Cell: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Stephen King (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 21, 2006

WHERE WERE YOU ON OCTOBER 1ST AT 3:03 P.M.?

Graphic artist Clay Riddell was in the heart of Boston on that brilliant autumn afternoon when hell was unleashed before his eyes. Without warning, carnage and chaos reigned. Ordinary people fell victim to the basest, most animalistic destruction.

And the apocalypse began with the ring of a cell phone....

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Witness Stephen King's triumphant, blood-spattered return to the genre that made him famous. Cell, the king of horror's homage to zombie films (the book is dedicated in part to George A. Romero) is his goriest, most horrific novel in years, not to mention the most intensely paced. Casting aside his love of elaborate character and town histories and penchant for delayed gratification, King yanks readers off their feet within the first few pages; dragging them into the fray and offering no chance catch their breath until the very last page.

In Cell King taps into readers fears of technological warfare and terrorism. Mobile phones deliver the apocalypse to millions of unsuspecting humans by wiping their brains of any humanity, leaving only aggressive and destructive impulses behind. Those without cell phones, like illustrator Clayton Riddell and his small band of "normies," must fight for survival, and their journey to find Clayton's estranged wife and young son rockets the book toward resolution.

Fans that have followed King from the beginning will recognize and appreciate Cell as a departure--King's writing has not been so pure of heart and free of hang-ups in years (wrapping up his phenomenal Dark Tower series and receiving a medal from the National Book Foundation doesn't hurt either). "Retirement" clearly suits King, and lucky for us, having nothing left to prove frees him up to write frenzied, juiced-up horror-thrillers like Cell. --Daphne Durham --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. It's probably a good idea not to use your cell phone while you listen to Scott's beautifully understated reading of terrormeister King's latest take on technology run amok: you might just toss it down the nearest storm drain. The excellent film actor (who catches the power of his late father George C. Scott's voice but smooths off the rough edges) adds an important element—quiet believability—to King's bloody, occasionally over-the-top story of a short but lethal electronic signal that seriously damages everyone in the world using a cell phone at that moment. The Pulse, as it comes to be known, turns idle chatterers into weirdly rewired killing machines. Scott makes the lead character—a comic book artist from Maine (where else?) named Clayton Riddell, who is in Boston with his phone off and in his pocket—a touching and surprisingly tough survivor, much like the nonpods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He also resists the temptation to make the "phoners" (those affected by the Pulse) sound unusually strange or dangerous—until their real motives become obvious. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 2). (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star; First Printing edition (November 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416524517
• ISBN-13: 978-1416524519
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

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#11 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#7 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#8 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#10 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#7 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#8 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

#10 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Use Your Cell Phone June 8, 2008

By Donald Gallinger

Format:Hardcover

The wonderful thing about King's new novel, Cell, is that he takes a relatively ordinary phenomenon of contemporary life and turns it into a shocking horror fest. This is King's great talent, and no one does it better. From the pet cemetary in the woods to the nice family doggie (who now has rabies), King populates his middle-class American landscape with familiar things that have now turned nightmarishly psychotic. In Cell, King jams an urban myth into the highest gear. What if cell phones didn't cause cancer? What if they did something much worse? What if they turned the user into a zombie killing machine? From the first page to the last, you're hooked. It doesn't matter if the reading calories are empty; you can't stop reading. That's why King, above everything else (and perhaps in spite of everything else) has remained the best selling author in the world. You can't stop reading him.

Donald Gallinger is the author of The Master Planets

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but far from King's best April 2, 2006

By B. McEwan TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This novel has a great underlying premise: The human brain is an organic computer that has a basic operating system, which is capable of being erased. In the case of this novel, the erasure is triggered by a "pulse" that is sent out to millions of people through their cell phones. Those who do not happen to be using their phones at the time of the Pulse are spared. Those who are using their phones turn into zombie-like creatures who maim and kill one another and appear to be driven only by hunger and anger.

The twist comes when the "normies" realize that the "phoners" (aka zombies) are sort of evolving over time. They appear to be developing more sophisticated traits that are, in some cases, superior to those of normal humans. For instance, they communicate via telepathy and move around by means of levitation.

I would have liked to see this evolution idea further developed, perhaps even all the way to the point where the once inferior zombies become the next step up in human evolution, with the "normies" ultimately ending up in the same relationship as the Neanderthals may have been to Homo Sapiens. But, alas, that never happens. In fact, nothing close to that happens because King leaves readers in the lurch by not bringing the novel to a satisfactory conclusion.

I know that King often leaves the ultimate endings up to the readers' imaginations, and I appreciate that technique. But in Cell he really should have taken us a bit farther down the road, at least so we knew whether or not the "old" human programming could be rescued from some area of deep memory so some phoners could be restored to their former condition.... The abrupt ending was a real let-down for me, especially since, for me, the point of reading a classic-style King horror story is to be entertained.

So, the bottom line is this: The pros of this novel are that it has a great premise and can be read in one sitting. The BIG con is that King doesn't develop the plot lines sufficiently to bring his story to a satisfying conclusion. He leaves his readers swinging in the wind. Read more ›

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rumors of King's retirement greatly exaggerated January 24, 2006

By Samer T Ismail

Format:Hardcover

And I, for one, am glad King is still writing--even if I was nervous about picking up my cell phone for a couple of days!

The editorial reviews tell you everything you need to know about the plot, so I won't repeat it here.

When I read this book I saw comparisons to two novels; one of those books is Dean Koontz's "The Taking." Although the plots are superficially the same--a trip through a nightmare world--the books are very different in style, in tone, and in the "whys" underlying them. [Depending on your point of view, by the way, you'll find King's explanation either inspired or exasperating.]

The comparisons to the zombies of George A. Romero's movies are fairly obvious, but the descriptions of human life after the Pulse, for Clay and his band of struggling "normies," and of non-human life, if you will, for the "phoners," reminded me of a more classic novel, Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend." [King has noted his admiration for Matheson in the past, and, in fact, "Cell" is dedicated to Romero and Matheson.] What scared me most about this novel, as with "Legend," was the fact that everything in the book felt like it really *could* happen here.

And that plausibility carries through to the ending. It's difficult to write an ending for a book like this one, but King managed to write one that makes sense without false optimism (as the book's prologue notes, most of America is dead by the time the book ends) *or* unnecessary pathos.

All in all, King fans will be thrilled by this book; as an added bonus, it also includes an excerpt from King's next novel, "Lisey's Story" (due out in October 2006), which I am now eagerly awaiting.

218 of 272 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll never think of those words: "Can you hear me now?" in quite the same way again... January 26, 2006

By K. Corn TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If for no other reason, I thank Stephen King for taking those five words which haunt tv commercials:, "Can you hear me now?" and turning the phrase into something more than merely annoying..and into the realm of the truly ominous. While it might seem obvious to some of us that cell phones are horrible little devices, it still takes a pretty talented writer to write a book about evil spread by cell phones...and to keep readers riveted the entire time. I was one of those readers. Like King, I refuse to have a cell phone, an "electronic leash". No thanks.

But I'm really digressing here. Back to The Cell . If you think you don't like King's "supernatural" or "horror" style, I'd urge you to give The Cell a chance. I read it from cover to cover in one sitting.
I can't say it is the best book he's written but it was still a fine read and had many of the trademarks of King's superior writing - excellent characterization, an unpredictable plot and just enough plausability to make me think, "WHat if?" What if there WERE some way to use cell phones to affect people's brains, to create insanity in our population, with results leading to the brink of civilization's collapse?

It is to King's credit that he not only raises these questions but kept me wanting to find out what happened next, to see what happened to Clayton, a guy who happens to be away from home when all hell breaks out. By the time it does, I was already intrigued by this guy, someone who was trying to figure out a way to curry his estranged wife's favor, who had the usual worries and imperfections of the average man. He was no hero, just an ordinary guy, just trying to get by, thinking about his career and the next step in his day, the usual stuff.....when everything changes in an instant and he faces the type of test that he never could have foreseen, not in his usual routine..nope, not him. All aroud him, people are attacking each other and there doesn't seem to be a reason why. Clayton is forced to think quickly to save himself and others, without any inkling of WHY all this is happening...at least, not at first.

I won't go into any of the "symbolism" that I'm sure some critics will have a field day exploring, maybe something about how cell phones represent "terrorists" and the horror and uncertainty akin to the type that hit New Yorkers after 9/11, when normal life was suddenly a speck in the distance. A detailed talk about symbolism and metaphor is for someone else to write.
All I can add is that I found this book to be one heck of a good way to spend the day, allowing me to forget about the small irritations in my own life (the dishes in the sink, the piles of laundry) and to ignore the twinges of guilt about that for a bit longer. I needed an excuse to avoid that, feeling tired and burned out on that particular day.

I'm glad I put off my usual routine a bit longer because when I finally came up for air, bleary-eyed at 4 in the morning after reading the very last lines in the book, I felt oddly reinvigorated. I stayed up most of the REST of the night washing dishes and finishing laundry as my nerves settled (thanks, King) but didn't regret a moment of the time I'd spend deviating from my usual routine...well, okay, maybe a little...but it was still worth it. Read more ›