Not afraid of my phone

I just finished Stephen King's Cell. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. The premise is fantastic--a strange "Pulse" invades cell phones and anyone who uses one becomes a homicidal maniac, stripped down to humanity's most ferocious nature. But King doesn't back it up with much. The characters aren't interesting and the plot is lame as the refugees walk from Boston to Maine in an attempt to find an area where there is no cell phone coverage. The main character, Clay, is looking for his son who may or may not have become a "phoner." That's it, that's the whole plot. King seems obsessed with this end of civilization thing but if you want to see a shining example of this read The Stand. It seems to me this book would have flown better as a short story or a novella. Worth reading if you're a die hard fan like me but wait for the paperback.