I had read Sole Survivor which really floored me. I'll try to get to this one before I release it

I started reading this book yesterday and once again Dean Koontz does a fantastic job of conveying horror. The central character is a girl named Laura Shane whose life is being monitored by two individuals named Stefan and Kokoschka. These two are supposed to represent good and evil though this early in the book it is still unclear who is good and who is evil. Stefan is acting as Laura's protector popping up in her life at various times to rescue her through difficult instances, yet he is also betraying the organization for which he works. Kokoschka appears immediately after Stefan and seems intent on killing Laura only because she plays an integral part in Stefan's plans. I curious to see what develops next

Once again I am convinced that Dean Koontz could eclipse the likes of Stephen King and Clive Barker. I got about half way through this and THE NEXT PORTION OF MY ENTRY CONTAINS SPOILERS IN THE BOOK. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ADVANCED PLOT DETAILS SKIP THIS

Laura Shane has grown up gotten married launched a successful writing career and had a kid to boot. On January 10th 1988 she is supposed to die in a car accident along with her husband and son coming back from the mountains. She is saved minutes from death by Stefan only to have her husband gunned down by Kokoshka. After a fight in the snow Kokoshka is killed by Stefan who promises to tell Laura everything in a few days when he returns from what we learn is a totalitarian state (given the names and year this was written probably the old Soviet Union) in the distant future which has been developing a time machine affetionetly called Lighting Road. As Stefan attempts to return to Laura 's time he is ambushed by Kokoshka. How you may ask...because THIS is where the story actually begins. By murdering three scientists and attempting to destroy the institute Stefan inadvertenly alerted Kokoshka to what he was doing. This is the point that Kokoshka started monitoring Stefan's presense in Laura Shane's life from 1955 to 1988 where Kokoshka is killed by Stefan. If this is something just imagine the ending.

THIS ENTRY CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU WANT TO PRESERVE THE SUSPENSE DO NOT READ ON




Well as I read on I realized that Stefan Kreiger and Heinrich Kokoshka are not from the future rather the past. To be specific Nazi Germany. This is why I think Dean Kontz is way better than most of today's horror writers: because instead of using monsters or even demons from hell Koontz uses the evil that man is capable of. Here the villans are pluked from the darkest chapter of the twentieth century and answer two questions:how advanced were Hitler's scientists and what would happen if any of these evil people were running around this modern era of technological advancements. Anyway back to the book: Stefan has revealed his identity as a member of the Hitler youth and the SS and how he is trying to atone for his atrocities. First as a double agent for the British and now trying to destroy the Lighting Road. He also reveals that on one of his jaunts he saw a young parapeligic named Laura Shane at a book signing and how he fell in love with her and her writing and set about to make her life better. What I like is how you see men who are willing to go to great lengths by using their resources for women that they love. I also love the parallel time aspect. Being a diehard Star Trek fan I can tell you that some of my favorite episodes dealt with parallel time so for me this is gravy. Laura Shane deep down in her subconscious knows that Stefan has told her the truth she can actually see a faint echo of herself wheelchair bound, single and struggling but also still writing though very different books which reminds me of the old author's maxim: write what you know.

Overall I thought this book was good. The ending was standard action fare. The most entertaining part of the book were the sections dealing with time travel and parrallel time. What also intrigued me was how this was written out of sequence. Depending on your point of view the story either begins when Laura Shane is born or when Stefan kills the people behind the Lightning Road and is then shot by Kokoshka while escaping to the future. The reason I'm saying this is when Stefan was shot and escaped to the future Kokoshka discovered all of his previous jaunts into the future and begins monitoring Stefan during those jaunts in Laura's life. What I did not like was how God is portrayed as this random being who plays lottery with our lives. No one said this would be easy. As for why God would let bad things happen to good people that's a question that has yet to be answered. I am releasing this book to my sister-in-law next Sunday when she comes up for a Neal McCoy concert. I hope she's curious enough to enter this book

Release planned for Saturday, August 02, 2003 at my yard sale 205 NW 15th St Lawton Ok 73507 in Lawton, Oklahoma USA.

Did not sell at the yard sale

Release planned for Wednesday, December 24, 2003 at House a 1000 miles from nowhere in Olustee, Oklahoma USA.

Letting my sister-in-law read this.

Got it back from my sister-in-law

RELEASE NOTES:

I figured people in the Gulf Coast might like something to read