Lightning
by Dean Koontz
Book Summary Information
Author: Dean KoontzEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-02
ISBN: 0425192032
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Book Reviews of Lightning
Book Review: "Where he comes from...is only one step this side of hell."
Summary: 4 Stars
Combining elements of sci-fi and time travel with the horror-filled plots for which he has become famous, Dean Koontz tells the story of Laura Shane and a "guardian spirit" who appears, accompanied by huge flashes of lightning and the crash of thunder, at key points in her life. Though the tall, blonde stranger has appeared in her life twice during her childhood, it is his appearance when she is an adult that begins the action of this intriguing novel. The stranger, named Stefan, is a time traveler whose appearances in Laura's life alternate with the story of his own life, taking place simultaneously more than forty years earlier, a time to which he returns through "the gate" on the blitzstrasse, the "lightning road."
Stefan's appearances in Laura's life are accompanied by great danger to Laura and her young son Chris. As she tries to figure out what is happening to her and why, she must rely on her young son's fascination with time travel and its "paradoxes" for clues about the unknown evil which menaces her. Filled with the kind of non-stop action one usually associates with espionage thrillers, Koontz's sci-fi/time-travel plot engages the reader's imagination with the thrills of "what if."
Though Koontz is somewhat heavy-handed with his descriptions and a bit melodramatic in his depictions of character, he is completely successful in establishing likable people engaged, against their wills, in epic battles between good and evil. Laura's sad background as a child and teenager, fully described here, makes her professional success as an adult feel well deserved. Her life-or-death struggles against unknown evil engage the reader precisely because these trials feel undeserved.
Those who are familiar with time travel stories may already know about its "paradoxes"--what a time traveler like Stefan can and cannot do within his time-traveling universe. Koontz explains these "rules" for the reader to make Stefan's behavior (and why he cannot do some of the things the reader wants him to do) more understandable and his plot more exciting. Filled with unexpected and unique twists, the plot features nicely developed characters who inspire sympathy, and quickly developing action leading to an exciting climax. Great escape reading. n Mary Whipple
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