If You Are Interested in SHS Issues, You'll Want to Read Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz
One of the perks of being friends with a world famous author is that you get to read advance copies of his books. Last month, I had that great pleasure with Dean Koontz's newest novel, Your Heart Belongs to Me.
I knew going in that the story is about a man who needs a heart transplant. It is that--and much more. A real thriller in the Koontz mold, and without ruining any surprises--of which there are many--let me just say that Dean grapples with (and tears at) some of the matters we discuss here at Secondhand Smoke. Along the way, he also explores the seductive power of paranoia, the nature of evil, the importance of trust, and how profound difficulties test our character.
I am not saying I liked the book, mind you. But I reached the climax just as the plane I was traveling in landed at Oakland Airport. My eyes were racing across the page because I wanted to know what would happen. I felt like yelling at the pilot, "Once more around the Bay, please!"
For those who are interested, this link will take you to the Amazon page, which contains a short interview with Dean about the book. (Funny, Amazon never gives me that kind of star treatment.)
Labels: Dean Koontz, Your Heart Belongs to Me
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 5:58 PM
9 Comments
9 Comments:
*teasing* Name-drop much?
That said-- I like Mr. Koontz's writing, morally, although a lot of his stories don't get to me-- the Frankenstein that I've read left me cold, although I couldn't put them down.
((Odd Thomas, I adore-- and I've never thanked you for an old post I don't even remember that pointed me towards the series))
Now I'll have to pick this up the next time I've got a flight!
I don't usually name drop, but our friendship has been written about in the media. So, what the heck.
Odd Thomas is my favorite too. If you haven't read the latest, Dean really ratcheted up the stakes for Odd and all of us. I think. Two or three more books in the series, I am told.
It's a lax couple of months for Elfie and I-- I plan to get the next Odd book as soon as his job starts up.
Even if he cruise along in Drizzt mode for a dozen books, it would still be a step above a lot of books.
Could you please pass on to him that I think I may be able to get to some skeptical friends, morally speaking, just because of his Odd books?
Thanks for posting about books that have a good message.... Going to the library lately has left me very disturbed by some of the books that I am seeing, fiction and nonfiction. I just saw one, for example, that told the fictional story of a young 30-something mother who was struggling with breast cancer and decides to end her life "with dignity." Honestly, I wanted to throw that book in the nearest trash can, so that no one would read it and be influenced in a bad way. But I didn't... I just hid it behind a couple other books, which I'm sure didn't work for long...
Heather: Thanks for that. There are so many books, movies, and TV themes like that. It sends a subtle but insidious messge, doesn't it? Is it any wonder why so many elderly people worry about being "burdens?"
It doesn't surprise me that Wesley is pimping Mr. Koontz's books. Dean Koontz pimped Wesley's stuff at the end of his novel, ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN. Which, by the by, is one of my all time faves. That's also a novel that talks a LOT about stuff going on here on SHS, and it has *great* lead characters. I don't know many male authors who write female characters as well as he does.
I'm currently in the middle of reading THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR. Man, this book rocks. I like Koontz's stuff because he makes evil EVIL! You don't get some wishy-washy neutrality about it. People can be evil. And again, this is another book that deals with issues here at SHS, especially Human Exceptionalism.
A lot of his books touch on Human Exceptionalism. VELOCITY has a character in a coma whose doctor wants to dehydrate her to death. BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON talks about bioethics and human experimentation. THE TAKING is, in my humble estimation, both the Catholic answer to the Left Behind series and a sharp look at the possible consequences of modern culture's obsession with death.
I like Odd Thomas, but I like Christopher Snow a little better, just because he somehow seems a bit more mature, or at least he does in FEAR NOTHING compared to ODD THOMAS, the first books of the respective series.
I've been a fan of Dean Koontz since reading LIGHTNING back when I was in middle school. I couldn't believe that a guy could write a girl's character so well. He's my favorite author, and I like him better than Stephen King because he doesn't have the same moral ambiguity as King, and he doesn't go for the gross-out factor that King does. Plus, I'm with Annie Welks - the swearing turns me off. LOL
You had to go and pimp my fav author, didn't you, Wesley?
Tabs: Odd Thomas is maturing and his courage is increasing. His selflessness is growing. Read every book in the series, in order. The stakes are getting higher. The possible consequences to Odd and all of us, more dire.
Wesley -
I shall; I'm still working on DARKEST EVENING. I read most of Odd Thomas, but I had to put it down at one point when a friend of mine ruined the ending for me by accident. Once I get through this one I'll start over with the first book and get through it. If he matures the way you suggest, he'll be right up there in Christopher Snow's league, and that'll be awesome!
I think what gets me is, despite being a total cat person, I love his books with his dogs in them the best. Cats as guardian animals or magical creatures have been done to death; it's nice to see someone give dogs equal time in the magical department.
Despite being completely in love with his writing, I had the worst time with Odd just because I felt so deeply for his characters and I knew how the first book ended before I finished it that I was scared to go on. I keep meaning to read it but his dog novels always attract my attention.
(Totally off topic here, but Orson, from the Christopher Snow novels, used to be my fav Koontz dog. Now, Nickie is.)
Darkest was probably Dean's most difficult book to write. In the middle of it, his beloved Trixie suddenly came down with cancer and within a very quick time had to be put down. He and Gerda were devastated, as he has written. Imagine the difficulty of writing a book about a wonderful golden retriever when yours has just died.
They have a new retriever named Anna now, who is bringing them great joy.
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