Dreamcatcher is generally regarded as one of Stephen King's worst books and movies, and here's why the author says the story turned out bad. King is undoubtedly one of the most popular authors to ever write a book, and also one of the most prolific. While earlier on in his career, King dealt with some harsh critiques from professional critics, even that tide turned as the decades wore on. Still, when one writes so much, one is bound to stumble sometimes.
One example of a less than stellar King outing is The Tommyknockers, the story of aliens invading a small town in Maine by corrupting the residents' minds. Looking back, King hates that book, and thinks it's awful. King has also come to dislike his Richard Bachman novel Rage, although that's less to do with its lack of quality and more to do with it apparently inspiring multiple school shootings since its 1970s publication. Either way though, one can't win them all, even King.
When it comes to King's output past the turn of the millennium though, few novels or short stories are as outright despised as Dreamcatcher. Another alien-based tale, Dreamcatcher isn't unreadable, but it's far from good, and spawned an equally disappointing film starring Thomas Jane and Damian Lewis. King agrees with that assessment, and here's why.
During a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Stephen King went into detail about his feelings on Dreamcatcher and what happened with it. When asked about books he thinks he botched, King brings up both the aforementioned Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher. King says about the book "I don’t like Dreamcatcher very much," which is a pretty straightforward indictment. As to why it's bad, King puts the blame for that on it being the first book he wrote after the 1999 accident in which a distracted driver plowed over him with a van, nearly killing him.
King went through a long physical recovery process after the injuries he suffered, and for a time, wasn't even sure he would be able to keep writing. King was in so much pain that he couldn't even bear to sit in front of a computer, as his back hated the position. So, King ended up writing the whole book longhand, and more consequentially, while doped up heavily on Oxycontin for the pain. Tommyknockers was written near rock bottom of King's battle with alcoholism, and Dreamcatcher suffered similarly for being written while under the influence. While King did turn out other classics in the 1980s while drinking, there was clearly a limit to how much he could take mentally. Thankfully, he cleaned up his act and is still around delighting fans with new stories today.
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