Though we’ve already reviewed the second book in this three-part series, we’d be amiss not to praise the one where it all began…
If you watched USA’s modern-day FRANKENSTEIN movie last October, you may have wondered why noted author Dean Koontz’s name had disappeared from the credits, since the whole thing had been his idea. Turns out he didn’t like the direction the Parker Posey/Michael Madsen vehicle was going, so he bailed and decided to put his vision out as a book instead.
I’m glad he bowed out, because DEAN KOONTZ’S FRANKENSTEIN: BOOK ONE – PRODIGAL SON is a very good, quickly paced read. Don’t think it’s merely Mary Shelley’s story transplanted (pun not intended) to the ’00s. Far from it, it’s a police procedural disguised as a scientific horror story.
Having perfected a youth formula, mad scientist Victor Frankenstein is some 200 years old, living in New Orleans and creating a “New Race” of two-hearted humans. His first creation from way back when is no longer a murderer, but a calm soul who comes to the city to help the cops nail a serial killer, whose sinister connections to Frankenstein become all too clear.
Don’t be put off by the fact that this debuted in paperback rather than the more prestigious hardcover, nor that Koontz probably did little more than plotting it (letting co-writer Kevin J. Anderson drive), because surprisingly, the book is not your usual Frankenstein story. This one is more crime-minded than … well, any that have come before. If you haven’t yet tried this, do so! It was one of my favorite books of last year.
The follow-up BOOK TWO – CITY OF NIGHT is now out; BOOK THREE comes out next summer, but has yet to be announced.
{ 9 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }