The Dead Zone by Stephen King

Hello Beautiful People! Welcome to a new review! For this review, I get into an oldie but a goodie The Dead Zone by Stephen King. Originally published in 1979 The Dead Zone is a beloved classic and now I finally understand what people mean when they make Dead Zone references. I’ve read a lot of Stephen’s other older novels and while it’s taken me a while to get to The Dead Zone if you love his other classics you’ll definitely enjoy this one too.

Main Characters

• John/Johnny Smith: With a name like his you’d think Johnny lived a fairly normal life, but he is anything but, after getting in a car accident Johnny went into a five-year coma, when he awoke he was the same old Johnny except when he touched people he could see into their future, now burdened with this new gift his life may never be the same
• Sarah: Johnny’s girlfriend who he was with before he got into his accident, certain he would never wake from his coma eventually moved on and got married only many years later to find out that he has awoken
• Sam Weizak: Johnny’s doctor who soon becomes more of a confidant and friend as Johnny tries to navigate learning to use his body again but also having this third eye of sorts

My Review

As I said before The Dead Zone is not the first of Stephen King’s classics that I have checked out before, but it definitely sparked a drive in me to see which ones I haven’t read yet and check them out. The Dead Zone while not being as much of a horror story is a thriller with science fiction, and fantasy elements to it. It at least wasn’t a horror novel to me, but other people could definitely have other opinions.

I really enjoyed The Dead Zone and felt like it was just this fantastic web of what we do and don’t know and these parts of ourselves that we maybe aren’t connected to. I gave The Dead Zone an 8.5/10 rating overall. While the plot itself initially seems a bit dull, it spins into this interesting story that focuses not only on how different things change who we are but also change what we see to be our purpose in this world. If we are given a gift or ability must we do something about it, or can we just stay normal?

The Dead Zone follows John or Johnny Smith, depends who’s asking after he wakes from a comma. Before going into the comma Johnny was having good luck out on the town with his girl Sarah. Heading home from her place in a taxi Johnny never expected that the next time he would wake up it would be five years later, and he wouldn’t have proper function of most of his body. Realistically no one but his mother ever expected him to wake up and mostly gave up on it ever happening, so it was a shock one day when he opened his eyes and tried to talk. Being touched by medical staff all day Johnny starts to go into this almost trance-like state where he connects to that person on a deeper level starting to speak and do things that he shouldn’t know at all. When he shocks the world by telling his nurse her house was burning down, and another that her son’s eye surgery (one he hadn’t yet been approved for) would go well, Johnny starts to get some fame that he doesn’t want at all. His mother although unwell was often telling Johnny when he woke up that God brought him back for a reason. As he tries to deny his ability he also struggles with what his mother says and wonders if there was a reason that he was given this gift.

I really enjoyed Johnny as the main character in this book. I felt like he was so average but so not at the same time. My heart hurt for him when he woke up from the coma and realized how much life he had lost, and how much the world had moved on without him while he was asleep. It hurt for Sarah too who struggled for a while to move on after he went into the coma, only for the man she loved to have woken up, and she had started a different life without him. I liked however that it showed the resiliency of life, and how everyone has to just keep going with the motions, even when it feels like we can’t. Johnny’s mother was a bit insufferable throughout the book, and would often spin everything into a religious thing, or would turn everything into something to do with her. Johnny’s father however was an incredibly sweet man who just wanted the best for his family.

Throughout the book, more pressure is put on Johnny to use his ability for more, but there are limits to what he can do. Johnny when using his ability has this thing he coins the dead zone. In the dead zone is all the information he can’t reach, all the things that are there but he can’t see. When he goes into the dead zone his ability has reached its limit and there is no more for him to do than black out. I found it interesting though because there seemed like there were times when Johnny could go into the dead zone and bring out more information, but only if he had the energy, and honestly I also think the belief of the other person. It’s very clear that Johnny’s ability is no joke no matter how many try to challenge him, but it’s also clear that this gift is a blessing and a curse. Everyone wants something from him until they get interested in something new, and even then they are only interested in him for what he can do, not who he is.

This book while tackling some very interesting topics felt very casual, and like you are almost just sitting and having a cup of coffee with Johnny while he tells you this crazy story of his life. I mean everything in here is just crazy but he often just seems so calm about things. What it reminded me of was when average people go viral or get famous over something and don’t know what to do with this new notoriety. It felt more real than if Johnny would have just immediately accepted this new ability and just started using it all the time.

The book progresses with Johnny continuing to question his humanity and purpose and having more opportunities to use his gift for good, or what he views as good. There is this interesting element to the book in which the reader questions if Johnny’s vision could be tainted by his own values or morals, only seeing what he sees as important or worthy as seeing. There’s this almost subconscious element to the book in which you feel like you’re floating over everything just asking these bigger questions to the little ones that come up. Johnny will often see good things or information they want to know for people he likes, and sees bad or suspicious things for the ones he doesn’t like as much. It makes you wonder if anyone with these types of gifts has their ability tainted by their own view of the world or what they want to see.

Overall a super riveting read that has a dynamic plot, likeable characters, and this casual element to it that makes it so you can just cuddle up and relaxingly read all day. The science fiction element to the book gives it this unique feeling while also using very average characters to play out these very unaverage things. If you love Stephen King books you will definitely enjoy this one so I definitely recommend checking it out.

I hope you enjoyed this review! Feel free to follow me on my socials @baddiebookreviews to be kept up to date for when I release a new review.