting on a porch, a tyre swing in her garden, over-looking cornfields. They know the ladies name is Mother Abagail, they know she lives in Nebraska and they know that have to go to her. Also in their dreams is the dark man, wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots, white shirt and black hair. His face isn't visible, just his grin, and he is terrifying. Randall Flagg.What was a survivors story is now a fight of good versus evil for the fate of humanity, with some being drawn to Nebraska and Mother Abagail, and others going to Las Vegas and Randall Flagg.At over 1200 pages, this was a book that stayed on my shelf purely because the size alone was daunting, but I'm so glad I started reading it. Yes, its a beast of a book, but I didn't feel that it felt bloated at all. You're interested in these peoples lives, their back-stories, their loves, hates, relationships. You care about them all, even the ones you hate.My only criticism is that the ultimate battle between good and evil was a bit of an anti-climax but I'm not sure what could have lived up to the build-up. Is it King's greatest book? Well, if its not, its certainly very close.
I really enjoyed this book. It was my first Stephen king. I was completely drawn in from the beginning and I loved all the characters. However, there was a bit in the middle where it was floating around and didn't seem to know where to go which tallyed up with the fact king went through writers block. And I didn't really like the ending if I'm honest... But overall I still really enjoyed it.