YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Johnny, the small boy who skated at breakneck speed into an accident that for one horrifying moment plunged him into The Dead Zone.

Johnny Smith, the small-town schoolteacher who spun the wheel of fortune and won a four-and-a-half-year trip into The Dead Zone.

John Smith, who awakened from an interminable coma with an accursed power—the power to see the future and the terrible fate awaiting mankind in The Dead Zone.

Chapter 6: (view spoiler)[I can't imagine what it would be like to be unconscious for 4 and a half years. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 14: (view spoiler)[I don't like the looks of this Greg guy. Wonder how he'll tie into John's story... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 19: (view spoiler)[This guy is bat shit crazy! (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[All that power drove Johnny to the edge. What a great ending. (hide spoiler)]

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Date changed. Restarting June 25th 2019. Happy Reading ☺

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A little late but just about to start this :)

First quarter - (view spoiler)[An interesting start. As usual, the prologue foreshadows some sinister future event. I've not heard anyone talk about this book and haven't read the synopsis so I have no idea what it could be!

The perspective then shifts to John and Sarah, who seem to be growing a sweet, if ordinary, relationship until he reveals some sort of psychic ability at the fair. The car crash and resulting coma is pretty traumatic to read about. I love how King, again, foreshadows this by referring to Sarah not seeing him again for over four years after he left her apartment. He truly is the king (get it!?) of suspense! (hide spoiler)]

Second quarter - (view spoiler)[Johnny has woken up and Sarah has moved on. I feel so sorry for them both in this situation. I also feel sorry for Johnny's parents. His mother has fallen into a religious mania and his dad just seems to lost and adrift.

Johnny's psychic abilities seem even more enhanced but there are hints to a possible Jekyl and Hyde type split, or some sort of negative consequence for every psychic encounter. His car crash occurred after his fair ground win and a vase crashed to the floor in the corridor after he revealed information about the doctors he could not have any logical explanation of possessing.

I wonder if he has unleashed some sort of alter-ego and if this is the strangler that is haunting the town? It was mentioned the strangler had made no kill in four years, which is the length of Johnny's coma. (hide spoiler)]

Third quarter - (view spoiler)[This, as well as being ultimately horrifying, is quite politically dense in some areas. This is not unlikable but I don't know enough about American politics to understand all of it. (hide spoiler)]

First quarter - (view spoiler)[Ultimate moral of this story - power is evil and too much of it will end you in some way! This felt different to the other Kings I have read. The horror felt dampened somewhat. I still appreciated the story and enjoyed the events, especially the ending, but this felt like a more grounded somehow. The scares were limited and used to deliver another message. A solid 4 star read! (hide spoiler)]

Hi Danni. I'm listening to it on audio...

40% (view spoiler)[

So, I know the story from the movie, and I thought I had read the book. But in the TV series, Johnny and Sarah sleep together before he gets in his coma and she has a boy that's his son. That doesn't happen in the book (or in the movie).

Mayor Stilson is as awful as I remember him. That's a sad sad storyline.
(hide spoiler)]

@Danni, I agree that King truly is a master of suspense and foreshadowing. There's a lot of that in this book.

65% (view spoiler)[ Sheriff Brannerman gets John to help him find the serial killer. That was the same as the movie. I liked when John started talking like the killer - that was eerie. (hide spoiler)]

Finished: 5 great stars!

I love this story about a person who gains cognitive abilities from a brush with death. Actually two brushes with death, one as a child, and again as an adult. I also love the dilemma our MC finds himself in when he touches the political candidate and senses the man could start WWIII if elected as president. Great drama and narrative. I listened to the audio version this time narrated by James Franco who did a really good job with the material.