Something has gone wrong with mobile phones. People who use mobile phones are turning into crazed zombies who are attacking everyone else. And there's an awful lot of people who use mobile phones. Including our main protagonists son. Can he reach him before he switches it on? Think Dawn of The Dead, only crossed with those 'Orange Wednesdays' adverts you see at the cinema. Except done better.

I started reading this book twice. The first time I picked it up, I found myself thinking that Stephen King, whom I've always regarded as a great storyteller, had decided to go straight for the viscera as a shock tactic, and it made me wonder if I actually wanted to read on.

The first time, I just put the book down. When I did pick it up again and get past the opening scenes however, I realised that I had been wrong and the story - and as usual Stephen King's marvellous characters - drew me in. To some extent it's another one of his 'road trip' books: look at The Talisman, at The Stand, and at several others to see the characters who have been stuck together in adverse circumstances and are trying to get to a particular destination.

I'm not trying to say that it's formulaic, merely that there are only a certain number of things that you can actually have the characters do. While I was actually reading the book, I certainly wasn't offering up any comparisons. I was just reading the story. It's only afterwards that I can play with it and compare it to other works.

So you get drawn into the characters quickly, which is good. You develop a liking for them, which is good. You're never quite sure which - if any - are going to make it through to the end of the book, which is good. When reading some books you just know that they're all going to make it out the other side, with others you're hanging on to the last page waiting to find out.

It sucks you in, it rattles you along, and it spits you out the other side 512 pages later leaving you wanting more. I can't fault that too much. All the same, it's not the best book I've read - not even the best Stephen King book I've read; but it's plain to see that he's a storyteller with a great deal of skill in his craft.