The premise: A small Maine town is cut off from the world by a huge, transparent dome. During the course of a week, drama entails. People's true natures come out, and you learn what they're really like in a crisis. 
 I have so many mixed feelings about this book. I don't know where to begin, so let's itemize: 
 the good: 
 1. Plot. The story kept me trudging through the 1,000+ pages, and the closer I got to the end the more I needed to read it. I simply had to know what this crazy town was going to do next. 
 2. Setting. You knew the town from the beginning. It's your typical small town, where everyone knows everyone else's business. It's presented in a familiar way, so when disaster strikes it feels close to home--if you grew up in a small town, that is. 
 the not-so-good: 
 1. Characterization. There are a lot of stereotypes in here. The bad Christian; evil politician; pushy journalist; geeky teenager. The good guys were really good, and the bad guys were really bad. Which brings me to... 
 2. Sexuality. ex: When the bad cop is being pushy, he unzips his fly to make a point. Really? I know they can get away with everything, being exiled from the world and all, but how much sexual abuse can you really cram into one book? 
 The actual dome was a little weird, and how it came into place. And it wasn't really relevant to the story; it felt like it was the "only logical explanation" and discussed only briefly toward the end. Sure, they all wondered where it came from, but when the realization came (I guess it was the climax?) it was... well... anti-climactic. I cared more about the town and its people than the dome itself. 
 But as a whole, it was better than I expected. It makes you think about human nature and what we're capable of. Here's this small town cut off from the world, forced to create its own rules under crisis and deal with whatever happens as a result. Not going to lie, it's a little frightening.