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The Dead Zone (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Dead Zone is a horror novel by Stephen King
published in 1979. It concerns Johnny Smith, who is injured in an accident and enters a coma
for nearly five years. When he emerges, he can see horrifying secrets but cannot identify all the details in his "dead zone", an area of his brain
that suffered permanent damage as the result of his accident. Much of the novel is played out against the historical backdrop of the 1970s. It has been suggested that the story might be based on self-proclaimed "psychic" Peter Hurkos
, who received a head injury in a fall from a ladder, and afterward claimed to be able to know things about people by touching objects that belonged to them, psychometry. The Dead Zone was nominated for the Locus Award
in 1980.
The book is dedicated to King's son, Owen
: "This is for Owen. I Love You, Old Bear."
ing a car battery. Two years later in an unconnected incident in Iowa
, a young door to door
Bible salesman named Greg Stillson
, suffering emotional issues and dreaming of greatness, vindictively kicks an aggressive dog to death.
The story skips to 1970. Johnny is now a teacher. After eerily winning repeatedly at the wheel of fortune with his girlfriend, Johnny is involved in an accident on his way home and is in a coma
for 5 years. On waking, Johnny finds that he has suffered neural injury, but on touching people and objects he is able to tell them things they did not know - in this way he knows a nurse's son would have successful surgery, states a mother believed dead is living in Carmel, California, tells his old girlfriend that her lost wedding ring was in her suitcase pocket, and later recounts the story behind a watch owned by a skeptical reporter. Johnny receives an offer to resume teaching but begins to suffer from severe headaches. Local media maliciously print a story denouncing his clairvoyance
as phony, but this brings him relief and the hope he can resume normal life - a hope broken when he is contacted by the local sheriff
desperate to solve a series of murders including that of a child. His extra sense provides enough detail to identify the killer, who commits suicide and leaves a confession.
Stillson, now a successful businessman and elected mayor
of Ridgeway, still suffers from his emotional problems. Asked to "straighten out" a friend's teenaged nephew for wearing an obscene t-shirt, he sets the shirt on fire and terrorizes the youth with a broken bottle, threatening to kill him if he tells anyone. Some time later he decides to run for the House of Representatives
, blackmailing a local businessman into raising funds for him.
Johnny loses his teaching role due to being controversial and begins tutoring a young man named Chuck. He also takes up an interest in politics, and becomes concerned when he watches a rally for Stillson. Later on, Johnny meets presidential candidate Jimmy Carter
and shakes his hand. Having another clairvoyant incident, he tells Carter that he is going to be president. Johnny then makes a hobby out of meeting politicians to see their futures. At the invitation of Chuck's father, Johnny attends a rally for Stillson and on touching his hand has a horrific vision of an older Stillson as President but causing a massive, worldwide nuclear conflict
.
Johnny's health starts to worsen. He contemplates how he might prevent Stillson's presidency and compares the matter to the question whether one would kill Hitler in 1932 if time travel
were possible. Eventually, he concludes that the only certain way to avoid the terrible future he has seen is assassination
, but procrastinates
, rationalizing this by doubt in the vision he has seen, abhorrence of murder
, and belief there is no urgent need to act at the moment. As Johnny continues to contemplate the matter, he has another vision and warns Chuck not to go to the graduation party because the facility is going to be struck by lightning
and burn down. Chuck's father agrees to host an alternative party for Chuck and other students, but their party at home is interrupted by news of a lighting strike and many deaths at the original venue. Johnny also learns that the FBI agent investigating Stillson has been murdered with a car bomb
.
Johnny learns that his headaches and blackouts are due to a brain tumor
and that without treatment he only has a few months left to live (although we do not learn this until the epilogue
). Johnny takes the fire at the party as a warning, that he knew the fire would happen but had not taken it seriously enough and as a result people had died. Realizing that he won't live much longer whatever he decides, Johnny refuses surgery and buys a rifle
to shoot Stillson at the next rally.
At the rally, Stillson begins his speech and Johnny attempts to shoot Stillson, but misses and is wounded by Stillson's bodyguards. Before he can fire again Stillson grabs a young child and holds him up as a human shield
. Johnny pauses, unable to shoot, and is shot twice by the bodyguards, falling off the balcony and fatally injuring himself. A young photographer successfully photographs Stillson using the child as a shield, a picture that it is implied destroys Stillson's political future when published. Dying, Johnny touches Stillson a final time but feels only dwindling impressions and knows that the terrible future Stillson would bring around as President has been prevented.
A Senate committee (chaired by real-life Maine Senator William Cohen
) investigates Johnny's attempt to assassinate Stillson. Sarah has a brief moment of psychic contact with Johnny's spirit at his grave and drives away comforted.
into a film of the same name, starring Christopher Walken
as Johnny and Martin Sheen
as Greg Stillson, and directed by David Cronenberg
. While changing various details, the film manages to maintain the somber tone of the novel, as Johnny's power causes him to become increasingly withdrawn and isolated.
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
published in 1979. It concerns Johnny Smith, who is injured in an accident and enters a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
for nearly five years. When he emerges, he can see horrifying secrets but cannot identify all the details in his "dead zone", an area of his brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
that suffered permanent damage as the result of his accident. Much of the novel is played out against the historical backdrop of the 1970s. It has been suggested that the story might be based on self-proclaimed "psychic" Peter Hurkos
Peter Hurkos
Peter Hurkos , born Pieter van der Hurk, was a Dutchman who allegedly manifested extra-sensory perception following a head injury and coma resulting from a fall from a ladder when he was age 30. During World War II he was a member of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis and was imprisoned in...
, who received a head injury in a fall from a ladder, and afterward claimed to be able to know things about people by touching objects that belonged to them, psychometry. The Dead Zone was nominated for the Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
in 1980.
The book is dedicated to King's son, Owen
Owen King
Owen Philip King is an American author and the youngest son of authors Stephen and Tabitha King. He has two older siblings, Naomi King and Joseph Hillstrom King, and grew up in Bangor, Maine...
: "This is for Owen. I Love You, Old Bear."
Plot summary
In 1953, a young boy named Johnny Smith suffers an accident while ice-skating; while recovering he mumbles "Don't jump it no more" to an adult on the scene. A few months later the adult is seriously injured while jump startJump start
Jump start may refer to:* Jump start , a method of starting an automobile* Jump Start * Jumpstart for Young Children, a nonprofit organization* JumpStart, an educational software series...
ing a car battery. Two years later in an unconnected incident in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, a young door to door
Door to Door
Door To Door is the sixth studio album by American new wave band The Cars, released in 1987. The album was the band's last studio album before their 1988 disbanding....
Bible salesman named Greg Stillson
Greg Stillson
Greg Stillson is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in Stephen King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone. Played by Golden Globe-winner Martin Sheen in the film adaptation and Sean Patrick Flanery in the USA Network television series, Stillson is a rising politician and future U.S...
, suffering emotional issues and dreaming of greatness, vindictively kicks an aggressive dog to death.
The story skips to 1970. Johnny is now a teacher. After eerily winning repeatedly at the wheel of fortune with his girlfriend, Johnny is involved in an accident on his way home and is in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
for 5 years. On waking, Johnny finds that he has suffered neural injury, but on touching people and objects he is able to tell them things they did not know - in this way he knows a nurse's son would have successful surgery, states a mother believed dead is living in Carmel, California, tells his old girlfriend that her lost wedding ring was in her suitcase pocket, and later recounts the story behind a watch owned by a skeptical reporter. Johnny receives an offer to resume teaching but begins to suffer from severe headaches. Local media maliciously print a story denouncing his clairvoyance
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...
as phony, but this brings him relief and the hope he can resume normal life - a hope broken when he is contacted by the local sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
desperate to solve a series of murders including that of a child. His extra sense provides enough detail to identify the killer, who commits suicide and leaves a confession.
Stillson, now a successful businessman and elected mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Ridgeway, still suffers from his emotional problems. Asked to "straighten out" a friend's teenaged nephew for wearing an obscene t-shirt, he sets the shirt on fire and terrorizes the youth with a broken bottle, threatening to kill him if he tells anyone. Some time later he decides to run for the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, blackmailing a local businessman into raising funds for him.
Johnny loses his teaching role due to being controversial and begins tutoring a young man named Chuck. He also takes up an interest in politics, and becomes concerned when he watches a rally for Stillson. Later on, Johnny meets presidential candidate Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
and shakes his hand. Having another clairvoyant incident, he tells Carter that he is going to be president. Johnny then makes a hobby out of meeting politicians to see their futures. At the invitation of Chuck's father, Johnny attends a rally for Stillson and on touching his hand has a horrific vision of an older Stillson as President but causing a massive, worldwide nuclear conflict
Nuclear holocaust
Nuclear holocaust refers to the possibility of the near complete annihilation of human civilization by nuclear warfare. Under such a scenario, all or most of the Earth is made uninhabitable by nuclear weapons in future world wars....
.
Johnny's health starts to worsen. He contemplates how he might prevent Stillson's presidency and compares the matter to the question whether one would kill Hitler in 1932 if time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
were possible. Eventually, he concludes that the only certain way to avoid the terrible future he has seen is assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, but procrastinates
Procrastination
In psychology, procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time...
, rationalizing this by doubt in the vision he has seen, abhorrence of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, and belief there is no urgent need to act at the moment. As Johnny continues to contemplate the matter, he has another vision and warns Chuck not to go to the graduation party because the facility is going to be struck by lightning
Lightning strike
Lightning strikes are electrical discharges caused by lightning, typically during thunderstorms.Humans can be hit by lightning directly when outdoors. Contrary to popular notion, there is no 'safe' location outdoors. People have been struck in sheds and makeshift shelters...
and burn down. Chuck's father agrees to host an alternative party for Chuck and other students, but their party at home is interrupted by news of a lighting strike and many deaths at the original venue. Johnny also learns that the FBI agent investigating Stillson has been murdered with a car bomb
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
.
Johnny learns that his headaches and blackouts are due to a brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
and that without treatment he only has a few months left to live (although we do not learn this until the epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
). Johnny takes the fire at the party as a warning, that he knew the fire would happen but had not taken it seriously enough and as a result people had died. Realizing that he won't live much longer whatever he decides, Johnny refuses surgery and buys a rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
to shoot Stillson at the next rally.
At the rally, Stillson begins his speech and Johnny attempts to shoot Stillson, but misses and is wounded by Stillson's bodyguards. Before he can fire again Stillson grabs a young child and holds him up as a human shield
Human shield
Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...
. Johnny pauses, unable to shoot, and is shot twice by the bodyguards, falling off the balcony and fatally injuring himself. A young photographer successfully photographs Stillson using the child as a shield, a picture that it is implied destroys Stillson's political future when published. Dying, Johnny touches Stillson a final time but feels only dwindling impressions and knows that the terrible future Stillson would bring around as President has been prevented.
A Senate committee (chaired by real-life Maine Senator William Cohen
William Cohen
William Sebastian Cohen is an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.-Early life and education:...
) investigates Johnny's attempt to assassinate Stillson. Sarah has a brief moment of psychic contact with Johnny's spirit at his grave and drives away comforted.
Published editions
- ISBN 0-606-01917-0 (prebound, 1979)
- ISBN 0-670-26077-0 (cloth text, 1979)
- ISBN 0-451-15575-0 (mass market paperback, 1980, reprint)
Film
In 1983, the novel was adapted by screenwriter Jeffrey BoamJeffrey Boam
Jeffrey David Boam was an American screenwriter and film producer. He is known for writing the screenplays for Lethal Weapon 2 and Lethal Weapon 3, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Innerspace, and The Lost Boys. Boam's films had a cumulative gross of over US $1 billion. He was educated at...
into a film of the same name, starring Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
as Johnny and Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
as Greg Stillson, and directed by David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
. While changing various details, the film manages to maintain the somber tone of the novel, as Johnny's power causes him to become increasingly withdrawn and isolated.
Television
- The television series The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone (TV series)The Dead Zone, aka Stephen King's Dead Zone is an American-Canadian science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma...
began broadcasting in late 2002. Starring Anthony Michael HallAnthony Michael HallMichael Anthony Hall , known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor, film producer and director who starred in several teen-oriented films of the 1980s. Hall began his career in commercials and on stage as a child, and made his screen debut in 1980...
as Johnny, Nicole de BoerNicole de BoerNicole de Boer is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for her roles as Ezri Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from 1998 to 1999 and as Sarah Bannerman on The Dead Zone from 2002 to 2007.-Career:...
as Sarah, and Sean Patrick FlanerySean Patrick FlanerySean Patrick Flanery is an American actor known for such roles as Connor MacManus in The Boondock Saints, Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone and for portraying Indiana Jones in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as Bobby Dagen in Saw 3D.He is currently known for his role as Sam Gibson on The...
as a younger, cockier, more womanizing version of Greg Stillson, the series aired on the USA NetworkUSA NetworkUSA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
. This version also gave Johnny and Sarah a son, born during Johnny's coma, whereas in the book Johnny and Sarah only ever kissed prior to his accident.
External links
- Review of The Dead Zone
- The Dead Zone at Worlds Without End