October Stephen King Tribute Day 11: Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher was originally published in March of 2001.

Warning, this review does contain spoilers.

Four childhood friends come together for a hunting trip in the remote woods of Maine. They come across a man in the woods who claims he has stomach troubles because of some berries he ate. His flatulence is extremely horrific. After leaving him in the cabin for a bit, they return to find him dead in the bathroom.

The friends come to learn that there are aliens trying to take over who are carrying the virus responsible for the man's death, as well as many others. One alien in particular, Mr. Gray, is plotting to infect as many people as possible. The friends set out to stop him. They enlist the help of their dying childhood friend, who has become the group's dreamcatcher.

This is a confusing Stephen King book for me. If I consider the story by itself, it is a good story and I can accept that. If I consider that it is basically a combination of two of his previous novels, then my opinion is not so clear. The story is strikingly similar to It, although nowhere near the same quality. It also is somewhat similar to another King novel, The Tommyknockers, which I consider to be the worst piece of garbage the great man has ever written.

I try to think of this as a stand alone book and forget about any similarities to previous works. It has friends coming back together later in life to face evil together. It has aliens trying to take over the minds of humans. It has gross horror elements, with the aliens incubating inside the human body and then exiting through the rectum. The book has some great qualities.

Surprisingly, I did not hate the movie adaptation of this novel. I believe that it kept the overall theme and moods of the book. I especially liked the scene where Mr. Gray is trying to enter the locked office of Jonesy's mind.

I think this one is worth your time. A lot of people disagree and think this is a really bad novel. If you are a King fan, you need to read it in order to form your own opinion.