God has hurt him and blessed him at the same time. On their annual escape to the north of Maine, the friends are plunging into the well of memory and shared dreams when they are caught between creatures out of Alien and a crazed general named Kurtz out of Apocalypse Now . If this sounds derivative, even the characters are reminded of The X- Files and Invasion of the Body Snatchers . Perhaps, but the alien fungus is nicknamed Ripley, after Sigourney Weaver's Alien character, and causes much groaning and erupting of bowels. King's tone is alternately ironic, amusing and deadly serious.
Some dreams die and fall free, that is another of the world's bitter truths.
How many bitter truths there are. The flashbacks are the best writing. But the telepathic mind games between an alien presence, with a weakness for bacon, and his human host grow tiresome. It's a big book but more in terms of heft than originality. There are novels I didn't want to end, but Dreamcatcher is not among them.