Stephen King is an utter hack. His characters lack depth, his descriptions are sometimes so jarring that you lose your sense of place while reading, his dialogue is forced, and his stylistic devices are so heavy-handed it almost feels like he might be kidding around. But plot? Yeah, he can write a plot. This is yet another classic King potboiler. To be honest I read it more for the post-apocalyptic setting and was a bit disappointed when it turned into yet another Stephen King book with the mystical what-have-yous but whatever, it was a page-turner, I read it, and there were some good images in there and it was fun to read.