Tuesday, November 23, 2010

"Frankenstein: Lost Souls" by Dean Koontz

I have never been one to indulge myself in the wide array of authors who seemingly release a new book every other week.  They are, in my view, the old proverbial 'dime-a-dozen'.  Just when a patron finds the money to pay for the latest book, a newer newest book appears on library shelves, on bookstore stands, in friends' hands with the loud-and-clear message a person can't keep up with the prolific writing of everyone's favorite author.

With the exception of Vince Flynn, whose books always manage to establish an identity of their own beyond the title or the name of the author, I don't even make an attempt at these other authors.  If a book fails to establish itself a separate identity from its author, my curiosity is never even pricked.  Which brings me to this offering of Dean Koontz.

When in need of a new audio book to carry my travels easily down the road, I opted for this one simply because of Dean Koontz’s name (he always seems to inject a little more meaningful substance in his stories) and Mary Shelley’s classic work.  Would this be a continuation of her story, or would Koontz recreate the tale in his own style?

In a way, he did a little bit of both.

This is the Frankenstein story, stretched into contemporary days, the monster and Dr. Frankenstein both living beyond their time; and it is also the theme of man trying to act as God in creating, and destroying, life.  Frankenstein’s new creations (never explained how they are created) are something of an enigma.  They destroy the citizens of one town, replacing each with an exact replica of that person, in a quest to destroy all human life.  It is a horrifying scenario, people facing a threat they never realize until it’s too late.

Juxtaposed against this fright are two of the most hilarious characters I have discovered in a book.  Jocko and Nummy had me laughing until it hurt.  They are the epitome of innocence, in a presence unaccepted by the likes of Frankenstein, standing on the precipice of mankind’s extinction by a madman.  Narrator Christopher Lane is amazing in bringing these two, as well as the entire cast, to life.  It is worth the time to simply their characters, which never divert from the story.

I never indulged myself in any of the previous Frankenstein stories by Dean Koontz.  Prolific authors have never been my cup of tea.  However, as I found myself in need of a new audio book to carry my travels a little easier down the road, I opted to give this one a try and see what might be found.

It is the juxtaposition of two extremes: the absolute horror of people being destroyed by creatures replacing them – with nothing being able to stop it – with the hilarity of two characters, Jocko and Nummy, who had me laughing until it hurt.  I have never experienced two such opposing sides of the storytelling spectrum without one side invalidating the other.  Comedic Horror?  Horrifying Comedy?  Both cannot exist within the same tale without one canceling the other out.  But somehow Koontz manages it here.

The story he follows is a continuation of the Frankenstein lore out of Mary Shelley’s original tale.  Both the doctor and the monster exist, two centuries past their time, in our own day and age, with the doctor still trying to play God – this time with even more frightful intent.

The one problem, which nearly vanquished all I found in the book to applaud, was the story, in reaching the last disc, simply ends.  There is no conclusion.  There is no continuation on towards anything else.  There is nothing but a stop.  Presumably it will be picked up in a next book, but there is no insinuation of that either.  Why some part of the story could not have been concluded – I’m mystified.

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