By Stephen King
The Dead Zone is a sharp reminder of how strong Stephen King’s early work really was. I had missed this one somewhere along the way, and was happy to finally check it off my TBR.
The premise is classic King—grounded, unsettling, and quietly emotional—but what really stood out to me was the pace, the slow build. This isn’t a nonstop horror sprint; it’s slow and thoughtful and leans hard into character and consequence.
After a life-altering accident, Johnny Smith awakens with a strange ability that gives him insight into people’s futures when he touches them. As he struggles to live a normal life, he’s forced to confront whether knowing what’s coming also means bearing responsibility for changing it.
King explores big ideas about fate, responsibility, and the cost of knowing too much, all without losing the human core of the story. I gave it four stars and was genuinely glad to finally knock this one off my TBR. It’s an early King novel that holds up well—and one that sticks with you more for its questions than its shocks.