The Dead Zone (1979) is a science fiction thriller novel by Stephen King. King’s story about a man who sees visions of the future after awakening from a years-long coma explores themes of missed opportunity, belief, and the sacrifices inherent in moral action. The novel was nominated for numerous awards, including the 1980 Locus Award, and has been adapted for film (1983) and television (2002-07). Please be advised that The Dead Zone includes mention of sexual assault.

Plot Summary

In 1953, a young boy named Johnny Smith slips and hits his head while ice-skating near his home. When he regains consciousness, Johnny warns a man about a potential accident, but the man ignores him. The accident happens, just as Johnny foresaw, but Johnny forgets both the fall and the warning. Around the same time, a young man named Greg Stillson travels across the American Midwest selling Bibles and anti-Semitic texts. When Greg visits a farm and finds that nobody is home, he kicks a dog to death in a burst of anger.

In 1970, Johnny is now a high school teacher in Cleaves Mills, Maine. He dates a fellow teacher named Sarah. One night, they visit the state fair where Johnny plays a Wheel of Fortune game. Johnny senses which numbers to play and wins a large amount of money. Sarah feels sick, so Johnny takes her back to her apartment where they declare their love for each other. Johnny takes a cab back to his apartment and is seriously hurt in a car accident. When Johnny falls into a coma, the doctors are pessimistic about his chances of survival.

Four years later, Sarah has married a different man. Johnny‘s father, Herb, is concerned that his wife Vera has become fanatical about her apocalyptic religious beliefs. To everyone’s surprise, Johnny wakes up from his coma. Johnny has a brain injury and refers to the inaccessible part of his brain as the “dead zone.” Although Johnny cannot access certain memories, he can now see into the future by touching people. When he uses this power to help people, however, the media attention frustrates him. Magazines, newspapers, and television reporters clamor for his attention and desperate people write to him for help. A journalist named Richard Dees offers to pay Johnny a large sum of money to use his name for invented predictions. Johnny reacts angrily. Johnny wants to return to teaching, but many people are wary of his abilities or think he is a fraud. Johnny and Sarah spend an afternoon together and consummate the relationship they lost. Afterward, they agree to return to their separate lives and never mention it again.

Sheriff Bannerman attempts to solve a serial killer case in the town of Castle Rock, Maine. Bannerman contacts Johnny, who reluctantly agrees to help after the murder of a nine-year-old girl. When Johnny visits Castle Rock, his visions identify Frank Dodd, the sheriff’s deputy, as the killer. Bannerman is shocked but, when they go to Dodd’s house, Dodd has hanged himself and left a confession, admitting to all the crimes. The case reignites public interest in Johnny and his powers, much to Johnny’s dismay. Because he is a controversial public figure, he is not able to return to teaching in his old high school.

Meanwhile, Greg Stillson works hard to become a businessman and gets himself elected as the mayor of small-town Ridgeway, New Hampshire. Stillson institutes radical rightwing policies, enforcing his ideas with the help of a biker gang he employs as security guards. Anyone who attempts to expose Stillson’s corruption is threatened or killed. In 1976, Stillson wins a seat in Congress as an independent candidate using blackmail, charisma, and political disillusionment to secure an unlikely victory.

Johnny takes a job as a private reading tutor for Chuck, the son of a rich businessman. Johnny develops a close friendship both with Chuck and with the boy’s father, Roger. When Stillson’s political campaign visits a nearby town, Johnny becomes interested. He shakes Stillson’s hand and receives a terrifying vision of the future, in which Stillson is president of the United States and oversees a nuclear war. Johnny becomes obsessed with his vision, worried that Stillson may potentially kill billions of people. Johnny believes that the only way to save the world is to kill Stillson, but he is not sure that he can commit the murder.

On the day of Chuck’s graduation, Johnny has a vision that the steakhouse where the graduating class will have a party that evening will burn down. Many people mock him or refuse to believe him. Chuck and Roger agree to stay home, though they have their doubts. The steakhouse burns down and many teenagers die, proving Johnny right. Roger and Chuck are thankful, but Johnny leaves his job and tries to disappear. He becomes increasingly obsessed with Stillson and determined to prevent further deaths. Johnny buys a gun and hides in the gallery during a town hall where Stillson plans to speak. During Stillson’s speech, Johnny shoots but misses. In the ensuing gunfight, Johnny is wounded and Stillson uses a child as a human shield. As Johnny lays dying on the ground, he touches Stillson’s ankle and knows that he has averted the nuclear war. A photograph of Stillson using the boy as a shield ruins any political future he might have had.

Before the assassination attempt, Johnny wrote to Sarah, his father, and others. His letter explains the urgent need to avert nuclear war and reveals that Johnny had a potentially terminal brain tumor. A Senate committee investigates the attack on Stillson, interviewing doctors and journalists. Sarah visits Johnny’s grave and, for a brief moment, feels connected to him before she drives away.