On October 1st of an unspecified year , one Mr. Clayton Riddell- aspiring artist - is happily walking away from a meeting wherein some execs who have told him that his comic book has been optioned for large sums of money.

Clay, as we come to know him, stops off for some ice cream and casually observes a woman in front of him speaking on her cell phone. Same goes for two teen girls standing in line behind him. Then these same people go vacant in the eyes, turn into bloodthirsty monsters and all hell breaks loose. Within moments Clay is running for his life amidst a literal sea of exploding cars, frenzied shootings and hordes of inexplicably violent people ripping other people to pieces in the middle of the streets.

Welcome to Stephen King’s take on an apocalyptic zombie uprising, Cell.

No, the monsters holding court en masse in this tale are not truly undead, but make no mistakes - the pattern here is a one two punch of Richard Matheson’s survivors-among-the-infected isolationism and George A. Romero’s brand of violent mass carnage (the novel is, appropriately, dedicated to both men).

The story follows Clay through this sudden onslaught of widespread murder as he connects with a few other survivors and they determine that some sort of signal (referred to in the story as “The Pulse”) issued through every cell phone in America has transformed whoever heard it into a bloodthirsty maniac.

From there the unaffected few (who will soon refer to themselves as “normies” and their rampaging opposites as “phoners”) decide that to stay in such a heavily populated urban center is tantamount to suicide and decide to follow Clay’s lead as he treks north to find his wife and son, hoping against all hope they are still alive.. and normal.

Along the way these scared, confused souls will discover the true beast lurking beneath the civilized veneer of every human being. They will see the beginning a terrifying new evolution and learn first hand that fighting back can come at a terrible cost.

I literally grew up reading Stephen King. In 1981, I found a paperback edition of The Shining my mom was afraid to finish and so, at the tender age of ten, began what would be a lifelong love affair with the man’s work. If he’s written it, I’ve read it.

Coming from that vantage point, I have to say that Cell was classic King. He’s gone in some unique and interesting directions since the 80‘s. The Dark Tower series barreled to a powerhouse conclusion in all of it’s surrealistic glory. He released a few more anthologies. Books such as Gerald's Game and the superior effort Dolores Claiborne allowed him to take a new approach and write from a woman’s point of view.

But Cell is a return to form. This is the sort of gory, outlandish storytelling which was responsible for King becoming a household name in the first place. His characters are once again people you might meet on any given day at any given time. We are introduced to them with deft, light strokes and as the story unfolds, their actions and subsequent reactions help them to deepen and become more textured.

Then there’s the horror itself. There are buckets of blood in this novel. However, it’s the ghoulish little touches that make the difference, such as a nasty surprise awaiting a lone Clay when he approaches the scene of a recent car wreck or the increasingly gruesome appearance of the book’s principle antagonist, a memorable fellow by the name of the Raggedy Man.

I also appreciated how King’s knack for keeping the reader off balance concerning which characters live or die was resolutely intact. Think you’ve figured out by the half way point who’s gonna make it? Don’t bet on it.

If all of this sounds familiar, then the point has been made satisfactorily. This is the sort of novel King wrote in the 70’s and 80’s . The style and function (not to mention the quick 350 page length) of this tale make it a perfect companion to such classics as Cujo, Firestarter, Christine and Pet Semetary. Cell is violent, scary, a hell of a lot of fun to read and will make you think twice about answering your phone while you are engrossed in its’ pages. Highly recommended.

Ten out of Ten Cops whose course of action you have to appreciate.