Dreamcatcher
Review
by: Troy
Brownfield 
Written
by: Stephen King
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Let me
get one thing straight right off the bat: I love Stephen King’s
books. He has traditionally been the target of critics, and
I have often been angered by reviews of his work from places
that believe their lofty prose to be above that of lowly popular
writers. I would defend his body of work as a whole as tenaciously
as a momma wolverine would defend her young. However, that
said, as a fan, I am disappointed by his latest work, Dreamcatcher.
While the master does retain his typically effective style
and vernacular, the narrative itself fails to deliever that
joy-buzzer-like thrill we expect from The Man at the top of
his game.
Dreamcatcher
sets us up with four life-long friends from Derry, Maine.
Big Steve fans know full well the import of Derry, from such
books as IT and Insomnia. Pete, Beav, Jonesy
and Henry grew up together, and one day as teens, they met
a very special, mentally retarded boy that calls himself Duddits.
Now, as bizarre circumstances occur around an annual camping
trip, these four friends and their bond to Duddits may be
the only thing that can stop a tremendous evil.
It all
sounds like a tried-and-true King plot, but for me, it just
didn’t sing. Things float through this pastiche of ’50 sci-fi
and X-Files conspiracy notions that seem more like
the intellectual property of Whitley Strieber than King. After
the resounding triumph that was Hearts in Atlantis
and the amazing clarity of On Writing, I was expecting
something mammoth. Perhaps it was my heightened expectations
that disappointed me the most.
While
King’s characters are engaging as always, and his familiar
stream of aphorisms and pop culture name-checking are firmly
in place (and welcome), I failed to be captivated. Granted,
anyone who writes as much as King has to generate a book from
time to time that is below his standard. And I know that King
was really trying to be personal, including as he did an auto-accident
survivor as a key character. However, I was really just left
hoping that he was getting an idea out of his system before
he turned back to the Dark Tower.
SLIGHT
SPOILER: Any die-hard King fans who look for the famous
links will be pleased to note that a couple come into play,
though only as passing references. No book set in Derry is
complete without a reference to the child murders, and there’s
a striking one present. Also, there is much made about the
telepaths being able to “see the line”, another recurring
concept of King’s fiction.
Troy Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. His favorite Stephen
King books are IT, Salem’s Lot, The Stand, On Writing, and
The Dark Tower Series.
Email him at psikotyk@aol.com.
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