In which case you're also in big trouble with Under the Dome. What you read one of these for is for the premise, the pacing and the scares. Still, nuanced characterisation is not why you read a big Stephen King horror novel. It would be fairer to call them caricatures rather than characters, actually.
We have the small-town politician who instantly turns into Stalin the second he thinks he can get away with it, the heroic Iraq War veteran who is out to save the town (aided by his plucky female newspaper editor sidekick), the genius computer-programmer whizkid and a pretty standard ensemble of drunks, nutcases and occasional normal people thrust into a situation out of their control. Within minutes of meeting each character, the reader can easily sort them into 'good' and 'bad' categories and make a guess as to what role they will play in the inevitable conflict. This is not the case with Under the Dome, where the journey is remarkably predictable. Of course, King usually gets away with poor endings by making the journey so unforgettably good ( The Stand being a primary case in point). King has a reputation for delivering poor endings, but even by his standards this one is disappointing. There are numerous deaths, some right-on cultural references that will be dated in a year and some highly implausible plot twists before events resolve in an ending so anti-climactic I seriously wondered if my copy of the book was missing its final pages.
The novel unfolds over four days, during which law and order inside the Dome completely break down, leading to total anarchy. What we have here is Lord of the Flies retold in a modern American small town sealed off by a weird forcefield. After reading the finished novel, it's also a somewhat baffling comment, as it's a pretty straightforward book.
From the writer of the complex Dark Tower sequence and the large, sprawling The Stand, this was an impressive comment. It was also a book that King had been trying to write on and off since 1976, but had bounced off as it was 'too ambitious'. It was King's first really big, one-off horror novel in a considerable number of years. Originally published in 2009, Under the Dome was notable for several reasons at release. However, inside the Dome events rapidly deteriorate as a local town politician takes advantage of the chaos to try to take over the town, sparking a chain of events that will end in tragedy. The US government moves swiftly to seal off the area and attempt to pierce the Dome through technological means. Several cars and aircraft crash into the 'Dome', causing serious injuries and several fatalities. On October 21st, the town of Chester's Mill in Maine is abruptly sealed off from the outside world by a mysterious barrier.
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