Synopsis
After an accident, John Smith finds he has the power to see the future. Does he have a responsibility to do something about it?
History
First publication: Viking, August 30, 1979
Review
This is the first Stephen King novel I have ever read. It’s amazing now that I have avoided him for so many years, but for a long time I was only into outer space, aliens, robots, time travel and other traditional Asimov/Clarke/Heinlein science fiction and refused to even look at anything else. I only tried Harlan Ellison because he was such good friends with Asimov and I liked his articles. Anyway, I realized recently that many of my favorite movies were based on King stories, some obviously like The Shining, others not so obvious like Stand By Me. So I realized that I had to try reading something by King. I don’t know if this was the best place to start, but I did read where this was the book he felt was his best novel and is is one of his classic titles. Needless to say I loved it. It wasn’t what I am used to. I have read mainly books that are heavy on ideas or heavy on adventure without so much character depth. I like those kinds of books a lot, but I like this too. I like how King gets you into the mind of Johnny. I also like how there is an idea here—if you could go back in time to 1933 would you kill Adolph Hitler? Murder is wrong no matter what your religious beliefs, but is one murder that prevents many murders good or bad? And in this case we are not time traveling. Johnny has an ability to see future events. Just because he has made some accurate predictions, how can he know that his vision is true? So should he try to change that future? Interesting ideas and a great book. Definitely a top tale. And as much as I love Cronenberg, better than the movie! –Gregory Kerkman
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
The Dead Zone, slipcased, PS Publishing, 2020-11-00
All of the stories in the Castle Rock series:
Uncle Otto’s Truck
Gramma
Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut
The Sun Dog
The Dead Zone
Elevation
Cujo
The Body
Premium Harmony
Nona
The Dark Half
Needful Things
It Grows On You
