Under the Dome

The last book I read this summer before going off to work in my new high school library was Stephen King's massive latest offering. Under the Dome. This is not a book you can just trudge off to the beach with as it must weigh about ten pounds and comes in at over 1200 pages. In fact as a mean joke to someone I was mad at, I recommended they pack it in the suitcase as a vacation choice.
In truth I am not a big Stephen King reader this was only the second book of his I read. The first being the Green Mile when it was coming out in monthly installments. I have to say that I really loved this book as it was a story that was constantly moving in a violent dark meandering style that leaves you hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
Almost Dickensian in it structure, the story is about a small town in Maine that finds itself sealed off from the rest rest of the world by an impenetrable dome placed there by some unknown person or method. It is mid October when all this happens and soon the  townspeople of Chester's Mills reveal their true human nature to each other. Like Lord of the Flies or an episode of the Twilight Zone, things go bad very very quickly. Murder, meth dealing, necrophilia, and rape makes this a very very adult book to read. The main adversary (besides the dome) is Big Jim Remmie, a used car dealer/city selectman who sees the dome as an opportunity to get even with some of the town people he has disagreements with. Dale Barbara a short order cook and former Iraq war vet is the guy he really wants to hurt.
Highly recommended if you like an ultra-violent large novel.