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1CarlosMcRey
I'll just start off with saying I'm not a big fan of Dean Koontz. I had never been particularly tempted to read his stuff until luck placed a free copy of The Key to Midnight, one of his early novels, in my hands. Less horror than international thriller, the novel suffered mostly from a lack of thrills. Cardboard characters and wooden dialogue are forgivable in a thriller; boring me, on the other hand, will just earn you my contempt. So, after a few LT conversations regarding Koontz, someone convinced me to check out Odd Thomas, which was fairly entertaining though it did not convince me that I was missing much by not seeking out more of his stuff.
There is an interesting comparison between these two novels, though it is regarding somewhat peripheral material. The main character of Key to Midnight is detective Alex Hunter, who grew up in an abusive household. The abuse is depicted in flashbacks, sketched in rather vague terms. The suffering of his childhood has driven him to become a millionaire owner of a detective agency who owns many, many nice things. It has, however, left him unable to love, which is eventually overcome by a) meeting the heroine of the novel and b) watching Noh theater. (As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.)
Odd Thomas (the protagonist and narrator of the book that bears his name) also grew up in am abusive household, though his background is sketched in greater detail. His father was mostly neglectful, never interested in having a family. His mother was unable to cope emotionally with anyone else's needs and would react violently when she was needed. Odd also talks about his mom's sister, who apparently has spent a large part of her life in institutions, and his maternal grandmother, whose crazy wanderlust may have reflected a constant need to escape. Odd himself sees dead people, something that is often disturbing and makes his life complicated. Late in the novel, he wonders if his mother, aunt and grandmother may not have been afflicted by similar experiences and begins to think about how those might have changed their lives.
Koontz himself grew up in an abusive household, and it's intriguing how that crops up in these two books. Key to Midnight, the early novel, uses the protagonist's child abuse as a plot point but little else. One gets at best a nebulous sense of what was happening in that house, and the redemption seems rather contrived.
So perhaps it's a reflection of Koontz' development as a writer or the way time has made those wounds less painful, that Odd Thomas treats similar material in a more complex and convincing manner. The abusive parents in Odd Thomas have some actual texture, and when Odd wonders about what might have driven his mother to act the way she did, it makes for fairly evocative reading. It's a passage that manages to humanize her without letting her off the hook for her actions.
There is an interesting comparison between these two novels, though it is regarding somewhat peripheral material. The main character of Key to Midnight is detective Alex Hunter, who grew up in an abusive household. The abuse is depicted in flashbacks, sketched in rather vague terms. The suffering of his childhood has driven him to become a millionaire owner of a detective agency who owns many, many nice things. It has, however, left him unable to love, which is eventually overcome by a) meeting the heroine of the novel and b) watching Noh theater. (As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.)
Odd Thomas (the protagonist and narrator of the book that bears his name) also grew up in am abusive household, though his background is sketched in greater detail. His father was mostly neglectful, never interested in having a family. His mother was unable to cope emotionally with anyone else's needs and would react violently when she was needed. Odd also talks about his mom's sister, who apparently has spent a large part of her life in institutions, and his maternal grandmother, whose crazy wanderlust may have reflected a constant need to escape. Odd himself sees dead people, something that is often disturbing and makes his life complicated. Late in the novel, he wonders if his mother, aunt and grandmother may not have been afflicted by similar experiences and begins to think about how those might have changed their lives.
Koontz himself grew up in an abusive household, and it's intriguing how that crops up in these two books. Key to Midnight, the early novel, uses the protagonist's child abuse as a plot point but little else. One gets at best a nebulous sense of what was happening in that house, and the redemption seems rather contrived.
So perhaps it's a reflection of Koontz' development as a writer or the way time has made those wounds less painful, that Odd Thomas treats similar material in a more complex and convincing manner. The abusive parents in Odd Thomas have some actual texture, and when Odd wonders about what might have driven his mother to act the way she did, it makes for fairly evocative reading. It's a passage that manages to humanize her without letting her off the hook for her actions.
2CarlosMcRey
Aargh, I misspelled Koontz' name on the one place I can't fix it! Well, don't I feel stupid.
