The Mist: A Very Dull Trip Into King’s World
A Book Review of The Mist by Stephen King
So this is another bargain bin special. This one was a book marked down to $1.99 and then was thrown into a 50% off bin. And when I saw it, I thought it would be stupid to let it go. The book is The Mist by Stephen King. And to be honest, I love the film. I think it’s one of the best scary movies out there. So there was this overwhelming temptation to look into the source material despite the fact I am often disappointed with Stephen King’s work.. So here’s my review on The Mist.
The story focuses on David Drayton. When a storm hits his lake house one night, sending trees into the living room, he and his family find the damage is worse than they expected. He decides to go into town with his son to pick up some emergency items. As he leaves, his wife brings to his attention an odd glowing mist slowing over the lake toward them. He shrugs it off as nothing important. A while later, when he’s standing in line at the store the mist flows in, engulfing the town. No one seems to care until a bloody man runs out of it screaming about monsters in the mist. Sadly, they all learn this is true and things go from bad to worse.
The good? It’s simple and with the Mist, the less is more trick is a wonderful thing here. It’s not convoluted or a mind bender. It’s just good fluff. The idea is great, though I still stand by my theory of how the central concept and atmosphere were ripped off from Silent Hill. But what made it different was the creatures were not demons from the subconscious, but was an alternate world ecosystem that stumbled into ours. Also, it was turned into a pretty good film.
The bad? This book was written in a dull fashion. To say that it is as dry as sawdust is a pretty accurate metaphor. The characters were flat and empty. They were nothing but names with the most generic dialogue behind them. I couldn’t connect to anyone. Even the ending was dry. It left such an ambiguous note, and I usually care when this happens and go, “Oh my god! What happened?” But because I felt so distant, I was like “Meh.” I couldn’t care less about what really happened to the main characters after the end. It shouldn’t be like that. The detail was weak and lacking. The story line concerning Mrs. Carmody should have been tense. It wasn’t. The monster attacks weren’t either. It was just so bland. And it shouldn’t have been.
Overall, Stephen King has mastered the art of taking something truly scary and making it dull as ever here. That is a shame. But if you can keep your eyes open, you can have it a go at it. It’s only two hundred pages, so it’s a short read that could be done in a couple days. It’s pretty mediocre though. Check it out if you dare.
2 smoothies out of four.
The Mist: A Very Dull Trip Into King’s World