An Oxymoronic Title but a Tale Far from Moronic! (Cold Fire - Dean Koontz)

Member Name: Ophelia

Product:	Cold Fire - Dean Koontz
Date:	24/06/03 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting plot, horrific

Disadvantages: Another cr*p title!

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed how unmemorable and similar all Koontz?s book titles are? Cold Fire, Night Chills, Bad Place, Strangers, Phantoms, Whispers ? apart from the fact that it is difficult to remember which you have read and which you have not it is also hard to remember which were good and which were mediocre. Thank goodness for consumer reviews like this!

THE STORY

Jim Ironheart dedicates his life to follow impulses. He receives strange presentiments of fatal occurrences and travels thousands of miles to save the victims. While preventing a young boy from being run over by a reckless driver he meets journalist Holly Thorne. She becomes fascinated by him and starts to investigate him and his powers.

The two soon become romantically involved and as they try to learn more about the psychic messages Jim receives they begin to discover that their lives are in danger. Jim had thought that it was just God acting through him but it soon becomes clear that there is also a far darker force at work, one that is determined to stop Holly from getting at the truth and is willing to kill her to do so.

THE CHARACTERS

Holly Thorne is a journalist. As we all know journalists are generally considered to be the lowest of the low; they pester those who have suffered loss to revel in their pain, they wreck lives in the pursuit of a headline and are concerned only with their own kudos and winning a Pulitzer Prize. How then can our heroine carry on in this profession?

Koontz goes to great lengths to dissociate Holly from other hacks. She frequently muses that it is because she has never had a ruthless ability or stooped to underhand tactics that she has never been promoted and has not succeeded in her career. When she is involved in a tragedy of her own she launches into a tirade against journalism when one reporter dares to question her on how she is feeling. Quite why she persisted as long as she did in
her chosen vocation is unclear but Koontz clearly establishes her as a good woman pacing along the moral high ground.

Holly?s main redeeming feature is her behaviour towards those she loves. After she has fallen for Jim she is ready to go to the end of the world to help him no matter what the dangers. Even when given and opportunity to escape from a supernatural being, which can pass to the real world from dreams (a la Freddie Kreuger), she stops in her tracks realising that no matter what the dangers she cannot leave Jim. Very noble I?m sure, if not a little insane, but we are given clear indications that she is a loving, caring and reliable woman.

I will not go into as much detail examining our hero, Jim, for fear of spoiling the plot. However, a man who selflessly drops everything and risks his own life to save that of a stranger can?t be too bad. To do this once would be amazing but to do it on such a regular basis is astounding. No wonder Holly falls for him. Oh yes, and he has dreamy blue eyes!

While we would all acknowledge the maxim ?You can?t make an omelette without breaking eggs? it would seem that, on occasion, Jim takes this a little too far. On one of his missions he shoots dead a grocery store robber who was about to kill a man and his young daughter. However, he then proceeds to fire another four rounds into the dead man?s face. Fulfilling righteous anger or teetering on the brink of insanity? Whichever the case, we get the distinct impression that our hero has another side to his nature.

HORRIFIC

While Koontz?s books sit within the horror genre, some readers may have been lulled into a false sense of security by some of his novels. Yes, they can be scary, yes they can give you goosebumps but they are not normally graphically horrific. This book is an exception.

Once Holly has enraged the mysterious dark entity she finds herself visited by incredibly realistic visions of a hideous na
ture. She sees herself tortured and dying with her hands cut off but retaining a will of their own. She envisages herself hiding amongst dead bodies watching a crazy man who has ?gone postal? shooting innocent customers in a fast food restaurant.

These episodes are described in detail by Koontz and we too feel as though we are present watching the abominable events unfold. We taste her fear as clearly as we may a Tunnock?s teacake in our own hand. Fans of the horror genre will marvel at Koontz?s skill in his narratives and in engendering despair and horror in the reader at the nature of the human condition. Those of a weaker disposition should avoid this book!

DON?T FORGET YOUR RUBBER KNICKERS

This is certainly one of the most satisfying Koontz?s I have come across for a while. The characters are interesting, the plot is complex and it is not until the final few pages of the book that all mysteries are solved. Koontz gives us a proper scare, which is lacking in some of his novels, and he has us glued to the pages. Well worth the bitten nails.



FURTHER INFO
Publisher: Headline Book Publishing, Euston Road, London
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 0-7472-3605-4

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