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Insomnia
 
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Insomnia (Paperback)

by Stephen King (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Insomnia + It + The Stand
Price For All Three: £20.67

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  • This item: Insomnia by Stephen King

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  • It by Stephen King

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Product details

  • Paperback: 768 pages
  • Publisher: New English Library; New Ed edition (20 Jul 1995)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0450608484
  • ISBN-13: 978-0450608483
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.1 x 4.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 29,247 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > K > King, Stephen > Dark Tower Series
    #6 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > K > King, Stephen > Complete List
    #30 in  Books > Horror > Authors > Authors, A-Z > S > Stephen, King

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Product Description

Interzone
'As accomplished as ever'

Review
'Stephen King brings his usual chilly touch to INSOMNIA, the story of a small-town gripped by a creeping evil … This is not a horror story in the classic mould; it is a supernatural adventure romp on the fringes of the imagination, popular fiction at its best' (The Times )

'A supreme page-turner and a plot that will keep you awake at night' (GQ )

'As accomplished as ever' (Interzone )

See all Product Description

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Insomnia
78% buy the item featured on this page:
Insomnia 3.9 out of 5 stars (53)
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Customer Reviews

53 Reviews
5 star:
 (25)
4 star:
 (15)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (53 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars King at his best, but then when isn't he?, 6 Mar 2003
I read 'Bag of Bones' before 'Insomnia' and I noted a character named Ralph Roberts who informs Mike Noonan (central character in Bones)that he looks tired, perhaps he's suffering from insomnia, and Ralph Roberts knows all about that.
Much as I expected, Ralph Roberts turns out to be the hero of 'Insomnia', surely one of King's most unusual and unpredicatble novels.
King himself admits (in the forward to 'The Green Mile') that he experiences bouts of insomnia, thereby explaining the incredible insight he shows into the nature of the condition; any erstwhile insomniac will be able to relate to Ralph's experiences in the early part of 'Insomnia' in the same way that it's easier to understand the nature of a pain once you have experienced it yourself.
In some ways Ralph Roberts isn't a typical Stephen King character; for one thing he's much older than King's usual lead characters and he's neither a writer or a teacher. In some ways this is a welcome break from the pattern, although King does manage to retain other patterns which his 'constant readers' will find both pleasing and gratifying.
The story is set in Derry, surely the strangest town this side of Castle Rock and there are plently of references to other events in the history of that troubled place which should be familiar to those who have read 'It' (Mike Hanlon is still the librarian), 'Bag of Bones' or 'Dreamcatcher'. There's also a nod to the Dark Towers and intelligent suggestions concerning the layering of reality.
This is a surprising, compelling and somehow inspiring book. Ralph's insomnia is a key to far, far stranger things. It is scary in the right places, amusing in the right places and thought provoking in the right places.
Incidentally, if you do read it, and I ernestly suggest you do, it adds an extra dimension to the proceedings if you reflect afterwards that, in mythology, Atropos (one of the three fates)was considered 'The Inevitable'.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It's 2am while i sit writing this about Insomnia..funny that, 22 Feb 2004
By Sue Lewendon "Film fanatic" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This was the first book I read by Stephen King and it got me hooked. I received it as a birthday gift and I must admit that I was a little disappointed. I thought it wasn't my kind of book. How wrong I was!

I started reading it eventually out of sheer boredom and quickly forgot all my preconceptions. It is a brilliant tale of Ralph, an elderly gent who has a little trouble sleeping after his wife dies. As he sits at his window in the dark of night, he sees things that aren't quite right. Little bald headed men in white doctors coats. He also begins seeing auras around people, or balloon strings as he refers to them.

This is a story of magnific proportions. Ralph and his loyal friend Lois begin a journey of discovery and terror. The Crimson King shows his ugly face once again too. Along the way there is tragedy and romance. This is the first book to ever have made me cry and it's a horror by King!!!

I recommend this to any true King fan and to anyone else who fancies something a bit different. I mean there aren't that many books where the hero is an old guy is there?! Point made I think!

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 5 May 2007
By GillianBC (Buckinghamshire) - See all my reviews
This was the first Stephen King book that I ever read. Until then, I mistakenly thought that Stephen King only wrote horror - this book really opened my eyes. The hero of the book is an elderly man and a very likeable character - and his story gave me the same feel-good factor as watching Cocoon. I have now started reading the rest of King's books - perhaps 20 so far and this is still one of my favourites, though King himself doesn't think it is one of his best (according to his comments in On Writing).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Predictable and Hollow
I can understand if this is your first Stephen King novel that you could find it enjoyable and award it some merit but I found it to be a poor effort from the man who used to be... Read more
Published 4 days ago by Book Scout

5.0 out of 5 stars insomnia
as a stand alone book,this is a great read,with the usual stephen king trademark - characters you care about.also,it is a part of the dark tower saga.
Published 1 month ago by denis moodie

5.0 out of 5 stars gripping!
This is the first Stephen King book I read. I was looking for a big book at the airport because we faced a long delay. I'm glad the aeroplane departed late! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Amelia

5.0 out of 5 stars Insomnia
Juts finished reading it for the second time last night. It was the first Stephen King book I've ever read, and it blew me away. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. Gr Leeburn

1.0 out of 5 stars Glib waffle
The book is filled with wretched truisms, armchair philosophizing and the mentioning of the banal trivia of human life, in a folksy "Aint that just so" kind of way, which is... Read more
Published 16 months ago by B. J. Crossley

5.0 out of 5 stars Fan-bloody-tastic
King is such a fabulous author, and fires my imagination to such an extent, that sometimes when I think back to a book of his that I have read - I feel like I have watched a film... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Misery

5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars says it all.....
...so I won't go on too much about the plot etc, as other reviewers have done it for me.

As a lover of King's books, I can't believe that I had overlooked this one. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Bezerus Bezby

5.0 out of 5 stars What an imagination
If you're expecting a classic horror story, look elsewhere. It's basically about an old guy who finds himself unable to sleep, and the strange (very, very strange! Read more
Published 20 months ago by Lou-Lou

2.0 out of 5 stars Maybe a cure for insomnia after all
This is not one of King's best novels. I'm fairly new to his work but have read a fair few novels now, and this I found to be the most disappointing. Read more
Published 22 months ago by C. Paknadel

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor
Yet another example of a once great writer scraping the bottom of the barrel. Long-winded and yet strangely not saying much, I found this a real struggle and indeed didn't even... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Telboy

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