Insomnia by Stephen King - Book Review

Ralph is no spring chicken when it comes to sleep. But after the death of his wife, he begins to suffer from a bad case of insomnia, waking earlier with each passing night. As his days get longer and sleep is reduced to minutes rather than hours, Ralph begins to see visions that only he seems aware of. Colourful auras that envelop people he passes in the street soon turn into a belief of divine intervention.

But when Ralph’s neighbour and friend, Lois, also develops visions, the pair are thrust into a nightmare neither could ever imagine. Trying to discover the reason behind their new-found visions, they meet the “bald doctors”, strange beings assigned a higher purpose, keeping order where others seek chaos.

After discovering that it was the doctors that empowered them with their psychic visions, Ralph and Lois must stop agents of the Crimson King, an entity intent on destroying order in the universe, before civilization is changed forever.

Having read The Dark Tower series before this, I was pleasantly surprised by the many references and plot points linking that series to this story. The journey begins some time before the main narrative, as a flash back, the event initially feeling a little disjointed. But as the story continues, one quickly realizes the purpose of that opening introduction.

Insomnia feels like 2 books in one. On the left you have the tale of Ralph Roberts, his neighbour and friends. The drama that encapsulates the town feels similar to that of Needful Things, another of King’s tales, but you know that things will join up somewhere down the track in a way only Stephen King can deliver.

On the right, you have a book that feels like a .5, lying somewhere in the Dark Tower series, as Wind through the Keyhole did. Finding familiar names and places is always exciting during these adventures and I read each page with a huge grin, ready for the next discovery. The book eventually does come together and in a way I can only attribute to writing genius, the man slamming another one home.