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A review by heyyyitsericm
Devoted by Dean Koontz
4.0
This is classic Koontz.
A clean cut battle between good and evil. An autistic boy with special abilities, his Mom, corrupt government officials, strangers brought together by fate and something beyond their understanding, technology and power run amok, and a very special golden retriever. These elements exist in every modern Koontz novel - maybe not all at once - but this one has them all - and ends in a perfect optimistic note that we all need right now.
Woody Bookman doesn’t talk. His widowed mother, Megan, has found herself in the crosshairs of Lee Shacket, a former acquaintance, who has just escaped a biological crisis at a major corporation’s laboratory. He’s changing into something different - inhuman - and that’s where our story begins.
We also learn of Kipp, a very special golden retriever, with special abilities - mourning the lost of his dear owner Dorothy - who knows he is meant to meet Woody.
Like I said, all the elements are there (including the intricate names that Koontz always uses) and the asides to random characters who only play minor parts in the narrative - and thus pad the pages a bit. But that is the one criticism I’d levy against his newest novel.
It has story - but lacks a bit in substance. In stories with similar plots in his earlier days of writing, Koontz spends pages telling us about these characters and weaving narratives around each of them. The characters here are multi - layered, but not as substantiative as I’ve come to expect from Koontz. Even with Shackett, a major player, his story seems to get disregarded, at the expense of the introduction of other one dimensional characters - whose stories just end - rather than with a satisfying, intentional conclusion.
But either way, Koontz has always been an optimistic voice - where good always wins. And this books makes you feel good inside because of the hope that comes with it.
A clean cut battle between good and evil. An autistic boy with special abilities, his Mom, corrupt government officials, strangers brought together by fate and something beyond their understanding, technology and power run amok, and a very special golden retriever. These elements exist in every modern Koontz novel - maybe not all at once - but this one has them all - and ends in a perfect optimistic note that we all need right now.
Woody Bookman doesn’t talk. His widowed mother, Megan, has found herself in the crosshairs of Lee Shacket, a former acquaintance, who has just escaped a biological crisis at a major corporation’s laboratory. He’s changing into something different - inhuman - and that’s where our story begins.
We also learn of Kipp, a very special golden retriever, with special abilities - mourning the lost of his dear owner Dorothy - who knows he is meant to meet Woody.
Like I said, all the elements are there (including the intricate names that Koontz always uses) and the asides to random characters who only play minor parts in the narrative - and thus pad the pages a bit. But that is the one criticism I’d levy against his newest novel.
It has story - but lacks a bit in substance. In stories with similar plots in his earlier days of writing, Koontz spends pages telling us about these characters and weaving narratives around each of them. The characters here are multi - layered, but not as substantiative as I’ve come to expect from Koontz. Even with Shackett, a major player, his story seems to get disregarded, at the expense of the introduction of other one dimensional characters - whose stories just end - rather than with a satisfying, intentional conclusion.
But either way, Koontz has always been an optimistic voice - where good always wins. And this books makes you feel good inside because of the hope that comes with it.