'Under The Dome'

'Under The Dome'

The novel published in 2009 tells the story of an American town of Chester's Mill, which got cut off from the rest of the world on one clear autumn day. The town is surrounded by an invisible force field. The dome tightly covers the boundaries of the town, the space above and  beneath the city. Only small amounts of water and air pass through the dome. The city is quickly surrounded by the army, and the inhabitants locked in the dome are left on their own. Dale Barbra a war veteran is to become the link between the outside world and the inhabitants. The field is adversely affecting the environment and people are slowly panicking. 

 

The plot of the book takes place in modern times. This is supported by the description of the president, who can be identified as Barack Obama. In the book, Jack Reacher, the hero of Lee Child's books, with whom King is friends with, is mentioned twice. One chapter of the novel is written from the perspective of a dog.

The book is a development of the ideas contained by King in an unfinished and unpublished book 'The Cannibals', on which the author has been working in the late '70s and early '80s. The novel was considered one of the best in 2009 according to New York Times.