Cell

Master of horror Stephen King preys upon our fears of technology with the plot hook driving this chiller: a mysterious signal known as "The Pulse," sent via cell phone, turns everyone talking on one into a mindless, murderous beast. The "normies"--those fortunate enough to be away from their phones--must band together in order to defend themselves from the afflicted and highly dangerous "phoners." The book's protagonist is non-cellphone-owning, comic-book artist Clayton Riddell, who watches a Boston street turn into a scene of bloody chaos as he waits on line at an ice-cream truck. Desperately, Clay fights his way through a newly insane New England back home to his estranged wife and young son in Maine, not knowing whether they are alive, dead, or affected by The Pulse themselves.