Product DescriptionNow available for the first time in a mass-market premium paperback edition?the #1 New York Times bestseller of a reluctant clairvoyant who must weigh his options when he suddenly sees the terrible future awaiting mankind.
"There was only blackness and that universal emptiness... Cold limbo. Johnny Smith stayed there a long?? long time."/i>
When Johnny Smith was six-years-old?? head trauma caused by a bad ice-skating accident left him with a nasty bruise on his forehead and?? from time to time?? those hunches??infrequent but accurate snippets of things to come. But it isn??t until Johnny??s a grown man?now having survived a horrifying auto injury that plunged him into a coma lasting four-and-a-half years?that his special abilities really push to the fore. Johnny Smith comes back from the void with an extraordinary gift that becomes his life??s curse??presenting visions of what was and what will be for the innocent and guilty alike. But when he encounters a ruthlessly ambitious and amoral man who promises a terrifying fate for all humanity?? Johnny must find a way to prevent a harrowing predestination from becoming reality.Amazon.com ReviewIn the St. James Guide to Horror?? Ghost & Gothic Writers?? Gary Westfahl predicts that "ready earned himself a place in the history of literature.... At the very least?? he will enjoy the status of a latter-day Anthony Trollope?? an author respected for his popularity and social commentary.... More likely?? he will be enshrined as the Charles Dickens of the late 20th century?? the writer who perfectly reflected?? encapsulated?? and expressed the characteristic concerns of his era."If any of King's novels exemplifies his skill at portraying the concerns of his generation?? it's The Dead Zone (1979). Although it contains a horrific subplot about a serial killer?? it isn't strictly a horror novel. It's the story of an unassuming high school teacher?? an Everyman?? who suffers a gap in time--like a Rip Van Winkle who blacks out during the years 1970-75--and thus becomes acutely conscious of the way that American society is rapidly changing. He wakes up as well with a gap in his brain?? the "zone" of the title. The zone gives him crippling headaches?? but also grants him second sight?? a talent he doesn't want and is reluctant to use. The crux of the novel concerns whether he will use that talent to alter the course of history. The Dead Zone is a tight?? well-crafted book. When asked in 1983 which of his novels so far was " best??"Stephen King answered?? "he one that I think works the best is Dead Zone. It's the one that [has] the most story." --Fiona Webster
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