From my bookshelf: ‘The Stand’ – Stephen King

This was originally meant to be a review for C.C. Finlay’s ‘The Patriot Witch’ but a twenty minute car journey that ended up taking an hour and a quarter put paid to any notions I had of finishing the book off. London traffic...

It’s hard to separate truth from overblown panic mongering when you see the papers screaming about swine flu; I think we’re all hoping that this one is over soon and that it doesn’t claim any more lives.
If you’re a geek though (like me) then something else may have occurred to you, it probably crossed your mind when the SARS virus was doing the rounds. Just two words, ‘Captain Trips...’

Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ is the tale of a world devastated by the accidental release of a laboratory grown ‘super flu’ virus. Plenty of liquids, and a couple of days in bed, are no good at all as this virus swiftly mutates to attack whatever anti-bodies are thrown at it. It has a 99.4% communication rate and a 100% rate of mortality...
The world dies choking on its own snot (there are hints that American agents in Communist countries are ordered to release the virus there) but the focus of the story remains in America where small groups of survivors are trying to build a new life for themselves. People are experiencing dreams of either an elderly black woman in the country or a red eyed monster in the desert. Both dreams beckon people and a line being drawn for what could be the last battle between good and evil, it’s time to take a stand...

You wouldn’t expect to come across a copy of ‘The Stand’ in the elderly ward of a psychiatric hospital but that’s where I first came across it and it soon proved to be a great alternative to the cleaning job that I was supposed to be doing. It wasn’t long before I got a copy of my own (the uncut version) and it’s a book that has survived numerous bookshelf culls to this very day.



The breakdown of society, depicted in ‘The Stand’, is actually a lot scarier than the supernatural events that follow it. Reading these events gave me the feeling that this was the way that it could all go down in real life, a total loss of control and everything going up in flames. Hard decisions have to be made by General Starkey over how to control something that is out of control with no hope of a cure. What do you do if you’re in charge of a situation like this? Starkey lets nothing stand in the way of a cover up, even when riots are starting to take place. Anyone spreading news of the super flu is executed for treason...

When the heat finally dies down we are left with two groups of people scrabbling to make some kind of life for themselves in this post apocalyptic environment. It’s here that an oversized cast of characters bog the story down in a mess of ‘who has to do what and with whom’. Everyone has a part to play (and as such it all needs to be written down) but I was left wondering whether it all needed to be gone into in such detail... It’s worth sticking with though as King’s characters are all likeable and accessible enough to make you want to read more. King also has some interesting things to say about how society might reform in the wake of such a catastrophe. The clear line between good and evil sets the scene for an epic battle but also serves to mask the relative merits of the society that Randall Flagg sets up in Las Vegas. He’s a harsh master (crucifixions are the order of the day for transgressors) but he gets the power back on and things running again. Do the ends justify the means though? It’s all very well for us to sit here and condemn them (‘Flagg is evil so his methods must be wrong!’) but if we were in that situation would we be any different? Worth a thought...

The ending is a confrontation of suitably biblical proportions and an aftermath which suggests that humanity might never learn from its mistakes. King’s ability to portray an apocalyptic event as a big picture, and as a series of more intimate events, has made this book an integral part of my bookshelf. The way it links into the wider universe of the Dark Tower makes it all the better as far as I’m concerned. If you’re thinking about picking up a Stephen King book for the first time then this could be the best place to start...