Dreamcatcher
Stephen King

Once upon a time, in the haunted city of Derry, four boys stood together and did a brave thing. Certainly a good thing, perhaps even a great thing. Something that changed them in ways they could never begin to understand.
Twenty five years later, the boys are now men with separate lives and separate troubles. But the ties endure. Each hunting season, the foursome reunite in the woods of Maine. This year, a stranger stumbles into their camp, disoriented, mumbling something about lights in the sky. His incoherent ravings prove to be disturbingly prescient. Before long, these men will be plunged into a horrifying struggle with a creature from another world. Their only chance of survival is locked in their shared past - and in the Dreamcatcher.

As with many novels, the jacket description does not do this novel justice. But then again, the plot is so complex that it would be very difficult to merely sum it up in just a few paragraphs.

This book is amazing. It has everything. Well rounded out characters, an intriguing plot, suspense, drama, action, moral decisions, etc. It also has "shit weasels". What are "shit weasels" you might ask? Well, they're parasites from outer space that, when inside of an alien, live in the intestines in peace (just like acidophiles does with us) and while the host feeds them, they give the host telepathy. Not so with humans. With humans, they grow and grow until they eat their way out of your bum. The human host dies and what is born into the world is a hairless, legless, weasel with sharp teeth and a prehensile tentacle like tail that has a taste for flesh. Can any other novel give you this? Didn't think so. Honestly, it's worth the read just for these creatures.

While this novel does indeed center on aliens and an invasion of an alien fungus (complete with "shit weasels") it also goes deeper and has an truly amazing psychological reveal at the end that will be a surprise to readers and a bit of a breath of fresh air for a novel such as this.

If you're into science fiction, horror, Stephen King, odd novels, amazing novels, or anything that would decide to make a creature called a "shit weasel", I would recommend this novel to you. Heck, I recommend this novel to everyone. It's just that cool.

Very long, but well worth the read.

My rating: Four and a half out of five snails.