Insomnia is probably the only book for which it may very well be the cure for its namesake. It is also quintessential King trash, and serves as the prime example for why I dislike the majority of his work.
I picked this book up because it has been a personal goal and obsession of mine to investigate whether or not Pennywise from It is actually dead. Thus this means I must read all of the "Derry" books, and Insomnia was next on that list.
I admittedly could have stopped after Dreamcatcher, as that acted as confirmation more than this book ever would have, but there were elements that both supported and didn't support my theories in this novel. If anything, this book serves to connect Derry to the Dark Tower series more than anything else given that the Crimson King makes a genuine appearance in Derry. Roland is also mentioned on a handful of occasions though never really makes an appearance, not that I would have expected him to.
My experience with this book was in no way helped by the audiobook, which I had hoped would save my stagnating interest in this story. Insomnia was written in the 90s and so too, I believe, was this audiobook, because it's been a long time since I've heard genuine sound effects in one. Unlike the Star Wars books or the young adult novels by Maggie Stiefvater (who writes and performs the music for her audiobooks), Insomnia's music could hardly be called music. Imagine Sìgur Ros performing on the downswing of a really bad coke bender, passing out, and vomiting halfway through. That's the musical accompaniment you can expect for this 25 hour escapade into boredom. It often hindered my ability to hear the narrator, which is about the most asinine thing an audiobook can do in my opinion.
As for the story itself, this book is over 900 pages. Nine. Hundred. Pages. If anyone ever told Stephen King that "less is more" I'm quite certain he replied by telling that person to fuck off.
Then he rewrote The Stand.
The reader is introduced to Ralph Roberts. Ralph's wife is dying of cancer, and Ralph has slowly found his capacity to sleep being widdled away. This continues after her passing, and eventually, Ralph isn't sleeping at all. With his newfound ailment (which takes 400 pages to get to) comes abilities. Seeing auras, life essences, and ultimately, little bald doctors. These bald doctors are servants of fate (not the text's exact wording), but one has gone rogue and now serves The Crimson King. With Ralph's newfound abilities and friends in tow, he must save Derry from the friends that seek to do it harm.
Except, that's not really the story at all. At least that's not the grand finale.
In the last hundred or so pages of the book, we're introduced to the real plot: saving Patrick Danville, who later helps Roland defeat the Crimson King in The Dark Tower series. So...tricked you, I guess? The entire book wasn't about abortion (don't even ask) or the rogue bald doctor killing off members of Derry township. It's saving a kid we never met until now, even though we knew a child all this time in the book, she only succeeds in getting the main character killed in the last fifteen pages.
So ultimately, I don't know why you'd even read this book, because where you start and where you end is two completely different areas, thematically, and I'm left wondering what the purpose was for so much of this journey. Why did I endure so much with these characters? These terribly unlikeable, uninteresting characters.
I didn't like The Stand, but Insomnia has just taken first place for my most disliked King book of all time. I have one more book of his on my bookshelves to read, and I think after that I will officially be done with Stephen King books. At least for a good long while.
NINE HUNDRED FUCKING PAGES!!!
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