I started it last night, but I had to put it down because I was alone in the house and kept thinking about how I’d barricade and how long I’d last by myself, etc, etc, etc. It’s really silly, but King has a talent at getting under my skin, even with his really sucky books. (Tommyknockers, I’m looking at you.) I’ll probably finish at least most of it after work today. I just can’t believe how fast it all happened - by, like, page three!
I also very much liked what he did with the hotel clerk.
(Also, I should mention I’ve been playing Urban Dead obsessively lately, which with a healthy dose of imagination puts you in the right frame of mind.)
I spent my day off finishing it and I wound up liking it better than I thought I would. Still, I couldn’t help comparing it to “The Stand,” either.
Lessee:
[ul]
[li]there’s a major catastrophe[/li][li]society is quickly pared down to survival basics[/li][li]refugees travel by foot[/li][li]flawed, but generally good guys fight bad guys[/li][li]major characters are sacrificed[/li][li]our heros are to be judged [executed] on platforms in a coliseum atmosphere[/li][li]everything goes boom[/li][/ul]
I wanted to know who engineered the Pulse, how they did it, what they meant to ultimately accomplish and, assuming they protected themselves from it, what happened to them.
I don’t think I need a spoiler box to say I laughed out loud at the Altoids.
I did, too.
Another one I liked was Clay’s line: “Thus spake fuckin’ Zarathustra.” I’m considering making it my sig line. 
Ya know, I read it there, too, and I came away disappointed. It just felt like recycled *28 Days Later * or something. (I’ll assume, from most of the positive responses, that it does indeed get better?) As much as I still love the guy, I just feel that his writing’s tics have begun to outnumber its charms. He can be so damn *corny * anymore!
P.S. The most recent thing of his to blow me out of the water was the story “That Feeling, You Can Only Say What it is in French” from Everything’s Eventual. (Sorry, I know this is a Cell thread!)
I couldn’t finish the first story in Everything’s Eventual after three tries and threw the whole damn book out.
I bought it the morning it was released and finished it that night.
I liked it, but it wasn’t one of his best.
I didn’t think Alice had to die, and I thought the leaving of the cat was heartwrenching
Did anyone else feel a speck of sympathy for the Phonies, toward the end? I did, but I can’t imagine trying to live alongside them either. I’m conflicted about this.
Never thought I’d say this about a King book, but it could have been longer. 
Odd book.
Everything seemed recycled, except for the cellphone mechanism…
We had the Crazy Christian Lady spouting Wormwood stories, who got hit and dressed-down by a main character (courtesy of The Mist).
We had the End of Things as We Knew Them (c.f. The Mist, The Stand).
We had shared dreams, telepathy … (Tommyknockers, The Stand)
We had mass burnings of the zombies cum vampires cum phonies (Salem’s Lot)
We had the Small Chosen Party in Distress (The Stand).
We had the main character offing his evil girlfriend/wife (Salem’s Lot, Tommyknockers).
I still liked it though, though the Cat, Alice and the Ending sorta pissed me off.
Errmmm, sorry … do the things above need spoiler boxes?
I don’t think so. Most of what you wrote is on the dust jacket or talked about in reviews and such. Wouldn’t have spoiled the book for me anyway.