Under the Dome looks daunting, clocking in at over one thousand pages, but let me assure you that it is well worth your time. Stephen King's newest book takes place in the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine, which is suddenly surrounded by an impenetrable dome of mysterious origins. The rural town is suddenly the focus of the entire country, although no one from the outside can figure out what caused the dome, nor how to break it. The people of Chester's Mill are on their own, and we follow their stories as they try to unearth the truth about the dome as well as the truth about other townfolk.
As with most King novels, the supernatural element (in this case, the dome) serves as a catalyst for the plot and takes a backseat to the characters. The true horror in a King novel is not in the supernatural, but in the things that people are capable of doing to one another. This is the case in Under the Dome -- the characters you will come to know cause much more harm to one another out of panic and desperation, even a ruthless lust for power, than the dome itself actually does. You will find yourself fully involved with the motives and concerns of the residents of Chester's Mill while reading, because King has so thouroughly fleshed out all of them. There is also a fair amount of political allegory involved (Big Jim Rennie, the town selectman who attempts to take over the town, is clearly a Bush/Palin fan), but it's subtle enough that it doesn't distract from the story. I found myself hooked and finished the enormous book at record speed, anxious to find out whether the book would end with the destruction of the dome, or the destruction of the people trapped within it.
