Under the Dome

Under the Dome is a 2009 science fiction novel by American author Stephen King. It is the 58th book published by King, and it is his 48th novel. The novel focuses on a small Maine town, and tells an intricate, multi-character, alternating perspective story of how the town's inhabitants contend with the calamity of being suddenly cut off from the outside world by an impassable, invisible glass dome-like barrier that seemingly falls out of the sky, transforming the community into a domed city. Plot summary At 11:44 a.m. on October 21, the small Maine town of Chester's Mill is abruptly and gruesomely separated from the outside world by an invisible, semipermeable barrier of unknown origin. The immediate appearance of the barrier causes a number of injuries and fatalities and traps former Army Captain Dale "Barbie" Barbara—who is trying to leave Chester's Mill because of a local dispute—inside the town. Police Chief Howard "Duke" Perkins is killed instantly when his pacemaker explodes when he gets too close to the Dome. This removes the last significant opposition to James "Big Jim" Rennie, used car salesman and the town's Second Selectman. Big Jim exerts a significant influence on Chester's Mill and seizes the opportunity to use the barrier as part of a power play to take over the town. Big Jim appoints one of his cronies, the incompetent Peter Randolph, as the new police chief. He begins expanding the ranks of the Chester's Mill Police with questionable candidates, including his son, Junior Rennie, and his friends. Junior has frequent migraines caused by an as-yet-undiscovered brain tumor which has begun affecting his mental state; unknown to Big Jim, Junior was in the process of beating and strangling a girl (Angie McCain) to death when the barrier appeared and has killed another girl (Dodee Sanders) by the time Big Jim places him on the police force.