By Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam
Pub. Date: December 8, 2015
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
In Dean
Koontz’s new thriller, we are introduce to Bibi Blair, a 22 year old author
with a critically acclaimed book to her name. Her life looks like it is just
getting started until she finds she has a rare and especially vicious form of
cancer. There is little to no hope that she can be treated effectively, yet she
wakes up in the hospital the next day in total remission. Through an odd form
of divinization she discovers the reason she was miraculously cured: to save
the life of a teenage girl by the name of Ashley
Bell.
With that
idea, Dean Koontz takes us into a whirlwind supernatural/science-fiction thriller
that we have not seen from him since Watchers
or Lightning There are all the usual
Koontz gimmicks: sadistic villains, deadly cults, a taste of the paranormal and
a resourceful young innocent throw into chaos. . Thankfully though, in this one
he kept the noble golden retriever at minimum sweetness level. Yet this is the
first time in a very long time that I did not think Koontz was sleep walking
through it. The author takes an intriguing premise and makes it complex and befuddling
in a good way. Bibi Blair is one of his best characters and one whose full
importance and talents are very slowly revealed. The story only spans a few
days yet the 600 plus narration plays with it, adding important reveals from
her past and vague characters whose roles are not clear until the information
is needed. Much of the tension, and pleasure, comes from Bibi’s own thought
process as she puts together the clues to her new purpose and evidently the surprise
turn near the end.
Recently I
reviewed The City and stated it was a
change from Koontz’s usual, yet I criticized it for not being different enough.
Here we have the author going back to the horror thriller that he made his
reputation but finding new ideas and ways to express them that will keep even
the stalwart Koontz reader interested. Ashley
Bell is not the usual roller coaster ride of a thriller. There are times it
feels a bit slow but the attentive reader will realize that those slow parts
often provide the most important materials to the mystery. Sometime Koontz’s
characters can feel a bit thin but Ashley Bell may be one of his best since Odd
Thomas. I have purposely stayed away from revealing anything but the bare bones
because every detail is important and knowing it in advance may take some of
the pleasure out of the reading.
So what we
have in Ashley Bell is Koontz’s most
interesting novel since Odd Thomas and
one of the his best since Watchers
and Lightning. If you have soured
toward this prolific writer in the past, it is time to check him out again.
In Dean
Koontz’s new thriller, we are introduce to Bibi Blair, a 22 year old author
with a critically acclaimed book to her name. Her life looks like it is just
getting started until she finds she has a rare and especially vicious form of
cancer. There is little to no hope that she can be treated effectively, yet she
wakes up in the hospital the next day in total remission. Through an odd form
of divinization she discovers the reason she was miraculously cured: to save
the life of a teenage girl by the name of Ashley
Bell.
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