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Under the Dome

A Novel

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About The Book

Don’t miss the “harrowing” (The Washington Post) #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Stephen King that inspired the hit television series, following the apocalyptic scenario of a town cut off from the rest of the world.

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.

Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

About The Author

© Shane Leonard
Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (November 10, 2009)
  • Length: 1088 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781439148501

Raves and Reviews

"Propulsively intriguing... Staggeringly addictive." -- USA Today

"Tight and energetic from start to finish... Hard as this thing is to hoist, it's even harder to put down." -- New York Times

"The work of a master storyteller having a whole lot of fun." -- Los Angeles Times

"King returns to his glory days of The Stand." -- New York Daily News

"A wildly entertaining trip." -- People (3.5 stars)

"Under the Dome moves so fast and grips the reader so tightly that it's practically incapacitating." -- Newsday

"Stephen King's Under the Dome was one of my favourite books of the year so far." -- Neil Gaiman

"Dome is classic King, sure to please any fan." -- Baltimore Sun

"Spellbinding." -- ABCnews.com

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