The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
This was only the second of Stephen King's books that I've read; the first being The Green Mile and I enjoyed every moment of The Dead Zone even with the roller coaster of emotions it created.
John, or Johnny, Smith (how perfect to make his name that of a "common" man) is blessed, but mostly cursed, with a second sight. It began when he was a boy and suffered a head injury, but became more prominent after a near-fatal car crash in his 20’s that lands him in a coma for four and a half years. Johnny wakes up and we follow him as he discovers one terrible thing after another.
On this same ill-fated night for Johnny, we are also introduced to Greg Stillson, a traveling salesman with a very dark side. Throughout the rest of the novel, we mostly follow Johnny's adventures as a clairvoyant, but every once in a while Greg pops back in with a new development in what becomes his political career. Eventually, Greg and Johnny's paths cross and Johnny may have finally found the purpose of his cursed sight.
Reading this one so closely after The Green Mile, I did see some strong similarities in King's premise of someone who is spiritually gifted. Both Johnny Smith from The Dead Zone and John Coffey in The Green Mile, (first, the similarity in their name!) become burdened by this spiritual gift due to the horrors they witness. Also, they are trying to help people but are mostly confronted with suspicion and disbelief from those around them. Even though they may try to do what is best, there is grief for those things they do not change in time, or do not change enough. There are a few people who get on their side, but then also use these gifts to benefit others without their full consent. In the end, are both of their lives ruined and meaningless?
I enjoyed that in this novel, King portrayed Johnny's life as a tragedy. He wanted to get back to normal but couldn't stop himself from using his gift and trying to change things. How can you fully stop being who you are? Especially when you become confronted by those who fear what you can do and truly try to destroy you. This is a tragic hero in its finest.
Synopsis: 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.