Under the Dome

Under the Dome by Stephen King is probably the best of all his masterpieces yet. The behemoth book is 1,074 pages long and that's after it's been cut multiple times by its author. Nothing more could be packed into this masterful tale, and nothing more could be cut.

King portrays every character beautifully by using third and first person multiple, a strategy first mastered by the famed James Joyce, but further mastered in this novel by Mr. Stephen King.

The book opens with a rather confusing scene including the book's main character, Barbie. As he's walking down Little Bitch Road, many things begin to go wrong. Planes crash. Trucks explode. Birds collapse to the earth. All these things happen in one place—the edge of the Dome.

Throughout the novel, we meet many colorful characters, many of which are regular people with enormous flaws, such as drug addicts, sex addicts (including sadists, rapists and necrophiliacs), crooked officials, and twisted politicians. King tends to create powerful characters with miserable flaws, such as Big Jim, a sick (yet slick) leader of the devastated Dome survivors.

A captivating tale of anarchy, despots, anarchy, governmental flaws, secrecy, and extraterrestrial children, Under the Dome is for anyone who wants to spend every night reading something life-changing.