How long does it take to read The Dead Zone?
The Dead Zone by Stephen King takes about 7 hours 49 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 7 hours 49 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1979. 426 pages, about 117,150 words.
16 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 13 hours 1 minute |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 7 hours 49 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 53 minutes |
The page count is the median across 89 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Dead Zone is a science fiction thriller novel by Stephen King published in 1979. The story follows Johnny Smith, who awakens from a coma of nearly five years and, apparently as a result of brain damage, now experiences clairvoyant and precognitive visions triggered by touch. When some information is blocked from his perception, Johnny refers to that information as being trapped in the part of his brain that is permanently damaged, "the dead zone." The novel also follows a serial killer in Castle Rock, and the life of rising politician Greg Stillson, both of whom are evils Johnny must eventually face. Though earlier King books were successful, The Dead Zone was the first of his novels to rank among the ten best-selling novels of the year in the United States. The book was nominated for the Locus Award in 1980 and was dedicated to King's son Owen. The Dead Zone is the first story by King to feature the fictional town of Castle Rock, which serves as the setting for several later stories and is referenced in others. The TV series Castle Rock takes place in this fictional town and makes references to the Strangler whom Johnny helped track down in The Dead Zone. The Dead Zone is King's seventh novel and the fifth under his own name. The book spawned a 1983 film adaptation as well as a television series.
Content warnings (AI-checked, may be incomplete)
- violence
- sexual content
- death of a child
- animal death
- suicide
Subjects: brain tumors, rifles, human shields, assassination, procrastination, murder
