Dreamcatcher by Stephen King

No one suggested Dreamcatcher to me; I found it on my own when I was searching Amazon for a dreamcatcher for my room. The cover got my attention and the plot seemed interesting, so I decided to get it. While the overall story was interesting, the plot fell a little flat for me.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

Henry, Jonesy, Pete, and Beaver have been friends since childhood. While in their adolescence, they stood up to bullies who were bullying a boy with down syndrome. The boy was Douglas Cavell, or Duddits, and he kept the others connected past childhood and into adulthood. And while they were able to visit less as they grew up, they never forgot Duddits, his ability to "see the line," and the "gift" he shared with them, that ended up saving two of them one day. As adults, they are on their annual hunting trip. Jonesy is not really feeling the need to kill an animal after an accident earlier that year. However, when he thinks he spots a deer in his scope, he is excited. Only it is not a deer, it is a man named McCarthy. Jonesy will wish he had shot McCarthy within a few hours. When floating lights are noticed in the sky and people start going missing, ETs are automatically thought of, but the people of Maine have no clue what they are really up against. When Jonesy is taken over by one of them, Mr. Grey, and Pete and Beav are killed, Henry has no choice but to join forces with one of the military men whose job is to kill anyone who has witnessed anything. It is a chase to the end as Mr. Jones tries to get Jonesy to a large water source to infect everyone, Henry and Owen trying to get to them to stop that, and Freddy and Kurtz, more members of the military, chasing them because of Kurtz' vendetta against Owen. Who will walk away from all of this in end?

This has probably been my least favorite of the King books I have read so far. I feel like with the aliens, it had a lot of potential, but it felt like there were some missing pieces of information.

(Source: Giphy)

While King explains what it means to "see the line," and how Duddits is able to use that ability to get through life and how it actually makes him much smarter than he is able to communicate. However, King neglects to explain how Duddits was able to pass the gift to his friends. This is very obvious in the scenes where the boys flashback to their first hiking trip where they were somehow able to dream the ability to kill the boys who bullied Duddits and actually kill them in real life. It is never explained how they were able to do this. But however Duddits shared the gift, it helps Jonesy from becoming completely taken over mentally by Mr. Grey. King describes Duddits as the dreamcatcher that holds them all together; I feel that had the ability been described better, the dreamcatcher idea could have been better.

This is more of a personal issue, but the animal cruelty bothers me. Okay, maybe not cruelty, but it definitely is not hugs and cuddles. Mr. Grey infects a dog with the byrum, a thing that lives and grows inside of a living being that spreads the byrus, which is what they use to take over planets. The dog ends up dying and quite painfully. I really feel like this was unnecessary. I think there could have been a better Trojan horse than a poor dog that did not have any idea what was going on. Honestly, that is what took the book from it being ehh to really not liking it.

(Source: Giphy)

One thing I did like was the mental fight between Jonesy and Mr. Grey. The part of me that enjoys a good psychological thriller found this aspect extremely interesting. I enjoyed Jonesy figuring out he could build a mental safe hold where Mr. Grey could not get him, his room of files that is his brain, how he was able to build the office how he wanted, and expand it as he paced. I definitely believe that had time not been of the essence, he could have expanded enough to take over full control again. But I also would have really liked to see Mr. Grey succumb to more human emotions. His love for bacon was very accurate, and a bit disgusting when he ate it raw. I would have liked to see him have his first drink, have sex for the first time, all of these wonderfully human things that he never could have imagined.

I wish I would have enjoyed the book more; I hate not enjoying a book, especially with an author I have come to love. But that will not deter me from reading more of King.

Rating: 3/10
Author: Stephen King
Genres: Horror, Science Fiction
Dates Read: July 17-24, 2018