Stephen King's Cell-ular sensation

I spent a good chunk of my Saturday night devouring the new Stephen King novel,Cell.
Not very Sex and The City,I know but I hate that damn show,anyway(rant on hold). Cell's
premise,that a signal aka The Pulse is sent thru every cell phone at once,causing the
unfortunate folk using their rollover minutes at that very moment to turn into psycho
killer zombies,is rather a fun idea-especially if you can't stand the way many people
seem to consider constant phone calling as a god given right of priviledge.

The merry band of survivors starts with Clay Riddell,a graphic novelist who has just
made the deal of a lifetime and now has to worry that his son Johnny used his new red
cellphone(complete with personalized ringtone)at the wrong time as Clay is trapped in
Boston when all goreshow hell breaks loose. He teams up with Henry and Alice who hold
up briefly at Clay's hotel(with a refusing-to-leave-his-post desk clerk)before making
the trek towards Maine,where Clay's family is.

All the SK trademark stylings are here that regular readers have come to know
and love: the up-to-the-minute pop culture references(March of the Penguins gets a shout-out),the seeming all-too-real dreams shared by most of the characters, a wacky
religious type,an elderly gent with plenty of theories to expound upon and a big show
down that determines the fate of all. The book is dedicated to George Romero and
Richard Matheson for good reason;plenty of Omega Man/Land of the Dead vibes drive
the story,particularly Land of the Dead with the whole notion of the "phoners' having
an agenda and being given a leader(called either Raggedy Man or Harvard man due to
his college sweatshirt)who commands his troops telepathically.

So,is worth your money now or later in paperback? Either way,if you're looking for
a good time amongst the ghouls,I don't think you'ld be disappointed. It's not the
best of King but a heck of alot better than the Regulators,for example. Stephen King
knows how to give his readers a good mental moviehouse experience and he's the tops
in that field. Also included in the book is an excerpt from an upcoming novel,Lisey's
Story(due this fall)-a nifty little trailer to peak your interest. Extras are not just for DVDs,in my opinion. Enjoy the merry hell of Cell and watch out for those
ringtones-they'll be next on the horror hitparade!