The Dead Zone
Published: 30, August 1979
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Classic, Contemporary, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Media Tie-In, Psychic, Psychic, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Thriller
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Summary
Johnny Smith falls unconscious while ice-skating as a youngster in 1953, then mumbles a prophecy to an adult who later has an accident.
Greg Stillson, a young, emotionally distraught door-to-door Bible salesperson, kicks a dog to death in an unrelated incident.
By 1970, Johnny has a new girlfriend called Sarah and is a high school teacher in the little Maine town of Cleaves Mills.
Johnny gets injured in a vehicle accident and slips into a coma after constantly winning at a carnival wheel of fortune.
Johnny discovers that he has suffered a neurological injury, with one section of his brain severely injured, resulting in a "dead zone," when he wakes up almost four years later.
Other areas of the brain are now showing increased activity as if to compensate. As a result, when Johnny touches people or objects, he occasionally has clairvoyant visions.
After assisting a number of individuals, Johnny is upset by sensationalized media headlines about his alleged psychic abilities.
When Johnny declines a lucrative offer from tabloid reporter Richard Dees to publish phony forecasts under his name, Dees' publication calls him a liar.
Despite his continuous, terrible headaches, Johnny is relieved and intends to resume his usual life as a teacher.
He is feared by the town, but Sarah pays him a visit. Sarah makes it obvious that she has a new life with her husband Walt and their kid after she and Johnny conclude their romance.
Sheriff George Bannerman of Castle Rock approaches Johnny and requests for his assistance in catching a local serial killer.
After the death of a nine-year-old girl, Johnny investigates and unwillingly names the Castle Rock Strangler as Bannerman's subordinate Frank Dodd, who kills himself after leaving a confession.
As Johnny had predicted, the event rekindled public interest in his power, and he is considered pretty scandalous to resume teaching.
Greg Stillson, now a prosperous businessman and the mayor of Ridgeway, New Hampshire, threatens to kill those he bullies if they report his acts or refuse to assist him. He wins a seat in the United States House of Representatives as an independent in 1976, after blackmailing a local businessman into collecting cash for him.
Johnny begins working as a private tutor for a teenage kid in Ridgeway, where he develops an interest in politics. When he meets Stillson, he is frightened to have a vision of an older Stillson, now President, initiating a global nuclear war.
As Johnny's health deteriorates, he mulls about Stillson's presidency, comparing his predicament to someone with time travel having the potential to murder Hitler in 1932.
Rather than murdering Stillson to prevent his vision from coming true, Johnny procrastinates due to uncertainty in his vision, his abhorrence of murder, and his perception that there is no urgent need to act soon as he had met an FBI agent investigating Stillson as a possible danger.
A vehicle bomb kills the FBI agent. Meanwhile, others disregard Johnny's warnings that a calamity would occur at his pupil's graduation celebration, resulting in multiple deaths.
Johnny buys a firearm to murder Stillson after realizing he needs to take more serious action to avoid nuclear war and knowing his headaches are caused by a brain tumor.
Stillson begins his address at the next gathering when Johnny fires from a balcony. He misses and gets injured by guards. Stillson snatches a little child and uses him as a human shield.
An onlooker captures Stillson's antics on camera. Johnny gets shot twice by the bodyguards because he is unable to shoot a child. He is almost killed when he falls from the balcony.
Johnny touches Stillson one more time before passing away. He gets only fleeting impressions, but he is certain that the dreadful future has been avoided. When the photo of Stillson using a child as a shield was published, it effectively ended his political career.
An epilogue intersperses fragments from Johnny's letters to his loved ones, a "Q & A" transcript of a fictitious Senate committee inquiry into Johnny's attempted assassination of Stillson (headed by real-life Maine Senator William Cohen), and a narrative of Sarah's visit to Johnny's grave. Sarah had a brief psychic touch with Johnny's soul and drives away, reassured.
Useful Search Related Words & Keywords
Brooke Adams, Car Accident, Castle Rock, Christopher Walken, David Cronenberg, Debra Hill, Dino De Laurentiis, Greg Stillson, Herbert Lom, James Franco, Jeffrey Chernov, Johnny Smith, King At His Best, Martin Sheen, Salem's Lot, See The Future, Serial Killer, Tom Skerritt, Wheel Of Fortune
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