Insomnia (Insomnia - Stephen King)

Member Name: vernonpresley

Product:	Insomnia - Stephen King
Date:	21/12/07 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It starts off well...

Disadvantages: ...but falls apart half way through

Published in 1994, INSOMNIA is the story of Ralph Roberts, a 70-year-old resident of Derry, Maine, who is having serious trouble getting any sleep. This leads to a series of hallucinations which in turn lead to a fight against the forces of evil to save the town from The Crimson King. Joining him in this fight is his old friend Lois, who is also suffering from the same affliction.

The opening section of the novel is the most effective. One of the main reasons why I like Stephen King's work is that I like the way he writes his characters. They may get involved in fantastical situations (although not always), but they always feel like 'real' people, and I very much enjoy his style of writing.

However approximately halfway through the novel comes the fantasy-twist, which explains the reason for the hallucinations that the two main characters suffer from. This twist is where the novel falls apart - it seems to be 'Stephen-King-by-numbers' and from hereon I found the book to be a real slog to get through. I tend to read just before going to sleep at night, and when I first started reading this I was reading 40 pages each night, I was that engrossed. However once the fantasy-twist arrived I was bored, and only managed about 5 pages each night before dozing off. In the end I really had to force myself to just read for quite a while at the end because otherwise I thought I would never finish it.

If you like King's writing, and especially the Dark Tower series then you may well enjoy this novel. It has lots of links to the Dark Tower novels, including The Crimson King. Personally however I can't recommend it.

Summary: Won't keep you awake at night