I'm making a stand, not shining you on

Red Sox Nationalist Stephen King's new book, "The Cell," is out today, its apocalypso set mostly in Boston and New England. After years of supernatural gunslinger crapola - I know, I know, some of you really like that stuff, but jeez - he's back to destroying a familiar brand-name America. The book got a strong review from Janet Maslin in the Times yesterday, or as strong as you'd ever expect him to get there, anyway. In the Globe this morning, Erica Noonan is less enthused. But if I hadn't read the Maslin, Noonan's middling grade would still be enough to send me out to the Book Rack today. She writes, "...the book feels more like the first draft of a blockbuster screenplay, a furious stew of 'Manchurian Candidate' phone-call brainwashing, 'Dawn of the Dead' zombies, and 'War of the Worlds' scorched-earth obliteration." Maybe this makes me low-brow, but a furious stew of Manchurian brainwashing, zombies and scorched-earth obliteration sounds to me like a perfect way to spend this afternoon and probably a good part of tonight.