Review of "Dreamcatcher" by Stephen King

The setting is once again the haunted city of Derry where the novels "It" and "Insomnia" were centered. In an early memory of the four boys that bonded them together, they befriended a Down's Syndrome boy who was being abused by older schoolmates. That event changed the boys in ways they did not fully understand.

Now it's 25 years later and the four adult friends are off on a hunting trip. They do this every hunting season. One night as they are sitting around their campfire and drinking beer a stranger staggers into their camp. This stranger is disoriented and incoherent and passes a terrible smelling gas that distresses the four friends. This is how the tale of an alien horror begins.

In King fashion, there are many characters and a lot of scary gray aliens. There is a toxic parasite called byrus and all are caught in a search-and-destroy military operation. The only way to survive this terror is buried in the shared past of hunters and in the Dreamcatcher.

Slog, Slog, Slog... This is a bit too long and too much like a lot of alien invasion stories. Still it's King and he always delivers a good read even if it takes a L-o-o-n-g time to read. There is something about the "four-buddy plot that King cannot leave. Welcome back to health Mr. King and welcome back to my bookshelf. If I had any problems with this title I know the next one will be even better.