I've embarked on a Stephen King reading fest and moved straight from a re-read of 'Pet Sematary' to one never read before. From clues in the afterword it seems this was written in the aftermath of King's own serious accident when he was run down by a careless driver, an experience that makes its way into the book in the shape of the character Jones aka Jonesy. Perhaps also, given that he was on strong painkillers, it influenced the writing in certain aspects. It was clear from the newspaper headlines at the start that it was going to be about extra-terrestrial landings/invasion and alien abduction. This did make me a little trepidatious as 'The Tommyknockers' was the first of King's books that I found a real disappointment.

**I should mention for people who don't like books in which animals are mistreated, there is quite a lot of serious harm to animals and one dog in particular.***

Four men are introduced at various dates, who were childhood friends and are troubled adults: Pete is an alcoholic, Beaver, always known for his happy-go-lucky outlook on life, seems dissatisfied and even depressed, Jonesy is about to be run down by a driver with dementia and Henry is suicidal. The story then moves forward to a period several months after Jones' accident, when the four are on their annual November hunting expedition.

Dropped into the narrative along the way are mentions of another friend, Duddits, and it gradually becomes clear that he is a man with Downs Syndrome whom they befriended when they were young teenagers and saved from being seriously bullied by thuggish older boys. Duddits has telepathic ability and the boys developed weaker versions of it themselves, some in one speciality, e.g. Pete can 'follow the line', able to track someone or backtrack where they have been. Others have a direct telepathy and they are all able to pick up on cues from each other without speaking. But over the years they have drifted apart from Duddits, unaware that he is now very ill, and are also hiding their various issues from each other.

Into this situation comes a crashed alien spaceship, with a strange vegetation that colonises surfaces, animals and people, endowing humans with telepathy. Another accompaniment is a creature reminiscent of Alien, and in fact the military later nickname the alien contamination as Ripley. (Interestingly, of course, the character of Jones is named after the Nostromo's cat in the first film.) Soon, the four friends are devastatingly impacted by the threat posed by the aliens.

I won't say more about the actual plotline to avoid spoilers but had some issues with the book. It started off well and I was enjoying it, despite the excessive amount of flatulence and associated descriptions of abdominal symptoms. But this changed some way into the book where a mad military man is introduced, similar to a character in 'Apocalypse Now' even to the point of having the same name. (Which was probably taken originally from Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'). After that, it morphs into a car chase which goes on far too long.

I did wonder how something which, it is stated at various points, is really an instinctual fungus/form of vegetation could possibly develop technology to build space ships etc, but that is sort of explained if you don't look too closely at it. In reality, I'm not convinced that it could learn to perform interstellar navigation and pilot the vessels.

As per King's more recent books, this name checks quite a few others with direct references to 'IT' and various others, with the central motif of childhood friends who did something good together and then come together as adults being a direct homage to 'IT'. Though King was doing this as long ago as 'Pet Sematary' which has Rachel driving past a turnoff marked 'Jerusalem's Lot', here it seems drummed in a little unnecessarily, for example, I wasn't sure the sequence with the vanished water tower was really needed unless it was meant to be a sort-of-echo of 'The Dark Tower' series. The vegetation on the other hand seems to be a descendant of the red weed in H G Well's 'War of the Worlds'.

The extended flashbacks which occur during the car chase - when the person being shown the earlier lives of the Dreamcatcher Five is driving a vehicle in snow at speed - are not only too long but overstretch disbelief. I kept thinking he would crash the car - and there are a lot of car crashes in this book. And the statement that the character who is hijacked by an alien force is the only man in the world who really understood what it felt to be raped is problematic: quite apart from real life experiences, in the book's own world many other men have their bodies and even minds taken over by the alien organisms.

The ending also begged a lot of questions in the explanation for his plight. I can't actually believe he did it to himself with or without the connection with Duddits. For a start, there is at least one viewpoint scene in this 'fictitous' character's persona. Also, if he really had committed such awful crimes - including a horrific scene of what he does to one of his friends - then it's beyond belief that he's untroubled by guilt in the Epilogue. So after its initial promise this dropped down to an OK 2 stars. ( )

"Twenty-five years after saving a Down's-syndrome kid from bullies, Beav, Henry, Pete and Joey - now men with separate lives and separate problems - reunite in the woods of Maine for their annual hunting trip. But when a strange stumbles into their camp, disoriented and mumbling something about lights in the sky, chaos erupts."
I found this book very well written. The various plot lines are cleverly woven to come together at just the right point in the story. I simply enjoy reading all of Stephen King's books. ( )

Había una vez cuatro chicos, compañeros en todo, que decidieron proteger a un chico indefenso atormentado por el tirano del colegio. Su acción marcó un cambio decisivo en sus vidas. Un cambio tan grande que tardarían 25 años en comprender su importancia... Ahora son adultos, con más problemas y más desilusiones, pero una vez al año se reúnen para cazar en los bosques de Maine. Este año un desconocido entra en su cabaña y, aturdido y confuso, balbucea que ha visto unas extrañas luces en el cielo. Y parece que no está equivocado... En poco tiempo los cuatro amigos se encuentran en medio de una lucha terrorífica contra seres de otro mundo. La única posibilidad de salvación radica en encontrar a aquel amigo del pasado, el que sabía cazar sueños y que también sabrá frustrar los sueños de los invasores... Una obra maestra del terror y una historia de ternura y amistad profunda.

Enjoyable exercise in extraterrestrials, virus, ESP channelling . Fast-moving action. Nasty characters, scared Heros. Tense finish. ( )

this book was so painfully male and white. if some of your characters hold sexist beliefs then it's just characterization but at the point where all your characters have bullshit takes about women or how men can't truly get raped then that's on you. ( )