Finished this in one sitting tonight, very quick read, but not light by any stretch of the imagination.  This book is very graphic with details of animal torture, experimentation on humans, murder of children…not light stuff.  Seriously, I have problems reading about animals being tortured and this was beyond what I would normally read but I kept going because I HAD to know what was going on.  The story is about a young teen, who lives with his…eccentric father, was abandoned by his hippie  mother and has a brother who just escaped from a mental institution and it just gets darker from there.  I don’t want to say to much and give away any twists and turns in the plot but I will say I thought I had it figured out and I was completely wrong.  I didn’t see the twist at the end coming.

Very well written, elements of black humor amid all the gore.  I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it because it more horrified me than anything. A fascinating story that kept me turning the pages against my better impulses that were telling me to just shut the book and walk away.

I finally finished it!  I felt like a trudged along forever through this book.  I used to read a lot of Stephen King and I loved Salem’s Lot but I just couldn’t get into this.  Don’t get me wrong it is well written and Stephen King really does description well, allowing the reader to picture every scene.  I think if you are a fan of Stephen King, especially the older King, this has a similar feel to it and you will probably like it.   It reminded me of The Stand to some extent.

The premise is basically a town gets sealed off from everything by a giant dome one day.  There are various accidents and events until people realize the dome is there.  Once the townsfolk realize what is happening, there the struggle for power, a fight between good and evil, maybe Lord of the Flies without the island?   There is some non-consensual sex and some gruesome scenes, but nothing I wouldn’t have expected.

I think I am just not into reading this kind of science fiction and the commitment this book required at 1,100+ pages was too much when I wasn’t really into it.