Created at: 2026-01-25
The novel is set in a small city in Maine that gets enveloped by an invisible and indestructible dome laid out by an alien group of kids.
The plot revolves around the characters in the city trying to survive the harsh conditions in the dome. Namely, the raising pollution levels, the lack of medical staff, and the evil second selectman Jim Rennie who's trying to take full control of the city; driven by an ego trip.
The characters are unrealistic to a point where they always seem to take the dumbest available action. Colonel Barbara (the good-guy protagonist), for example, has an official letter from the president of the United States allowing him to establish marshal law inside the dome, but instead, he refuses to do so many times, angrily claiming that "The government and the army (Cox)" don't understand what is happening inside the dome. But also Barbara doesn't attempt to give any explanation to them whatsoever, throwing his hands and saying that the situation "is too complex you wouldn't understand", even though there is nothing new about a small city influenced by a corrupt politician. Julia Shumway also doesn't do much in the way of helping and completely ignores Cox, same about the Duke's wife, who could've mailed the files to anyone outside the dome. None of the civilians under the dome are interested in helping Barbara even after knowing about the authority granted to him. Ultimately none of the authorities (Jim, Randalph, etc.) are worried about what would eventually happen to them and their mischiefs under the dome if the dome ever disappeared - they are so careless and thus not believable.
These, and many other scenes, make the characters very hard to buy as thinking agents of their own.
The end of the plot is a classic deus-ex-machina where minutes before their likely death, the main characters find out a way to get the dome lifted by begging the aliens to lift it away, which one alien girl gladly accepts.. It is pretty bizarre and it all happens in about 10 pages - making the end a cheap cope out of what had been an interesting concept to write about.