It kept me far more glued to the ears than many others books I've downloaded in months. Just the concept of a dome is on Earth is original. It's no masterpiece but it is one heck of an enthralling story. I became quite fond of the heroes and hated the bad guys. Things start happening and the pace doesn't let up until a mighty climax. Onto the story, it grabs you at once, in the first minute or two. The science fiction angle automatically adds enough verisimilitude (It's a big universe.) It is a well told story with decently drawn characters of sufficient depth. I really didn't like how the book excessively glamorized some very dangerous and addictive substances but it was all needed for the plot and I didn't buy this book for moral guidance. One criticism is that the characters do act very in very bizarre ways - some explained by heavy drug use. Yes, very few people are religious fanatics but given the 'dome' people's behaviors would indeed change. So why do the 'bad guys' have southern accents? I suppose our stereotypes & popular culture (our 'zeitgeist')leads us to associate small minded or bizarre religious thinking to our 'Bible Belt' (No offense intended, I know more of you are raised to be better mannered & more polite, and have fine religion beliefs than many 'average' Americans.) But apparently the drawl is intentional, to creep you out and it does. (For visual plot reasons, otherwise ANY small town in the south would do (see below). The New England setting is PURELY for the color of the tree changes in fall.

A FEW minor characters rang false briefly. The women sound like most men narrating women. Don't pass this great story up just due to some complaining in the narration department.

Stephen king book dome