Cell — Stephen King

The events unfold instantly and violently. In downtown Boston, a mysterious signal called “The Pulse” spreads through the cellular network. Anyone holding a phone to their ear at that moment instantly loses their mind and turns into an aggressive madman driven by primal instincts. Within hours, the world descends into chaos: plane crashes, mass murders, and the complete collapse of civilization.

The protagonist, comic book artist Clayton Riddell, is one of the few who wasn’t using a phone. He joins a small group of survivors to escape the burning city and find his son, hoping that he didn’t have time to answer the fateful call.

Key moments:

The evolution of the “mobile psychs”: Unlike typical zombies, the victims of “The Pulse” begin to evolve collectively. They acquire telepathic abilities and gather in packs that act as a single organism under the leadership of the mysterious “Man in the Red Jacket.”

Social Criticism: King satirizes how easily people can be turned into a controllable mob through the very things we can no longer imagine living without.

An Atmosphere of Despair: This is one of the author’s bleakest books, where hope for salvation fades with every mile the characters travel.