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I tried to read this novel when I was in High School and I failed - it was simply too much book for me to choke down at the time. I had the expanded and unabridged version weighing in at some 1100 pages. It's not the kind of thing you just decide to read. You have to make time for it. It's that big.

But, it's worth it. I have a morbid kind of love affair with post-apocalyptic fiction. I do not find doomsday scenarios to be much of a stretch. With what human beings are capable of, creating a souped up version of the Flu (which is already pretty fatal) that kills 99.996% of the human race is plausible - and terrifying.

The story however extends beyond this biological apocalypse. Those who were immune to the virus begin to find themselves draw inexorably to one of two people. The first is Mother Abigail, a 106 year old woman in God's country who stands for the forces of light and good. The other is the demonic Randall Flagg, who summons forth those drawn to darkness and evil. In the ruins of America, they will make a final stand against each other to determine the outcome of the human race.

The book has colored my perceptions in sweeping ways. Many of the stories I write are in the same apocalypse vein, so this book is not only good fiction, but it's also a really good toolkit for me. King goes over in horrifying detail what happens when society collapses and you have to start surviving on your own. No more going to the market to find beef - you're going to have to learn to hunt or become a vegetarian - in which case you'd better learn to farm. Water, electricity, all the comforts of civilization are removed, and the detail into which he goes in this vein is well done.

Bottom line, the book is worth it... if you can get through it.