I just finished [listening to] the book. Its the first book by King that I've consumed in about a year and its the first new book of his that I've read in years. To sum it up without spoilers: good start, possibly the quickest King novel to get into the "meat" of things that I've read; lots of gore! Theres blood and arteries and lumps of hair flying everywhere; First half of the book was gripping but it kinda dropped away after that but with a solid ending in the final chapter. I found myself questioning the direction the storyline took at times, even at times moaning "not again"; theres some very stereotypical King stuff in here.

***Plot***

People using their cell/mobile phones suddenly go mental and start acting like mindless but fast and vicious zombie like beings.

***Minor Spoilers***

I'd love to know how many readers smiled when that dark haired pixie girl smacked off the pole and busted her face. Or when the other one got smacked in the head with the paperweight... bloody girly girls, literally! :)

***Spoilers***

So its just another long journey story from King. The movie 28 Days Later was in there at times, thankfully it steers clear early on (no sex mad army officers, mercifully!). Anyway thats all ok but...

***Super Spoilers***

... did he have to rip off his own work so much? This was The Stand all over again, just with a different start and a smaller explosion at the end!!! There was no need whatsoever for the Shinning abilities in this storyline. When the whole Hive collective mind and music coming out of their mouths entered the picture I just sighed... I guess its his trademark but it was going so well without having Harvard popping up doing a Dr. Spock on every second page!

It was a pity Alice died, she was annoying at times but that Jordon kid deserved it more! Anyway, I had a feeling crucification awaited the two boyos in the car that killed her, it just seemed right and its exactly what they got.

Other reviewers complained that the book didnt finish, wanting to know when the second half will be published. Or that it failed to explain what caused the Pulse to begin with. Wow thats kinda cool, a book about mindless zombies read by mindless zombies! Thats what makes stories like this so great, the world is fucked and you dont know why its happening. Why do you think Lost is so popular? Christians can believe, "Thats the darn devil on the phone, that is!" or Sci-Fi fans that its aliens making ready for an invaison or others can think its terrorists or just some freak accidental signal that managed to scramble peoples brains. The truth to what happened in the book is obvious though, its just another way scientologists found to recruit members :) I feel another Jihad coming!

Isn't the books cover deceptive though! From looking at it, with the blood from the phones screen but especially from the cup, I thought blood was going to play a big part in the storyline. Obviously the blood coming from the phone I thought was just being poetic but the blood in the cup initally threw me.

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Anyway, the version I heard, the unabridged audio book version was quite entertaining but I was constantly being put off by the over dubbed voice they used at times. It probably had to do with changes made in the final version of the published book which wheren't present at the time of the recording.

Out of ten, I'll give it 7 Stephen Kings and 1 Richard Bachman, whatever that means.