Stepheny's Reviews > Cell

Yay! Another successful King re-read!

I read Cell when it first came out and I loved it. I’ve wanted to do a reread since hearing the whispers about the movie production. All I needed to hear was John Cusack and I knew it would be gold.



I mean, seriously. The guy has to be one of the most underrated actors ever.

Then came the announcement of Samuel L. Jackson joining the cast and I removed any doubt from my mind.



SOLD.

Clay Riddell has just sold his first comic. He’s about to make a shit-load of cash. He’s excited. He can’t wait to tell his son- and even kind of his estranged wifey. There he is basking in all the glory of his success when the Pulse occurs. Any person on their phone at the time of the Pulse goes completely insane.

They kill themselves or others in violent and vicious ways. One guy even bites the ear off a dog. Another girl smashes her own face repeatedly off of a pole until she dies. It’s fucking awesome. I know people say this is King’s version of zombies but I disagree. I think the Pulse strips you down to your most primal self. You become a beast; an animal.

At bottom, you see, we are not Homo sapiens as all. Our core is madness. The prime directive is murder. What Darwin was too polite to say, my friends, is that we came to rule the earth not because we were the smartest, or even the meanest, but because we have always been the craziest, most murderous motherfuckers in the jungle. And that is what the Pulse exposed five days ago.

The pace of the book does slow down but the story does not. It develops into a one-of-a-kind mindfuck of a tale.

While I love the opening sequence for its relentless violence, I think the ending is my favorite part. King nailed it. His endings are sooooooooooo hit and miss among his fans-at least in my experience- it is nice to see an ending I can really appreciate. I think it was the perfect ending for this book.

If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet- I strongly recommend it. If you have- make sure you check out the trailer for the movie! It looks amazing! You can check that out right here

Ps. The docked star is mostly due to the inconsistent narration of the audio book. It was patchy and you could clearly hear the edits. It was enough to take me out of the story.