Cell

Call me a sucker for some Stephen King and you’d be right! While I could go on and on all day about different Stephen King novels, Cell in particular was one of my favorites. This novel jumps right into the action, bombarding the reader with the chaos of what is essentially a zombie outbreak caused by a mysterious cell phone pulse. I always love King’s attention to character in his novels and his ability to weave that characterization in with the story while not bringing the plot to a total standstill. Throw in some mystery when the zombies start operating… show more.

Did you know Stephen King wrote a zombie book? The undisputed master of horror—even he—has waded into the zombie apocalypse. The heart of this book is a father journeying through the zombie landscape to find his son. As a father many times over now, this theme will never stop being poignant for me. 

King's The Stand is the grand-daddy of the epic apocalypse book. If you're a fan of The Stand, and of course you are, you will love this book. The Cell is basically The Stand plus zombies. 

But King doesn't just wade into the zombie apocalypse, he… show more.

This is how the robot wars begin. Just kidding, but it’s not too far off. As someone glued to my phone for large portions of my day, the technological plague that befalls the world in this book really frightened me. One pulse to rule them all, or at least turn them into maniacal killers! I don’t read a lot of King, but I’m so glad I picked up this one. It’s got pack mentality and hive mind elements, lots of violence, and feels really bleak.

Technically Cell may not be a pure zombie novel. Instead of traditional flesh-eating undead zombies, King’s zombies are people who have been transformed by their cell phones into savage berserkers. This occurs during an event known as the Pulse, in which everyone using their cell phone becomes a “crazie.” We get to experience the resulting downfall of society through the eyes of artist Clayton Riddell, and we follow him on his quest to reunite with his wife and son. Zombie apocalypse stories often start in the midst of the apocalypse. This one starts at the beginning of society’s collapse, and… show more.

I loved the whirlwind of chaos that unleashes suddenly over humanity. One day is business as usual and the other total mayhem. Everyone’s lives are thrown upside down and the only priority of every person becomes about survival and basic needs.

This is one of the stories I drew inspiration from for my first book, Growlers Moroi.