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Originally published: June 26, 2006

"So which is better, the book or the movie?"

This seems to be a common question among fans of almost any book based on a film or vice-versa. Generally this question is followed by a raging argument. There are those purists who insist that no film can possibly do any book justice and there are those film fanatics who couldn’t possibly stand to read through an entire book just to get the story they feel they can get live on screen. I fall into a third category. I enjoy both. To me, it’s like comparing cats to dogs or apples to oranges. Both mediums have their strong and weak points when it comes to story telling entertainment value.

I saw Dreamcatcher the movie before I ever read the book. I enjoyed the hell out of the movie and you can be sure I’ll review it right here on Happy Horror in the not so distant future. When I first got a copy of the book from the library, I wasn’t entirely thrilled. I was worried that knowing the basics of the plot might ruin the joys I normally experience from the first time I read a book or watch a movie.

I couldn’t have been more wrong, strangely enough…

Now, Dreamcatcher is not what I would consider typical Stephen King fare – in a way. I wouldn’t normally associate Stephen King with a more science-fiction angle. Yes he’s done it and yes, it’s been fairly good in my experience, but usually he has a more traditional monster or ghosts or generally messed up human beings. On the other hand, the setting of Derry, Maine and a group of four close friends (all male), is indeed right up King’s alley. Beav, Henry, Pete and Jonesy will most likely all feel quite familiar to King fans. It’s easy to get into the rhythm of the story.

Rather than ruin the story of the book I’d like to use this review to highlight a few things. One of the primary characters in the book is a boy with Down’s Syndrome. It seems that many times authors will employ a ‘non-traditional’ character more for shock value or sadly, in exploitative ways. I didn’t find this to be the case with Duddits in Dreamcatcher. King shows a realistic sensitivity to the relationship between the four boys and Duddits which allows the story to come alive in a much more believable way. There’s humor, but not mockery. There’s observation without over analyzation. In short, it’s tasteful.

For such a long book (to me, at least), Dreamcatcher isn’t a slog of a read. Granted, I read it each night by streetlight in a parked car during the late Fall so it could happen that I had a unique reading experience. It certainly makes the book a bit creepier than it might have been if I’d read it from within the safety of a warm, well-lit room. Rest assured that the villain of the story is exceedingly disturbing in a very clever way. Seeing a new twist on a often over-used archetype like the vampire, mummy or alien is always a pleasure. You’ll have to read the book to see which of these the bad guy turns out to be.

If you’re looking for a good book that will take a bit of time but entertain you the whole way through, I can definitely recommend Dreamcatcher. The story is sound, the characters are believable and the villains (yes, there’s more than one) lend themselves to a solid 4 out of 5, as far as a rating goes. Oh… did I mention there was an element of conspiracy here, too? You betcha and that’s the sort of thing that makes a general horror story grow from a jumper/cringer right into the big leagues of great noveldom. Check it out, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it.

Until next I attempt to arrange letters into words and words into coherent thoughts, this has been GlowStormLion expressing universal truths at less than half the price of my competitors!