Insomnia (novel)

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Title Insomnia

Cover of Insomnia
Author	Stephen King
Country	USA
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror, fantasy
Publisher	Viking Press
Released	1994
Media type	Print (Hardcover, 1st edition)

Insomnia is a novel written by Stephen King and first published in 1994. Like It and Dreamcatcher, its setting is the fictional town of Derry, Maine.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Derry's mystical nature 3 Trivia 4 Nominations

[edit] Summary

The novel deals with Ralph Roberts, a retired widower who begins to suffer from insomnia. As the condition worsens, he begins to see things that are invisible and intangible to others: colorful manifestations of life-force surrounding people auras, and diminutive white-coated beings he calls "little bald doctors", due to their appearance. Roberts becomes perceptive of other planes of reality and their influence upon the "real" world. Eventually, he finds that a friend of his, Lois Chasse, is also a sufferer. She joins him in his efforts to thwart the growing evil and learns the truth about the doctors — Lois and Ralph refer to these beings as Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, the Moirae of mythology. The background for the story is an approaching confrontation between women's rights groups and pro-life activists.

The story climaxes with Ed Deepneau, a deranged maniac and former neighbor of Roberts and Chasse, attempting to crash a light plane containing C4 explosives into the Derry Civic Center during a heavily-attended rally while under control of an entity called The Crimson King. Ralph and Lois think Ed's intention is to kill thousands of people in the immediate area; however, Ed is only brainwashed into becoming a kamikaze to help fulfill The Crimson King's true motive. The Crimson King wishes to kill a boy named Patrick Danville who plays a key role in The Dark Tower. Ralph defeats the King and forces the light plane to crash into the parking lot, sparing Patrick's life and allowing him to fulfill his destiny and setting the path for the Dark Tower series. The doctors explain that Ed's innocent daughter Natalie will die if things are left to their own, but Ralph makes a deal which will allow him to trade his life for Natalie's.

[edit] Derry's mystical nature

Of interest to those following King's body of work is the fact that this tale goes some way in explaining the mystical nature of Derry (see, for example, It). Also, some of the metaphysical concepts underlying the Dark Tower series, and background story of Patrick Danville are discussed.

[edit] Trivia

• Both Ralph Roberts and Joe Wyzer reappear in Bag of Bones.
• "In the Court of the Crimson King", a line that was in several parts of the novel, is an album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson.
• The Crimson King is the main villain of The Dark Tower.
• Patrick Danville returns in The Dark Tower VII. In Insomnia he describes both the Crimson King and "another king" named Roland being in his dreams. The continuity present in Insomnia, however, is ignored or changed. The most obvious examples include the Crimson King not being trapped at the top of the Dark Tower (when he is actually trapped on a 1st floor balcony) and Patrick Danville, while ultimately defeating the Crimson King, not dying while saving two men. However, considering that death (Jake Chambers, Donald Callahan, etc.) is a way of ending up in the world of the Dark Tower, this is likely not a continuity error.
• King's novel Pet Sematary is referenced when Lois and Ralph are in Atropos's lair, they find the shoe of Gage Creed, "run down by a speeding tanker-truck on Route 15 in Ludlow." Pet Sematary takes place in Ludlow, Maine and Gage is killed by a speeding tanker-truck whose driver was not paying attention. In this book, however, it is implied that his death was caused by the power of Atropos.
• The Dark Tower, from King's series of the same name, is shown to Ralph while being told about how life actually is.
• Ralph Roberts dreams about his wife having been buried up to the head at the beach, below the high-tide line. This is the same way that Harry and his girlfriend were buried in Something to Tide you Over, one of the segments of Creepshow.

[edit] Nominations

Insomnia was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 1994.