The entire book takes place over 5 days or so, and yet very little in the 34 hour length feels wasted or superfluous, even sections which in another novel (especially from an author known mostly for his horror), would seem to exist just for shock or gore value. King stated that one of his intentions in Under the Dome was to create a novel that always had 'The pedal to the metal' and he definitely delivers on this promise.

Where in the past, people (including myself), have criticised King for an over emphasis on character digressions, especially into the more seamy aspects of a character’s history, concentrating seemingly overmuch on their extramarital affairs or dodgy dealings, the way Under the Dome reveals its cast and progresses through its plot is truly masterful, particularly since King is able to pace his revelations of characters past according to what is going on in the present, rather than having them stall the plot as they have in previous works, nowhere did I feel either that I was reading an extended set of flashbacks or that the claustrophobic air under the dome was too far away. I disagree strongly with Floresiensis that the large cast of characters isn't a strong point or made the book difficult to follow. For an author who in the past has brought us gun wielding knights, shape changing monsters and abused teenagers with psychic powers, King's very lack of the supernatural in this book and his concentration for the most part on purely human monsters both born and made is almost surprising. The way King deals expertly with this premise, exploring all its ramifications, from planes crashing into the dome and animals cut in half, to the impotence of the rest of the world outside the dome to affect events within, the way the various personalities and political manoeuvrings of a small town suddenly take on new meanings with the town's status as almost a separate biosphere, is one of the book's major strengths. 'what would happen if a small American town were stuck under a glass dome and cut off from the outside world'. One thing I found fascinating about Under the Dome, is the way King takes a comparatively simple premise, and manages to build on it, examine it and explore it in minute and unexpected ways. I can't really give an adequate reason for this, and judging by the quality of Under the Dome, it's plainly an oversight on my part and one I certainly will be correcting in the future. With the exception of The Dark Tower however, my king reading largely fell off as I got older. Like many people (including my Lady), I first ran into Stephen King as a teenager, and was captivated by books like It, Salem's Lot, Insomnia and The Stand.

Under the dome book series