I've had this book on my shelf for several years and got around to reading it after watching the TV series which was supposedly based on the book. The series seemed to be dragging on and on without an end in sight so I thought by reading the book I would at least get to see how King envisioned the story. Well, I am definitely glad I read it (all 880 pages). In my mind the TV series has little relationship to the book (it must have received good ratings because Season 2 just ended with a cliffhanger which means there must be a Season 3 in store). I believe the TV series is just being dragged out because of the ratings -- it should really die a quiet death! On the other hand, the book was excellent. Some of King's best writing reminiscent of "The Stand" and his other lengthy tomes. The premise of the book (and the TV show) is that a dome falls onto a small town in Maine and then the town folk have to fend for themselves to survive. The bad guy in the book is Big Jim Rennie, a town selectman who has also been stockpiling propane to feed a large meth cooking operation on the outskirts of town. (The propane stockpiling is hinted at in the TV show but never explained.) When the dome comes down, Jim wants more and more power which leads to mass destruction within the dome. At the end, there are only a few survivors out of over 2000 residents. So what caused the dome? This may be a spoiler but it was caused by a group of alien children, called leatherheads by the towns people, who are playing with the town like burning ants with a magnifying glass. (There is no "egg", no paintings by Big Jim's wife, no reappearance of a long-dead student, etc. as in the TV show). Overall, I would recommend this but stay away from the TV series!
