Well I'll be honest, I had my reservations about this but it turns out they were totally unfounded. Koontz takes Shelley's characters and brings them to the modern era while keeping in line with how they were in the original novel, so we find that the Monster is not one and has in fact found peace leading the life of a monk while Frankenstein has taken his idea leaps forward thanks to modern science and technology. Add to this the presence of a serial killer that likes to collect body parts and you have a rather gripping novel on your hands. It was that good that once I got into it, I just couldn't put it down. The only irritation was that flipping cliff hanger at the end, I was not prepared for that at all! Off to hunt down the rest of the series now.

This good, but not as great as I had hoped. Hopefully the rest of the series either stays as good or even better.

I have GR friends who liked this book, and I'm very sorry to them, but I just couldn't finish this novel. I don't have anything against retellings, so that isn't my problem. My problem is that I just didn't like Frankenstein being portrayed as a sexual sadist; how he was mortified by the silliest things his wife did (her flower arrangments!), how he was just an odd duck in general. There are other things I didn't like either, but I just don't know how to word it at the moment. Just not feeling this one.

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Book One, Prodigal Son is a mix of Detective novel, Urban Fantasy, and Horror. Sounds like a lot but it really works well.
In this one, Dr. Victor Helios (aka Dr. Frankenstein) is still alive, and still practicing his wicked ways behind the façade of running a legitimate business in New Orleans called Helios Biovision.
Deucalion, a.k.a. Frankenstein's monster, is living in Tibet with a group of monks. In the last two hundred years he has become more human and less of a monster. When he receives a letter informing him that Victor is still alive, Deucalion decides he must travel to New Orleans to find a way to destroy Victor.
Upon reaching New Orleans he discovers a serial killer is at work and he suspects it is somehow tied to Victor.
Meanwhile, two NOPD Detectives, Carson O'Conner and Michael Maddison, are investigating the murders. They will soon realize that they are not dealing with a typical killer.
The story's viewpoint changes between the various characters, giving an insight into their motivations, and weaving them together nicely by the end of the book. The characters are well-portrayed and interesting and the pace of the story builds as the tale progresses, making it difficult to put down. While the ending resolves the murders, you are left with new questions leaving you wanting to read the second book in the series.
I recommend this book to fans of Dean Koontz, Detective novels, Urban Fantasy, and Horror.

Very unique premise, which makes the book immediately engaging (Victor Frankenstein and his monster are alive and well in the present day). Lots of different interesting characters whose perspectives you jump around from. It starts out like a traditional crime book but transforms into a true sci-fi thriller by the end. My only complaint is that so many story lines are left unresolved by the end. It clearly is the first book in a series, but I like books that have stand alone value and I was a little disappointed that this one left so much for the next book. Overall, I would recommend this book to both crime fans and sci-fi fans!

Wow, this was a fun and a surprisingly interesting continuation of the Frankenstein story that ties directly into the original. Deucalion, the original monster, has been living in a Tibetan monastery where he has found a sense of peace. Of course, he eventually learns that his creator is still alive under the name of Doctor Helios and travels to New Orleans in preparation for the eventual confrontation and discovers that he is not alone and that Doctor Helios has been very, very busy.

3.5
If you can get past the cringy idea of a modern Frankenstein,
Then it's pretty alright. Haha the serial killer stuff really got me, and it intrigues me enough to continue with the series.

I feel like I should make a blog just to review this book, so TLDR: Even for someone with high standards but enough appreciation for story telling to find something good in even the worst books, I would not recommend this to anyone (I gave it two stars because at the very least there were a few funny quips and the one action scene was fairly captivating - or, as I put it to my mom, two stars for participation).

I’m an English major (creative writing, not lit) so I’ve read a fair share of bad books/stories in my life, but there’s always something worth appreciating about them, some element that makes you think they’re not entirely worth dismissing, or at the absolute least you can see how other people would like it. This book was assigned as the final project in my literature class, which focuses on the story of Frankenstein, and boy let me tell you if I was not required to finish it I would have stopped within the first 20 pages.

The writing itself is okay, but Koontz employs a level of detail that is both incredibly pretentious and completely unnecessary. I’m a big fan of detailed description and imagery, but while the story lacks in character development for anyone, you get a thorough and very French explanation of exactly what the characters are eating, or the specific type of artwork Erika is looking at (this leant nothing to me as a reader since I didn’t even understand the description and therefore could not actually picture it, which I know is the same for many others), or the precise variety of each type of plant in a garden. Perhaps this is a personal pet-peeve of mine, but overstated description (like Michael licking Cajun tartar sauce from his lips before answering the phone) is like nails on a chalkboard to me. This ranges from trying-too-hard and thus easy to brush off, to so pretentious that you just skip over an entire mini-paragraph because it means absolutely nothing. Also, there’s a few moments that are vaguely racist (I don’t think I’ll ever forget “molasses-black with Asian eyes. In Chinese-red pajamas…she cut an exotic figure”), and as others have pointed out the portrayal of Autism is heavily stereotyped and offensive. It’s a let down for Randal’s character, because there could have been great potential there.

Also, because of the lack of character development, there’s no room to really like anyone except Michael and maybe Carson if you look past her very run-of-the-mill, tough-lady-cop-who-isn’t-allowed-to-be-feminine personality. Because Koontz has such short chapters that jump between a range of at least six or seven characters, there’s no time to fully attach yourself to anyone, even if you maybe kind of like them.

In an effort to find something to like, as I usually do, I tried considering the plot if it were written by someone I like – maybe I just don’t jive with Koontz’s writing, and that’s fine, that could still be the case. But even then, the plot is timid. Randal’s storyline adds nothing but interruption to the core plot, and it barely advances until the end of the book. Deucalion really only shows up at convenient times when information is needed, which is pretty wild since the book starts with him and you expect him to be Super Important. Erika presents a cool dilemma, but since her story isn’t the “main plot,” you don’t get to delve much into that, and it’s almost the same with Victor even though he’s central to the plot. Roy’s storyline also had potential, but in the end it was literally pointless, which is aggravating since it was the main focus for most of the book. It’s almost like he couldn’t pick which book to write, so he took all these potentially interesting plot points and reduced them down into a mildly cohesive book that doesn’t dedicate enough time to any particular one for them to be captivating enough. And really, it’s not just disappointing in that it’s a waste of time, but more so in that there was some real potential with the struggles of characters like Erika. It’s also frustrating because I’m a person who likes resolutions, so I’d like to know where the stories end, but there’s no part of me that cares enough to even Google the answer, let alone read any further into the series.

With the practical stuff out of the way (if anyone made it this far, kudos, I’m sorry, I don’t have the right forum in my virtual class to do this there lmao), I’m going to turn now to the fact that it’s weirdly sexist and at first I thought it was for the sake of the characters, but now I just think Dean Koontz is sexist (he was born in the 40s, it makes sense, but it added a lot to why I hated reading this so much). First of all, perhaps you could miss over some of this if you weren’t intentionally reading the novel with the application of gender theory in mind, after having read several sources examining the original Frankenstein from the lens of several other theories that often connected to masculinity and whatnot. But good lord…first of all, I know I’m starting a bit at the end (and I’ll leave out specifics), but the fact that Jenna wasn’t in the least traumatized after what happened to her is weird on any level, sexist in that it perpetuates violence against women with the excuse that maybe some women just won’t be traumatized, and frankly it’s just lazy writing. I think that part was the worst of any of it. But in a broader image, even though the MC is a woman, she isn’t feminine. Not that she HAS to be, that’s not at all important, but when every other female character is both feminine and under the power of somebody else, the fact that Carson is in a position of power but doesn’t actually exhibit any qualities of a woman makes it seem like Koontz doesn’t think a woman can be both powerful and authoritative and even the least bit feminine. She’s the very classic “cannot show emotion, my dad was a cop so I’m tough and don’t know anything about lady things” kind of character. I like her, but when there are no real women in the story that creates a problem.

I’ll overlook Roy’s character, because I’m not so out of tune to the story that I think his character needs parsing for sexism, because it’s central to his character. But Victor’s relationship with Erika is a special kind of weird. I get playing up the power dynamic, I get that he made her and she is literally an object to him, but the fact that he specifically programs her to feel shame for his own sexual pleasure is incredibly weird and disturbing. If it was executed differently, sure it could work because Victor’s a loon, but Koontz goes into a fair bit of detail about how being alive for two centuries made regular sexual activities so dull that Victor NEEDS violence and all of that to even enjoy it. Which, again, is very weird. And it is important to Erika’s story that she is allowed this shred of humanity, but the fact that it’s exercised in such a way that centers it around rape, that allows her to realize that she’s unhappy and doesn’t like what he does with her, is just really weird and disturbing. There were many parts of the book where I tried to justify it in the context of the story, but better writers could achieve the same ends without doing this level of disservice to women. And it was published in 2005, so there really isn’t even that much wiggle room in making excuses based on when it was written for any of the problematic takes he has.

I’m sure there’s so much more I could say, but that’s the gist. It’s going to make for a great paper, and analyzing it by applying gender theory is going to be awesome, but if you aren’t going to read it for the sole purpose of picking it apart don’t even bother.

I'm one of the few people in the world that was never really turned on by the Frankenstein story. I found it fairly boring when I tried to read it (even though I was in junior high at the time) and I never got into the movies either. The story just didn't strike me as something I'd find exciting.

I had the same expectations for Koontz's new series based on the legendary story, but at the suggestion of my mom, I decided to give it a try.

The story takes place in Lousiana where women are being found murdered, specific body parts having been removed from the corpse. Men are also being found, only it seems that their organs have been diligently removed. While the police deduce that they have a serial killer on their hands, the plot is a bit more complicated than that.

In fact, the book lends itself to several different twists and turns that could go anywhere in the next part of his series (which I have yet to read). There's a potential romantic relationship going on with the partners on the case. There's the arrival of Deucalion, the two hundred year old "monster" and first work of Dr. Victor Helios, aka Frankenstein, who knows his maker, knows his whims, and is determined to help put a stop to his evil genius tendencies, tendencies which include the development of a new race of beings, superior in every way to humans who see Victor as their "Father." There's Randall Six, the man made autistic who seeks the answer to why another like him is happy where he is not. Amidst the characters is a struggle for those made by the doctor, those who are not human, are not made by the same God but who wish to experience the fulfillment and happiness they see in those around them.

This book was great. It kept me hooked through the whole thing and makes me excited for more in the series even though I haven't yet even picked up Book 2. Koontz creates an atmosphere of horror, mystery, romance, and a world that is slightly disturbing. There is an anticipation brought on by not knowing who's human and who's a creation of Frankenstein and how they will be revealed. Admittedly, Koontz's take on the story makes me want to go back and give the original a second glance, something I'll probably consider doing in the near future.

Fast paced. It started with a bang and laid out some very interesting characters and situations. It ended on a cliffhanger, though, which was irritating since it didn't really resolve the major plot issues in the story.

A very ambitious and creative update on the age old “Frankenstein’s Monster” concept, and it works surprisingly well in a modern setting with New Orleans as the backdrop. Color me intrigued. I will definitely be finishing the rest of this series at some point. It has a solid mix of action, creepy science, and gore. My only real complaint is that the detective characters feel like they were ripped from Central Casting. Luckily, the rest of the cast is a lot more fleshed out (no pun intended).

Dean Koontz & Kevin J. Anderson did a fine job of updating the Frankenstein story. I've read this first installment twice in print, and I enjoyed revisiting it via audiobook. The narration by Christopher Lane is excellent.