| And we're off... Dean Koontz has never been a | | | | given the mark of great importance, such as |
| consistent writer. Sometimes his prose is good. | | | | Angel, seem somehow, remarkably, absent from |
| Sometimes it leaves a great deal to be desired. | | | | necessity, as if they could have been left out |
| Sometimes I get so involved in his intricately | | | | completely, without real damage to the storyline. |
| woven plots that I forget the world I'm supposed | | | | That is a mark of a carelessly told |
| to be living in. Sometimes I get so hung up on his | | | | story.Carelessly toldYes, in the end, "From the |
| repetitions (think: "sodium vapor lights"), that I am | | | | Corner of His Eye" is a carelessly told story. |
| time and again prematurely expelled from his | | | | Koontz does just fine -- wonderful, in fact -- until |
| creation. But usually, writing style aside, Dean | | | | it's time to wrap it up. Until about page 480, I was |
| Koontz is a master of suspense, building tension | | | | holding my breath, waiting for that breathtaking |
| to the breaking point, and then dropping the | | | | climax that just had to be coming. It just had |
| bombshell.With this in mind, I had high hopes for | | | | to.Well, my friends, it never materialized.Koontz |
| "From the Corner of His Eye". At over five | | | | weaves and weaves until his story is so complex |
| hundred pages, it was a tome that I was sure I | | | | that you can't help but wonder what marvelous |
| could sink my teeth into. And surely, no matter | | | | ending he has in store, and in this, he falls so far |
| the style, once I got into it, I knew I'd just be | | | | short that the story goes from sixty to zero in a |
| holding my breath through to the conclusion....and I | | | | matter of seconds.When the hero and the villain |
| was.And who are these characters you've set | | | | meet -- and this time it is for the first and last |
| upon your stage? "From the Corner of His Eye" is | | | | time -- there should be fireworks. There should be |
| an ambitious work, even by Koontz standards. He | | | | earthquakes (a la the twin uncles) and meteor |
| brings a multitude of characters to the page, both | | | | strikes and heaven and earth colliding.Instead, |
| likable and heinous, breathing life into them and | | | | there is nothing...nothing, but an ending so |
| then setting them on their way.Characters in a | | | | anticlimactic that I wanted to take the book and |
| Koontz novel are always interesting. Very rarely | | | | drop it into a hole in the earth."From the Corner |
| does he fall into the death trap of stereotypes, | | | | of His Eye" is nothing but self-indulgent mumbo |
| and "From the Corner of His Eye" doesn't | | | | jumbo. Koontz took a wonderful concept (with |
| disappoint in this. Bartholomew and his nemesis, | | | | some interesting forays into advanced theoretical |
| Junior, though easily defined as "good" and, | | | | physics), built it up to critical mass, and then |
| accordingly, "evil," are both interesting characters, | | | | dumped an ocean full of water on it.There is no |
| with likes, dislikes, emotions, and idiosyncrasies | | | | climax to this novel. It goes straight from building |
| that set them apart.In fact, one of the highlights | | | | suspension to denouement.Koontz may have |
| of "From the Corner of His Eye" is the running | | | | wanted to indulge in a happy ending for once, and |
| commentary from Bartholomew's disaster-fearing | | | | that's fine, but it seemed entirely too much effort |
| twin uncles. From train wrecks to tornadoes, from | | | | for naught.When I read a five hundred page |
| fires to firing squads, the twins have a horror | | | | novel, I'm investing a great deal of time, energy, |
| story for all occasions. There was a satisfying | | | | and emotional attachment into it. I don't like to be |
| cohesiveness to the thread the twins brought to | | | | disappointed, and "From the Corner of His Eye" |
| the story, and they even brought much-needed | | | | was a monumental disappointment on all levels. If |
| comic relief.Oh what a tangled web... The trouble | | | | I knew at page 1 what I knew at page 500, I |
| -- oh, and there is trouble -- starts with the | | | | never would have given this novel the time of |
| plotline. Inevitably, when an author's plotlines get | | | | day.If you're a sucker for a happy ending, then |
| complex, they are going to get tangled. I can live | | | | maybe that's enough to make up for the Swiss |
| with that. But when ends are left loose, stories | | | | cheese-like plot holes, but beware: the ending may |
| unravel accordingly, and such is the case with | | | | be happy, but it's so sappy happy that you'd |
| "From the Corner of His Eye". Characters who | | | | better not forget your bucket.Lisa is an author on |
| seem somehow potentially relevant are left to | | | | which is a site for Poetry. |
| fade away from neglect. Characters that are | | | | |