I should start sending this to people who complain to me that Stephen King used to be good but is "too political" now. Lol. Lmfao, even.

I first read Stephen King when I was about 10 or so, but there are a lot of his books that I never got around to. The Dead Zone is one that I passed over back then because it sounded too adult, boring, and yes, political, for my childhood tastes. And you know, good on me back then for having some discernment and realizing that reading a bunch of stuff about Vietnam and Watergate might not be my jam in fifth grade.

But it was my jam at age 35, because Stephen King's concerns about jingoistic populism being spouted by buffoons were prescient, to say the least. This is also a classic good-vs-evil SK epic, with peak levels of characterization and a protagonist who you really want good things for, even though you know that those good things are not going to happen (and that the book would be better for them not). I was a little on the fence about how much I was enjoying this one until the very end, which brought it all together for me.