The Stand: Complete and Uncut » (Unabridged)

Few authors have tapped into our secret fears as adeptly as Stephen King, Master of the Macabre and one of the most widely read novelists writing today. With his trademark blend of fantasy, horror, and psychological suspense, this prolific and immensely popular contemporary writer continues to remind us that evil is still a potent force in the world.

This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

Publishers Weekly

Survivors of a chemical weapon called superflu confront pure evil in this updated and even more massive version of King's 1978 saga. ``The extra 400 or so pages . . . make King's best novel better still,'' said PW. `` A new beginning adds verisimilitude to an already frighteningly believable story, while a new ending opens up possibilities for a sequel."