Dreamcatcher (by Stephen King)
There are things I really liked about Dreamcatcher and things I didn’t care much for. I’ve been a fan of Stephen King since I was in the ninth grade and read Misery. I felt emotionally sucked into the story line of four childhood friends remaining bonded into adulthood. I was touched by their relationship with Duddits, another childhood friend with Downs Syndrome, who they saved from bullies. I kept thinking that this story was very reminiscent of an earlier King novel, also set in Derry, Maine. I was right, but I won’t say more as I don’t want to spoil anything for you, if you haven’t read Dreamcatcher yet.
There’s telepathy and aliens…the telepathy was pretty cool, but the aliens were quite strange. Well, I suppose aliens are supposed to be strange, because as humans, we don’t know much about aliens, do we? Aliens, specifically Mr. Gray, are taking another turn at trying to invade earth by infecting themselves into humans. It’s rather gross, but hey, it’s a horror novel. What’s a horror novel without some super creative, disgusting body functions?
As would likely happen in real life, the military becomes involved and tries to save the day. Sort of. This part was not interesting to me at all as I had a hard time following the connection between the military characters and the four childhood friends. There was a drastic shift in the beginning of the story. Eventually, it all came together and I was able to mostly make sense of the connection.
After completing the book, I decided I really liked it. I also concluded that it was way too long. There are parts in the beginning that dragged on FOREVER! While reading those parts, I just chalked it up to character building. And, it was. King tied things up in the end and brought it all together, which I appreciated. A lot of it could have been cut out though.
It’s been forever since I’ve seen the movie, but it definitely helped give my brain a visual reference while reading the book.
6/13/26 Update: I reread Dreamcatcher this month as the June selection for the Constant Reader book club. Having only read it for the first time four years ago, I was less than enthused to revisit this story. I liked it well enough the first time, but I had zero desire to ever pick it up again. Still, I acquiesced for the sake of the book club.
I’ll admit my lack of mood probably colored my experience. Dreamcatcher doesn’t hold up well on a reread, and my rating dropped accordingly. I found much of the context repetitive, and my interest in the storyline frequently wavered. While I still appreciated the thread about lifelong friendships, the alien invasion and corrupt government elements didn’t work as well for me this time around.
This time, though, I was intrigued by the influence of King's accident on the writing of this book and did a bit of research. Dreamcatcher is the first full-length novel he wrote following his accident, and he wrote the first draft by hand while recovering in bed — admittedly while medicated with OxyContin. Given that Jonesy is severely injured when he's hit by a car, and readers are reminded of this trauma repeatedly throughout the story, I got the impression King was working through the emotional trauma of his accident in real time.
I'm glad I finished it and can move on to something I'm actually in the mood to read. I'm curious to hear what my fellow book club members think — we have a diverse group, and quite a few of the younger members are likely reading this for the first time.
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