The Langoliers (Stephen King)

The Langoliers
The Four Past Midnight series, Book 1
Stephen King
Scribner
Fiction, Horror
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Pilot Brian Engle never meant to be on the redeye from Los Angeles to Boston, especially not so soon after completing another cross-country flight. But this time he's a passenger, rushing back to Boston after his ex-wife's untimely death. Thus, he finds himself on another American Pride jet shortly after departing the cockpit, so exhausted he falls asleep shortly after takeoff... to wake up in a nightmare. The plane is empty save a handful of other passengers, flying on autopilot over an America with no cities, no towns - no life. As the survivors try to figure out what to do and where to go and if they can ever get back to where they came from, they all become aware that a danger is approaching, a danger that takes form in one passenger's childhood tales of all-devouring monsters called the Langoliers.

REVIEW: This novella explores some familiar King themes: an isolated group stranded by an inexplicable Event, a largely-unseen and essentially unstoppable threat, the threat of madness within the group even as the enemy threatens without, and underlying hints of supernatural or psychic phenomena. I thought King explored these ideas a bit better in other stories, but this one does its job and hits its marks, creating ever-rising tension with creepy and memorable imagery, even if the characters sometimes feel a little flat and stereotyped. More than once, I wanted to shake the people to remind them to stop dithering and babbling and taking forever to explain things when the danger is marching relentlessly closer to them, but this isn't the first story where I've felt that urge.
It might have earned a Good rating, save it felt a little weak in spots and the audiobook narration of the edition I checked out from Libby was irritating. The narrator's pitch and volume kept rising and falling, surging and fading, all woven around musical accompaniment that threatened to overwhelm the quieter and lower parts. I kept having to crank up the volume, only to drop it half a minute later when he raised his voice again and nearly blew out my eardrums. It made for a frustrating listening experience that affected my overall enjoyment.

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