Thursday, June 9, 2011

Book Review - The Dead Town by Dean Koontz

The last of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series was very much the best!  I have looked forward to it for a long while and was not disappointed.  He culminated the story with brilliance and finesse.

I say this all the time, but must repeat it here.  Dean speaks to me like no other writer.  Each book is as though we are having a private, familiar and friendly conversation.  His distinctive voice is apparent on every page.  It warms my heart as I sit down for a visit with my good old friend.

A couple of quotations are in order and speak of the clarity of Koontz's thought and the depth of his wisdom:

"So putting ourselves through the what-if wringer until we're all wrung out--well, that's just a hellacious waste of time and energy."
"The world needed a little Evil, so Good had something to compare itself to, but you couldn't let it think it had the right-of-way on the road and an invitation to dinner."
This was one of those books you can't put down, but dread it's coming to an end.  Sigh.

There are five books in the series; all first printed in paperback.  Don't let that throw you.  These are some of Koontz's best work.  You don't have to have read Shelley's Frankenstein first, but it helps.

I love how Koontz shows evil for what it is and clearly demonstrates why evil is always bound to fail.  Of course he shows good accurately as well and contrasts the two with brilliance, truth, clarity, humor and certainty.

As for characters?  This series has some of my all time favorites, like Jocko the tumor.  Jocko is one of the most endearing monsters in all of literature.  Each character has purpose in the theme of Koontz's books and as they develop and grow in integrity, or evil, we learn so much about ourselves.

Five Stars

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...