The Mist by Stephen King | Source: Library | Genre: Horror/ Mystery | Rating: 3 out of 5
My Thoughts:
The Mist was first published in Dark Forces Anthology and then in Skeleton Crew as a novella. I picked this up from the Library because I loved Carrie and kind of liked The Eyes of the Dragon and I wanted to read more by this author. But The Mist seems like a wrong choice now. Not because it was bad or anything but because it was forgettable. I finished this novel just yesterday after taking almost 20 days to read it in parts. It was interesting but not unputdownable and definitely not anything unique. Probably if I had read this book some years back, maybe 30 years or so, it would have been very different. But wait, I wasn’t even born then. Wait, even the book wasn’t published then. Never Mind.
Anyway…lets see if I can explain the plot in short. David and his 5 year old son are stuck in a supermarket when a Mist like thing suddenly engulfs everything outside the store and strange things start happening. There are weird creatures that come from the mist and eat those who are within their grasp. Nobody knows what these things are and from where they originated. There are hints of some government project gone horribly wrong but obviously nobody is really sure.The rest of the book is basically how they struggle to stay alive and try to figure a way out of the supermarket.
I believe there are too many Hollywood movies out there with a similar theme. So the novelty of this concept was lost on me. It felt like an age old formula for a gross story. There were a couple of times I was really scared, especially at the end but mostly I was pretty meh with the whole horror factor.
The Mist was good for entertaining for a few hours but I’m not sure I’ll recommend this. You might as well buy Skeleton Crew and get a few other stories with it instead of buying this separately.
VIOLET CRUSH 
This probably isn’t for me either.
I think I’d probably see the movie before reading the novella.
I watched the movie and thought it was so-so. I haven’t read the book yet and I wonder if I should.
I saw the movie when it came out a while back and was super frustrated by the ending.
I feel like a lot of movies based off Stephen King’s work has kind of deterred me from reading any of his books. I should probably fix that, but maybe with a different title to start?
I think the movie ending is different then the books ending, so you might like the book more…
I’ve been thinking it’s about time I read my first King, but I guess I’d better start elsewhere!
I just read Carrie a few months ago and liked it. I loved Cujo when I read it years ago. I have so many King books on my shelves but so many of them are too big for me to try and read now.
I read Carrie as a part of the R.I.P. Challenge right now, and I love it. I pretty much love most Stephen King books out there (my favourites are Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Misery and more) I haven’t read the Mist, though, and like you said, that does seem like a very common plot. But you should know, King has written more books like Carrie than the Mist 🙂
I think I’ve seen the movie! It’s one of those duh B-grade movies that come on TV at weird hours. I kind of enjoyed it though 😀
I also had a disappointing Stephen King experience recently when I read The Cell. All those remarks you made about Mist could just as easily apply to Cell. Avoid!
Happy Belated Diwali wishes! Have a great time with your family 🙂
Hmmm… I don’t know about this… Maybe I’ll pass. Thanks for highlighting it, though. 🙂