Kindle Book Review: The Mist by Stephen King
The novella starts innocently enough with a thunderstorm on a lake in Maine. After the storm, the residents discover the power has been knocked out, several trees have fallen, and there’s a thick mist moving in over the lake. David Drayton and his son set out to pick up some groceries and they let their neighbor Brent Norton tag along despite their heated disagreements in the past.
The store is very crowded, as one might expect, and everyone gets set on edge when a man comes running through the parking lot shouting that there are things in the mist and they attacked someone out there. His nose is bloodied and he insists they shut the doors of the store. The people do so, as the thick mist settles around the store. Shortly after there’s a loud event, like an earthquake, that shakes the store and furthers the feelings of unease in the store.
This being a supernatural thriller, the creatures in the mist start to show themselves quickly. The creatures are quite terrifying, especially since there are so many different kinds of them. There’s the tentacle creature that grabs Norm right at the beginning. Plus huge bug-type things, huge bird-type things, and a monster whose size would put a blue whale to shame.
The novella hits on interesting territory by not only relying on the supernatural to scare the reader and the characters. The element of mob mentality is brought into the story through the character of Mrs. Carmody. Mrs. Carmody is known about town as a little bit of a crazy, and when the creatures begin appearing through the mist she starts to preach about the wrath of God. She tells the people that the creatures are a sign of end-times and that they must repent for their sins. Her crazy-babble starts to draw more people to her as the days pass and more people die. Her little mob shows just how far people will go when confined and helpless.
The Mist was a quick read, but a scary one. The paranoia and constant on-edgeness I felt while reading it was seriously intense. As someone who is prone to nightmares (I know, I probably shouldn’t read Stephen King before bed), this novella had me on edge waiting to see what would happen to David and his young son. I highly recommend the novella to fans of supernatural horror. I also recommend reading it before checking out the recent movie adaptation starring Thomas Jane. The movie is mostly faithful to the novella and actually complements it quite nicely.
You can get it for your Kindle
