Under the Dome is a more recent King novel, and unlike many of his recent books is set in what was the contemporary present, now the very recent past. It's set in a post-9/11 world, and it works to blend the realities of modern life with the small town, personal, often low-tech world that King's characters typically inhabit.

This book takes us through the set-up and into the first 3 days of life in Chester's Mill after an inexplicable dome cuts off the inhabitants from the outside world. It's also been a masterwork of King's parallel stories style. You follow a series of main characters, each taking the reigns for a few short chapters before passing them off, and you see the plotlines begin to build. King's drawing the net ever tighter with each loop through, and Under the Dome follows the old storytelling instruction that things can only go from bad to worse. There are plenty of upticks in tension and fear in this story; every section ends with the story in a seemingly much different place than it was before, while still following horrible but logical conclusions.

I wish that I could rate this book as one thing; the way this plot ends could still influence this 5-star rating. As the first half of this book worked as a function of gripping story structure, however, it was a first class example.