Storm of the Century

Frequently asked questions

• Was Storm of the Century written as a novel or a screenplay?

  King wrote it directly as a teleplay—an original screenplay for television, never conceived as a novel. It was published in 1999 as a 'novel-screenplay': the full script with King's production notes and scene descriptions formatted as prose. This makes it one of the few King works written for television first rather than adapted from prose.

• What is the premise?

  A massive blizzard cuts off the fictional island of Little Tall Island, Maine, from the mainland. During the storm, a stranger named Andre Linoge arrives and demonstrates supernatural knowledge of every resident's darkest secrets, committing murders in plain sight. He makes a demand of the community: give him what he wants, or he will destroy them all.

• Who is Andre Linoge?

  Linoge is a figure of ancient evil—implied to be a kind of demon, possibly connected to Randall Flagg in King's wider mythology. He carries a silver-headed cane with a wolf's head and repeats the phrase 'give me what I want and I'll go away.' He knows everything about everyone. What he wants is revealed only as the storm reaches its climax.

• What makes the central moral dilemma disturbing?

  Linoge's demand forces the community to choose between two options—both involving profound loss—and to make the decision collectively. The novel examines how a community under extreme pressure can be persuaded to sacrifice something sacred to preserve itself, and asks whether such a community deserves to survive that choice.