Prodigal Son, Book One (Frankenstein)
by Dean Koontz
469 pages
Bantam Books, 2009
thriller / suspense
Finished in 7 days
Rating: ★★★★★
"Deucalion barely slept, but when he did, he dreamed."
Review: Dean Koontz has done it again. Such a quick and easy read. Just as good as the Odd Thomas series I am also reading. Just after the first book I'm already itching to find out what happens next. That, to me, is the mark of a great series, one that leaves you wanting more as well as predicting what comes next.
If you haven't guessed already, this book is about Frankenstein but taken from a bit of a different stand-point. In this series it is over two hundred years AFTER Frankenstein brings his monster to life. His monster's name is Deucalion in this novel, and he finds himself leaving the monastary he's been living in for quite some time to put a stop to Victor Frankenstein, now known as Victor Helio's. He convinces Detective Carson that he is who he claims to be and that the murders taking place are being done by someone who was created by Frankenstein himself. She, along with her partner, must stop this madman who is cutting open humans to discover what they have that he doesn't. He's seeking happiness and thinks it's because he was created from man and not from God that is the cause for his lack of this emotion.
It is very ingenious as well as sick at the same time. The best part for me was Erika Four, Victor's man-made wife, who through the love of poetry and the arts finds herself showing compassion for others. This is an emotion not programmed into any of Victor's creations. Right before he goes to kill her she forgives him for having created her in the first place. That was such a telling moment for him who sees himself as God to be forgiven and brought down to such a human level by one of his own creations. It shows that he can be defeated.
Two other great characters are Randall Six who is a child creation of Victor's who seeks to discover how he can overcome his autism. He believes the answers lie with a child, Carson's nephew, Arnie, who also has autism. The scenes where Randall Six has to figure out how he can leave the "Hands of Mercy" (Victor's headquarters) to seek out Arnie are insanely good.
One last point I'll make is that Victor, in his own warped mind, is using Aldous Huxley's Brave New World whenever he thinks to himself how he plans on replacing the "Old Race" with his "New Race." I found that so cool since I just got finished reading Brave New World not too long ago!
Summary: From the celebrated imagination of Dean Koontz comes a powerful reworking of one of the classic stories of all time. If you think you know the legend, you know only half the truth. Here is the mystery, the myth, the terror, and the magic of . . .
Every city has its secrets. But none as terrible as this. He is Deucalion, a tattooed man of mysterious origin, a sleight-of-reality artist who has traveled the centuries with a secret worse than death. He arrives in New Orleans as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his victims for the humanity that is missing in himself. Deucalion’s path will lead him to cool, tough police detective Carson O’Connor and her devoted partner, Michael Maddison, who are tracking the slayer but will soon discover signs of something far more terrifying: an entire race of killers who are much more–and less–than human and, deadliest of all, their deranged, near-immortal maker: Victor Helios–once known as Frankenstein.
To learn more about Dean Koontz, visit his site here.
I have this on audiobook but haven't listened to it yet. I'll come back and read your review in detail after I've listened! :)
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