An interesting mix of horror, science fiction, mystery, and crime fiction. Not what I normally read, but I enjoyed it. Deucalion was hands down my favorite character, but not the only interesting one. Not what I'd normally read, but was worth it.

Okay, this was a little different. I've read a few Koontz before, but this felt difference, perhaps because it's a nod to Mary Shelley. I liked this extension of the original story and found the characters pretty interesting, although I had trouble keeping track of all of Viktor's creations! I think part of it is that this is an introduction to a series and so it's really setting us up while bringing O'Connor and Madison into the supernatural/science fiction world of Viktor and Deucalion. While there is some resolution to some of the plot lines, there are a lot of unanswered questions that I imagine will be addressed in subsequent books. I enjoyed it enough that I will be reading on in this series.

Prodigal Son is the first of five books in Koontz's Frankenstein series. It was first published as a collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson, whose name was removed in later editions, and I wonder if it was re-written or revised or what happened. I'm usually not enthusiastic about re-boot or re-make stories, as I think that the contemporary author (or artist or filmmaker or musician or whatever) would probably be better off doing their own original work, and that if the original work has survived for a long time, then the original creator probably did it right the first time. However, this one is strikingly original and well-crafted and tells a wholly new and modern story. It's set in a nicely portrayed contemporary (pre-Katrina 2005) New Orleans and features a pair of police detectives seeking a serial killer who get a whole lot more than they expected. It ends with a classic cliffhanger and the first three books, at least, have to be read in order to get a full story, but I believe it's well worth it.

Loved it. It's a good thing I have book two on hand though, because book one is certainly not a "stand-alone" book. Koontz does NOT disappoint with this tale of Frankenstein and his monsters.

Imagine if Frankenstein was not fictional? Imagine if he found immortality and has used the last two centuries to perfect his monsters? In Koontz's book, Victor Frankenstein has seeded our society with his soul-less followers. He plans to eliminate the human race and replace them with his followers who will do his bidding.

Spooky. Creepy. Loved it.

You guys want to know who my favorite Koontz character is? Is it Odd Thomas? No. Laura Shane? No. Deucalion from this book? No.

"He was a child of Mercy. Mercy born and Mercy raised. His name was Randall Six."

Koontz is known for making his characters one of two ways. The good guys are saintly good. They give change to the telephone companies. They never use bad language. They never engage in pre-martial sex especially after what happened to Koontz in the 90s that made him start to write this way. Perhaps their only flaw is their reluctance to kill bad guys even though they make it clear they are very bad.

The bad guys, however are 100 percent evil, 100 percent of the time. They kill, they torture, they rape. Why? Just because they LOVE it. They can't live without it. To point out that confident people who love themselves don't HAVE to resort to harming others is just making Freudian excuses.

This is why I love Randall Six though (and this book). He's NOT the typical stock Koontz character. He's a villain, perhaps, but an anti-villain. He's a young man with severe OCD tendencies and autism created by an uncaring tyrannical jerk and he wants to find the secret to happiness. He's perfectly willing to just ask the main character's autistic brother but he's also willing to take the secret by force if he has to.

This one character with this simple, meaningful goal is one that I rooted for when he begins his escape from the Hands of Mercy. He needs order, so constantly writes in crossword puzzles. When he sees the tiles on the floor, he pretends he's doing yet another one as he crosses them to make his escape.

He's more compelling than stock evil-atheist/scientist-character number 612: Victor Helios. More compelling than stock mutant/loner/outcast number 987: Deucalion. More compelling than the male and female duo of the week, one serious and the other extremely witty of course.

When he escapes, he hides in a dumpster. A hobo tries to kick him out and gets his neck snapped. Of course he did. Randall Six has the same programming that all the New Race have.

Sounds like a Freudian excuse to me, Koontz.

Anyways, the plot in his book is good. Here Koontz let's us now that the New Race, produced by Helios is building numbers to replace the Old Race through violent revolution. Pretty cool! But that's the overarching plot over the three books in the first series. The primary plot of the novel itself is detectives have to find a serial killer, which turns out to be one of the New Race individuals trying to find the meaning of happiness. And no, it's not Randall Six.

The climax is good for a Koontz novel. Here you have the two detectives tracking down the serial killer and battling on a rooftop.

Unfortunately, this book has some of the same flaws as The Husband. Short sentences. Short paragraphs. Short chapters. I find it jarring, especially when the subject matter between paragraphs often doesn't change. Here, the short chapters are tolerable, because you switch viewpoints a lot between characters, whereas in The Husband, it was just stupid.

Overall? Recommended.

Update: It's "Randal" not "Randall." I have been talking about this guy being my favorite Koontz character for a decade and the entire time I have been spelling his name wrong. Randal would not approve. =(

I’ve gotten so that I think anything Dean Koontz writes has to be good, and this one has all the requirements: a doing good couple falling in love, combined with unimaginable horror--and in this case, the horror is compounded beyond belief. Suppose Frankenstein’s monster did not die out on the Alaskan ice floes, but had managed to survive, even unto today’s world? More, suppose Dr. Frankenstein, who was the real monster, had also found a way to survive--and to continue his ungodly experiments? When the book opens, Frankenstein is living in a Tibetan monastery when he gets word that Dr. Frankenstein not only is still alive but is creating new evils in New Orleans. As the plot unfolds, we begin to see just how bad these new evils are. Meanwhile, there are a couple wise-cracking detectives, who don’t want to admit they are falling in love with each other, who are trying to solve the blossoming evils. Everything leads up to a rollicking conclusion … that does not get resolved, because the story is continued in Book 2, leaving the reader hanging, much as in the old serial movies that used to appear in episodic fashion in the movie theater each Saturday matinee.

Dark, gruesome, and thoroughly enjoyable!

I think I'm really going to enjoy this series, the first is a true pleasure to read.

My second Koontz novel, and the second to completely, abjectly, fail on every level of entertainment possible. I'm glad Kointz mentions the fact that this was originally a two hour tv pilot, because it explains a lot of the pacing and character issues. Explains, but doesnt excuse.

I occasionally get the urge to read a Koontz novel. Some of his earlier works like Watchers are quite exciting. I keep hoping his current novels will return to his earlier high standards. However his later books, Relentless being a prime example, simply do not work well and hints of a writer who may now be writing to a formula and for the money. I hope that's not true but it is my suspicion.

Dean's Koontz Frankenstein pastiche of which this is the first part does not reduce that fear. In fact, this may be the worst Koontz novel I've ever read. Even at his worse, Koontz is a quality writer of horror and suspense but this doesn't even read like his style, leading me to the conclusion that collaborator Kevin J. Anderson was more than second fiddle on this project. There are plenty of tell-tale annoyances throughout such as Patterson-like short chapters (most are less than four pages), alternating scenes that do not meld together (I guess that happens later in the series), and a wandering style that screams , "I'll tell you in the sequel!". I doubt Mary Shelley would have been very happy with this book. I certainly wasn't.

I'm so done with this book.
It took me almost a year to finish this. Rest asured, I will write a review. I have written it several times in my head, I just have to type it.

I shall have nightmares from all the superfluous metaphores and similes.

Review to come soon.

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Edit 28.8.2018

Fuck this book. I promised to review it two years ago but fuck it.
The MC is a male fantasy version of a woman, the Tough Girl, Not Like Other Girls. Her love interest is a Nice Guy. The Monster is a fucking self insert hunky dude with muscles and tattoos and OMG SO OBVIOUSLY A SELF INSERT. The villains suck ass, especially Frankenstein. He creates life/clones people. He abuses them - in ALL meanings of the word, yes also that; yes, that too - and it's only done for shock. There is no narrative, thematic or character quality to ANY of the violence.

HE.EATS.NEWLY.BORN.RAT.BABIES.BY.BOILING.THEM.ALIVE.IN.OIL!

THAT was the moment I nearly stopped reading. (No hyperbole, I was literally, truly contemplating and debating finishing this abomination for DAYS!)
Violence against women, children and animals just for shock value is fucking disgusting and lazy. Koontz, you suck as an author and as a person.

Oh, yeah, the writing sucks, too.
It's basically a novel version of all those self-proclaimed Nice Guy Geniuses Endgelords manifesting itself in the worst possible fanfic nightmare. This shit is worse than some 4chan greentexts I've read.

Fuck it, Frankenstein/Koontz remind me of this dude here: https://youtu.be/etg9XLeiml8
This "author" has been thoroughly mocked. His self-congratulatory verbal masturbation coffee-shop story was re-written by a woman, showing the true creepiness of the guy.
The dude in the video? That's how I imagine Koontz and Frankenstein! Because Koontz fashions himself as the sexy Monster but he's not that. No. Koontz. You're Frankenstein, and not an interesting one but an online dudebro edgelord.

Fuck his horribly written dumpster fire. I can't and won't use more time in showing in how many ways this book fails. Meta levels of failure.
I just threw the book out this weekend. It will be recycled and something new can grow from it. No, I didn't want to re-sell, gift or exchange it. If I can spare another person the pain of reading this, then I have done my duty.

So much emotional, physical and sexual violence for no other reason than to go "Oooooh, I'm such a naughty, naughty boy! Are you disgusted yet? Triggered? Shocked? Ooohohoho, I'm soooo devious, gnihihihi!"
Fuck. That.

Hummmmm...... Well, I'm one of those people, possibly one of the few people who wasn't enthralled by Mary Shelly's classic. So even though I like "much of" Dean Koontz's writing I put off reading this one for some time.

Bottom line on it is that it's pretty good.

The book is readable. Koontz can do good serviceable writing, sometimes his prose is almost inspired. Here it's largely the former. Building on the general idea from the Shelly book he expands the story. We're led to believe that Shelly somehow must have been told something about the real events of "the Creature's" creation and the events that followed.

But they weren't all the facts nor were the "facts" she related all accurate. You see Victor Frankenstein is far more evil than he appeared in that book, and he's still alive, still "out there" trying to replace God.

So, good read. I found myself largely interested. The female protagonist is well written...the New People are actually a little unbelievable. Some of the things they can do, can survive and so on are really over the top.

But this isn't the only place we see that so suspend your belief...or disbelief and enjoy the book. It's just good old literary junk food.