Do you remember the first years of American Idol?  When one of the contestants would give a particularly good, unique performance of a “classic”, Randy Jackson would say, “You made it your own, dawg!”  Well, Dean Koontz certainly has made Frankenstein his own.

There is a certain wow factor that an author like Dean Koontz brings to his stories.  He goes well beyond the basic storyline, with multilayered storylines, complex characters and well developed comic relief.  It is with good reason that Koontz occupies so much space on the horror shelf of my local bookstore.

Prodigal Son has two storylines that are intertwined.  Koontz has woven them together like a master.  There is the arc of this book, and above and beyond that is that of the series as a whole.  The two flow seamlessly together and it all makes perfect sense.

In my mind there are two sets of characters.  Detectives O’Connor and Maddison carry the story.  They are well developed, interesting characters that I felt a connection to and want to know more about.  But beyond them is Deucalion and his nemesis.  These two are darker characters with secrets that only time can fully reveal.

Balancing everything are the comic elements; Koontz has chapters dedicated to banter between O’Connor and Maddison over who should drive the car, and paragraphs about Cheez-Its.  These are the factors that make a book more enjoyable.

I have found a new series that I want to continue and a classic that I feel I need to read.  What more could a reader want from a book?


*5 Stars 

Frankenstein:  Prodigal Son


By Dean Koontz

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