{ "item_title" : "Under the Dome", "item_author" : [" Stephen King "], "item_description" : "The propulsively intriguing, staggeringly addictive (USA TODAY) novel from master storyteller Stephen King--a #1 New York Times bestseller. It is a typical October morning in Chester's Mill, Maine: glorious weather, a perfectly blue sky, and quiet. Then, all hell breaks loose. Inexplicably, and simultaneously, a plane falls from the sky in flames; a woman's hand is severed; and a farmer's John Deere explores (with him on it). A few moments later, a pulp-truck crashes spectacularly. Somehow, an invisible and impermeable barrier--exactly following the town's perimeter--has descended upon the town. Life under the dome quickly becomes a hothouse--with the best in some people and the worst in others flourishing. There are unambiguous heroes and villains, from a supremely corrupt local politician to a very enterprising newspaper reporter. The situation under the dome deteriorates by the minute: supplies of everything are diminishing quickly, the citizens are panicking, and the police force, under the control of the diabolically devious alderman Jim Rennie, implement their own version of martial law. Meanwhile, Barbie, brave Iraq war vet and short order cook, and a band of intrepid pals engage in a race against time to find the source of the dome and raise it before there's nobody left alive in Chester's Mill. Under the Dome is filled with a marvelous and enormous cast of over 100 characters. King's trademark idiomatic language is pure pleasure to read. Nowhere in Mr. King's immense body of work have his real and fantasy world collided with such head-on force (The New York Times Book Review).", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/43/914/850/1439148503_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "35.00", "online_price" : "35.00", "our_price" : "35.00", "club_price" : "35.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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Small-town life with a King-size twist

Under the Dome opens with a signature Stephen King moment: a woodchuck, foraging for food, hides from a passing human—and is chopped in half as an impenetrable dome appears around the city limits. At the same instant, a plane crashes into the dome above him. “The Seneca exploded over Route 119 and rained fire on the countryside. . . . A smoking forearm . . . landed with a thump beside the neatly divided woodchuck.” In seconds Chester’s Mill has transformed from your typical small town to a closed-off stage where the worst and best of human nature will be displayed.   The worst comes in the form of Big Jim Rennie, a politician who takes advantage of the police chief’s demise to consolidate power and deputize a motley crew of thugs—including his disturbed son—to police the town. Throw in an unbalanced meth addict and some seriously stale air (the dome is impermeable not only by weapons, but also by clean air), and Chester’s Mill is well on its way to becoming a chaotic police state. An Iraq war vet, a newspaper publisher, a physician’s assistant and a couple of spunky teens (among the novel’s most engaging characters) try to foil Big Jim’s plans while the world watches—at least, at first. Though their situation draws TV crews from around the world, once the novelty fades, other news stories take top billing despite the residents’ increasingly desperate state, recalling tragedies like Hurricane Katrina.  

As in his epic The Stand, King uses his characters’ predicament to address major questions about human nature. The emphasis here is on compassion—or, sparing that, pity. What makes us stop seeing people as people, and why? These deeper themes combined with King’s trademark suspense and folksy charm keep the almost 1,100 pages turning and make Under the Dome a novel readers will relish.