Anyone who has read my blog before will know that I am a fan of the Koontz-miester, especially of his work from The Face onwards. This book predates The Face and, while the writing style is more like his later work, the length is reminiscent of his earlier novels. Various reviews on Internet sites praise this book for its frank depiction of Bio-Ethics. For those of you who don't know, Bio-Ethics says that all people are equal, but some are more equal than others. What that means is that those of us who are sick, old, mentally or physically disabled should be murdered to let the healthy and the strong have access to the resources of the earth. It is a mode of thought that has become more popular in the last hundred years and has some popular followers including Hitler. It is insane, inhuman and barbaric. I can understand that Dean wanted to write a book exposing such evil but, at 800 pages, this book is heavy handed, preachy and boring. I struggled to finish this book and it took me four months to complete it. The set up is long and overdrawn, the ending is rushed and overly sentimental. I found it hard to be interested and invested in the characters as so little happened in the first 600 pages and the characters were randomly connected with little driving force. I suppose when you are as prolific at writing as Dean, you are bound to hit a bum note once in a while.Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Book Review: One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz
Anyone who has read my blog before will know that I am a fan of the Koontz-miester, especially of his work from The Face onwards. This book predates The Face and, while the writing style is more like his later work, the length is reminiscent of his earlier novels. Various reviews on Internet sites praise this book for its frank depiction of Bio-Ethics. For those of you who don't know, Bio-Ethics says that all people are equal, but some are more equal than others. What that means is that those of us who are sick, old, mentally or physically disabled should be murdered to let the healthy and the strong have access to the resources of the earth. It is a mode of thought that has become more popular in the last hundred years and has some popular followers including Hitler. It is insane, inhuman and barbaric. I can understand that Dean wanted to write a book exposing such evil but, at 800 pages, this book is heavy handed, preachy and boring. I struggled to finish this book and it took me four months to complete it. The set up is long and overdrawn, the ending is rushed and overly sentimental. I found it hard to be interested and invested in the characters as so little happened in the first 600 pages and the characters were randomly connected with little driving force. I suppose when you are as prolific at writing as Dean, you are bound to hit a bum note once in a while.
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3 comments:
It was heavy going, despite the writing being more polished than his earlier work (which is awful).
He could have done it all in half the length and made it a much better read. And why he bothered with the detective at all, I don't know as he was hardly in it (unless it was because of the evil nurse?)
i like the pink lady apple sticker on the cover of the book. reminds me of home
I'm a Koontz fan as well.
I recently finished a book called Nub that I think you'll like. He riminds me a bit of Koontz.
I think one of the strengths of the book is how easy it is to read – its language is plain and simple, and it is emotionally involving without being maudlin.
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