Having read Dean Koontz books for many years, it has been personally gratifying to me to watch his talent grow. From a moderately good story-teller in his earlier years--some have referred to him as a "book mill"--his abilities have matured into that of a master.
This book is made up of three main storylines--peopled by sub-stories and plots--that one knows will eventually converge. How they converge is at once fascinating, enlightening, and frightening.
Koontz has written a rare book: fraught with suspense, filled with real-life horror, steeped in a gentle spirituality, it is not what one would suspect from an author who has made his living by scaring the pants off of his readers.
One of the few books I've read this year that I found hard to put down; higher praise I cannot give.
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Truly, I am a slow and often unsteady reader, who loves to read more than most. So for a book to hold my interest day-in and day-out, it has to have something. Sometimes, because I read so slow, I become bored or irritated by even slower moving stories. But if the characters are engaging enough, the dialog witty or interesting, and the plot still seems to have direction, I'll stick with it.
Often criticized (most often by my brother), Stephen King is one of my favorites. Even his poorer efforts are fun for me, because I enjoy the depth of character and his penchant for twisting, convoluted story lines. After I read THE STAND for the first time [many years and countless re-readings ago], I felt like I had just read a chronicle of the lives of people I knew--didn't necessarily like 'em all, but I can't say that I didn't know enough about them to make that decision.
Similarily, a book like The Deed of Paksenarrion (see review in previous blog) held my interest for a number of reasons: one, that such a book of military strategy and violence had been written by a woman; two, that there were a number of interesting characters; three, the plot seemed to be going somewhere interesting; and four, the main character started out enigmatic and 2-dimensional, only to become familiar and more firmly fleshed out as her character grew in experience and maturity.
Yet I also love the perfectly executed short story. Frederic Brown was a master of the short short, and his stories are amusing, witty, and often scary--with enough of a bite to them to make one think.
Reading is something that you either do, or you don't. The tastes of readers are as varied as the books they read, as it should be. We are all different, with divergent personalities; how sad it would be if we only read one type of book, when there is so much to learn, to be amused by, to be frightened of, and ultimately to experience in the works of many authors.
I pity the poor souls who never read for pleasure. Even non-fiction can transport you to other places, but fiction is the stuff that dreams--or nightmares--are made of.
And so it goes...
Often criticized (most often by my brother), Stephen King is one of my favorites. Even his poorer efforts are fun for me, because I enjoy the depth of character and his penchant for twisting, convoluted story lines. After I read THE STAND for the first time [many years and countless re-readings ago], I felt like I had just read a chronicle of the lives of people I knew--didn't necessarily like 'em all, but I can't say that I didn't know enough about them to make that decision.
Similarily, a book like The Deed of Paksenarrion (see review in previous blog) held my interest for a number of reasons: one, that such a book of military strategy and violence had been written by a woman; two, that there were a number of interesting characters; three, the plot seemed to be going somewhere interesting; and four, the main character started out enigmatic and 2-dimensional, only to become familiar and more firmly fleshed out as her character grew in experience and maturity.
Yet I also love the perfectly executed short story. Frederic Brown was a master of the short short, and his stories are amusing, witty, and often scary--with enough of a bite to them to make one think.
Reading is something that you either do, or you don't. The tastes of readers are as varied as the books they read, as it should be. We are all different, with divergent personalities; how sad it would be if we only read one type of book, when there is so much to learn, to be amused by, to be frightened of, and ultimately to experience in the works of many authors.
I pity the poor souls who never read for pleasure. Even non-fiction can transport you to other places, but fiction is the stuff that dreams--or nightmares--are made of.
And so it goes...
1 comment:
I'm a reader. In fact, it is not uncommon for me to be reading 2 -3 books simultaneously, which my wife cannot understand. Most people, I'm sure, are one book people. I do, however, have the ability to pick up where I left off. Books are wonderful avenues of escape, adventure, entertainmnet, and more often than not, even in simple old novels give rise to thought. People who do not read do not think they are missing anything, and they are right. It's just that because they do not read, they are cheating themselves out of one of life's real pleasures. Granted, there are some rather mindless non-literature offered, but even that is better to read than not reading at all. Who knows if someone tries it, they may like it!
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