Cell

H.G Wells would have been proud with this modern retelling of his classic War of the Worlds.

The world goes to Hell on the day Clay Riddell, a comic book artist, gets his big break. The Pulse turns cell phones into Weapons of Mass Destruction, causing their users to lose their memory and sanity.

After an initial bloody encounter, Riddell hooks up with Tom McCourt and Alice Maxwell. The friendship among the trio is punctuated with their individual anxieties. Here King does a superb job. His characters stand out with such vividness you experience their fears and the precious little joy they share as they comfort one another in a post-apocalyptic world.

Follow Riddell, as he finds different groups – the apt pupil and his master, and the ragtag group whom, like Riddell’s are bonded by the dire circumstances they find themselves . Their determination shows their fighting spirit, their care for one another bears testimony to their human character, which in spite of all the flaws, is a light in the dark days ahead.

As the world collapses and the afflicted, or Phonies, stalk the streets in murderous rage, where the people are forlorn and reduced almost to animals, the reader is forced to confront the possibility that our carefully cultivated and rigorously maintained society is no more than a flimsy façade, a dam that can crack any moment, leaving us to drown in its raging waters.

Unlike most King’s books, Cell is filled with scenes of violence and fiery destruction that will please any adrenaline junkie. The destruction of a flock of phone-crazies, followed by swift and brutal repercussion from their kind will have you on the edge of your seat. What sets the carnage apart from mere gore and splatter is the depth of feeling, be it crushing despondency or wild exhilaration that accompany the violence. The in-your-face horror does not diminish the story; it enhances it.

The evolution and subsequent de-evolution of the Phonies, are as darkly compelling as the deliberate charting of civilization’s rapid disintegration and the survivors’ desperation and hopelessness. In the world of the Phonies, the Normies are mad, the only cure to their condition conversion to insanity. One cannot help but be fascinated at how humans, having dominated the world for so long, are now merely cattle, yoked and used without a thought.

To some, the ending may be anti-climatic. Not so for me. King has got it perfectly in the final scene. What begins with hope, ends with hope. The open ending suggests a sequel, and I look forward to it.


Rating: 4/5