Cell by Stephen King

Give me a second.  Let me put my cellphone away.  I'm just going to hide it in the bottom of the clothes' hamper and put it all in the closet.  I'm going to close the closet doors and sit as far away from it as possible.  Okay... now I'm ready.

Stephen King's Cell.  You know the man, and you know that his name is synonymous to blood, violence, horror and brilliant storytelling.  This book was no exception.  It had all of those and much, much, more.

I love apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic stories.  I've never actually read a book with that theme, so when I came across this book in the internet, knowing it was a zombie-like novel AND knowing it was written by the great Stephen king, I decided to give it a go without a second thought.

The story is simple yet engaging and fascinating in a gory way.  I'll draw a scene for you.


Be warned, reader: violence and gore ahead.  If you are squeamish and/or refuse to read such things, please, skip to the last two paragraphs of this section, then keep reading from "My Experience?" and on.  And I suggest you skip the book too, cause, well you are gonna get a LOT of it in the book.  Because it's going to be freaking bloody and violent.  If you're good, keep reading.  Trust me, you'll love it!

Here's the scene:

Imagine you are simply walking through the city, furious and pissed at the fact that you left your phone at home.  You left to do a few errands, and forgot your phone!  How are you going to check Facebook?  What about Twitter, Instagram?  How are you going to snap what you are doing now?!

You are suddenly aware of everybody's cellphone.  Everybody around you has one, and they are either playing on it, using an app or talking.  There are a small group of girls next you taking a million selfies per second.  You get more irritated.  Honestly, how can you forget you phone?!

Then you notice that the people talking on their phones stop talking, and get a blank stare.  Others get that stare shortly after saying hello.  It's a lot like this:

You are weird-ed out but keep walking, since you want to get home to your phone.  You shake it off.  This city has weird people, after all.  If only you'd remember where'd you parked the - oh!  There it is!

While walking to your car, a woman is thrown out of a coffee shop window.  It breaks into a million pieces.  You scream and throw yourself to the floor.  The person who threw the woman, a man, walks through the broken glass and grabs her, hitting her head continuously on your windshield.  Hell no!  You are not going to the car.  From now on, that's not your car.  Not anymore.  You get up and start running in the opposite direction.  You find the selfie girls and notice that one is pulling at another's hair.  She's ripping the hair from the scalp and hitting the head against the concrete, over and over.  Another selfie girl is biting the neck of a man in a suit, biting a chunk off, and all you can see is the fountain of blood spraying at her face.  And a jogger is eating a dog!  What. The. HELL?!

Yeah, that was basically Clayton Riddell's day when he was walking in the park.  Suddenly, people start acting aggressive.  No, much more than that, they are acting like animals!  They are like violent zombies, that will not rest until they kill.  And the cellphones might be responsible.

The book tells the story of Clayton Riddell, fortunate to not have his cellphone with him when all went down, and other survivors he finds along the way, also fortunate enough not to have their cellphones with them.  Something happened with the people using cellphones.  They are now violent and aggressive, and mindless!  They are attacking and killing each other!  It's a bloody, gory, thrilling ride from beginning to end, as you go with Clayton and the survivors to find his son and wife, and find civilization... you know, those that either don't have a cellphone or don't own one (tricky, I know.  Are there really any humans out there that don't OWN a cellphone?).

My Experience?

I know I said this for every book so far, but I really loved this one.  By the time I read this book, I've read three Stephen King books (The shining, Misery and Pet Sematary).  I knew about his post-apocalyptic novel the Stand, but I haven't read it yet, so I have no way of comparing it to this one.  But I really, really liked it.

Usually, when hell goes down, the author takes the time to build up the disaster before it happens.  Not Stephen King, not in Cell.  Everything goes to hell in the first three or four pages.  You get a taste on how bloody and gory the book will get.  He just grabs you by the neck and throws you into the action, expecting you to survive the cellphone apocalypse with Clay and the survivors (Tom and Alice).  You are on your own, and as clueless as the characters.

I never once got bored, and I finished the book relatively fast.  It would be a blasphemy to criticize King's writing because... well, I think it's impossible for him to write poorly.  I mean, he's STEPHEN freaking King!  'Nuff said.

No, seriously, the man can WRITE.  I think this was a little different than what he usually writes, yet it has his style and name written ALL over it.  Once again, he surpassed all expectations.

The characters are likable and real.  The situation you get pulled into is as unsettling and as scary as one would expect from an apocalyptic novel.  You can feel the fear, the hopelessness and the dangers lurking around every corner.  If you thought living in a world overrun by zombies, try having zombie-like people actually run after you in an attempt to kill you or at least destroy you.  not only that, you don't need to be bitten to turn into one.  You only need to own a cellphone, and answer when it rings.  You and I, dear reader, know which group of people will go out first.

"Selfie!  Come on!  Let's take a... a... uhhh!"

Oh, and guys: we take selfies too.  Don't act like you don't!


In my opinion, this event is much scarier than a zombie apocalypse.  Believe me, this will be you when you finish the book (which has a killer ending!):

"I'm getting a call? Oh, it's mom!  I have to - wait..."

"Hell no!  Die, demon!"

Do I recommend it?

Actually, that depends.  If you are squeamish and easily... er, disgusted... then no.  I think I haven't read a bloodier, gorier, more unsettling book in my life (well, there's Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, but Cell takes the cake on blood).  And that's what I love about it!  If you like the Walking Dead (and can withstand all the blood and violence), then this book is a must.  I read that they are making a movie about it, with John Cusack as Clay and Samuel L. Jackson as Tom, which I'm pretty excited about!  Go!  Read it before the movie comes out!  You won't regret it.

I do recommend it, but keep in mind the amount of violence and gore you'll encounter.  And of course, like most of Stephen King's books, be prepared for a great, one of a kind, frustrating ending.  Oh, and like all of his books too, it is quite lengthy, but with a story like this one, it won't be much of a problem.  

Remember to keep your phone at a respectable distance.  You might want to be part of the group of the living/sane if this really happens.

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Thanks for reading!  I hope you enjoyed the review as much as I did writing it!  If you have any questions, ideas, suggestions or wish to share something, don't hesitate on doing so!  You can write your comments below.  Happy Reading and Happy Easter!