I don’t know why I choose some books. The haunting cover of Lost Souls
We were recently away visiting family and my wife’s family are prodigious readers. We were discussing some books and my father-in-law said something we all thought funny about a book, but it turned out profound and the very first paragraph of this novel provided a great example. Papa described one book as having too much descriptive stuff. Papa loves action and I just figured that was him as I had never felt that way about a book until this opening paragraph;
“The October wind came down from the stars. With the hiss of an artist’s airbrush, it seemed to blow the pale moonlight like a mist of paint across the slate roofs of the church and abbey, across the higher windows, and down the limestone walls. Where patches of lawn were bleached be recent cold, the dead grass resembled ice in the lunar chill.”
I read the paragraph several times before I read it aloud to my wife citing it as an example of her father’s editorial. Papa probably would have closed the book right then and there. I should have too. Victor Frankenstein, long thought dead, comes back to take over the world with his new creations. His original “monster” now centuries old is a good guy fighting against his creator.
Koontz’s novel actually wasn’t too bad and the action seemed to be building and as with other thrillers, I always tried to have a block of time set aside to allow me to finish without breaks. That block was this morning. As I read and got closer and closer to the final page a creeping awareness came upon me as I lay in my dimly lit bedroom. The morning light seemed to sneak through the borders of our white shades as the fog lifted from our dew-covered lawn. My wife left very early for work and my children were still fast asleep in their beds.
Victor’s true intentions were discovered by several groups of people and his plot to rule the world hit its first serious bump. With barely five pages left, I wasn’t sure how Koontz would be able to wrap it up as action seemed to be building. I discovered the “how” on the last page. It’s called a SEQUEL. Like the second Pirates of the Caribbean and the second Back To The Future movies the end could only be viewed by watching the sequel. I refused to watch either sequel and even if this were a good book I would not read Koontz’s next chapter.
At a list price of $27.00 for what amounts to half a book, save your money (or your trip to the library) and read something else. I have reviewed a lot of books that are better. In fact most of them were better. My copy is going on sale at Amazon so hopefully I can recoup some of my money.
