From The Corner Of His Eye (From the Corner of His Eye - Dean Koontz)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	From the Corner of His Eye - Dean Koontz
Date:	19/01/02 (790 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Typically entertaining DK

Disadvantages: A little slow to start

My first experience of Dean R koontz was reading the superb "Watchers". The version I bought cost £3.50 and was published in 1987. Since then he’s been part of a special set of writers that I’ve sworn by over the years. From this particular genre, this includes Steven King, James Herbert, Richard Laymon and the outstanding genius that is Clive Barker.

In his own words "Dean Koontz was born into a very poor family and learned early on to escape into fiction – though books were scorned by his parents as a waste of time...He now lives in California with his wife, Gerda. Between writing his novels he enjoys interior decorating, collecting art glass and, of course, writing."

Why have his books been so popular over the years? Well, he writes extremely well and tells a great story. I personally don’t think that he’s ever bettered "Watchers" which was made into a pretty reasonable movie. DK writes in a style that tempts you into reading the next chapter. He’ll often leave the chapter ending in a way that the book becomes difficult to put down which has it’s downside along with the usual result that you rattle through the read at a rate of knots. DK has his critics. From time to time he’s been accused of writing to formula and this is understandable on occasions. He often centres the story around a rampant psychopath who often doubles as a sociopath as well. The main characters should really rumble what’s going on earlier but often appear a little slow and find out too late but still in time to sort the villain.

So what of "From The Corner Of His Eye"? Well. It’s a big book – 820 pages, in fact. Guess what? Yes, it centres around a psychopath who is also a sociopath. In this case, it’s Junior Cain. Junior’s real name is Enoch and, by profession, he is a physical therapist but due to a tragic childhood, he’s somewhat unbalanced
. He draws a lot of inspiration from the works of Caesar Zedd, which promote self-confidence. Cain suffers from the delusion that he is profoundly attractive to all women and this is compounded by his pre-occupation with the Arts and fine works. His background is unfurled to reveal a psychotic individual who murdered his father and is prone to random, violent outbursts that can result in the ultimate sanction.

Initially, Cain is married to Naomi. Early on in the book he murders her and through typical self-mutilation ends up in hospital. The police are suspicious but, eventually, Cain gets away with it and even gets awarded a huge lawsuit in a typically litigious set of circumstances that could only happen in the States. One of the investigating police officers – Thomas Vanadium – simply doesn’t believe Cain’s story and decides to stick around to see if he makes a mistake. This becomes an important aspect of the story, especially the pre-occupation with dimes that grows in eminence as the story builds.

Two births combine to provide the axis around which the rest of the story revolves. Agnes Lampion is pregnant and gives birth to the child prodigy – Bartholomew Lampion. In the process, her husband Joey dies in a car accident that they are both involved with on the way to the hospital. Meanwhile, Seraphim White gives birth to Angel White. Sadly, Seraphim dies soon after giving birth and her sister, Celestina White adopts the child. Celestine is a brilliant artist desperate to establish a successful career through her paintings. Angel turns into an "apple pie sweet as sky girl" who’s name was insisted upon by her dying mother.

Whilst in hospital, Cain dreams of a child called Bartholomew. This arouses a huge sense of guilt and fear in Cain and he makes it his mission to find and destroy the child called Bart. There is a sinister connection between Cain and one of the children but I’ll stop t
here so as to not to spoil the plot. The rest of the story is about Cain’s desire to find the child but the path he chooses takes him on a course towards the wrong one.

Sounds straightforward but Koontz introduces a supernatural angle in that Bart is no ordinary child. He suffers from cancer, which leads to the removal of both his eyes at the age of 3. Koontz builds an emotional sub plot that is very moving. The phase of the book that describes the build up to and the aftermath of Bart's operation brings a tear to the eye and is handled sensitively. As Bart’s prodigy becomes more obvious it seems that he has a very special ability from which the title of the book is drawn and provides the rationale for its conclusion. There is also a link between Bart and Thomas Vanadium, which is revealed later on in the story.

Koontz develops the characters in a very, detailed and painstaking manner. His attention to detail is immaculate and you can imagine the profile cards sitting in his index box as you progress through the book. Like all successful authors, he creates an empathy between the characters and the reader that lure you into to his latest spell. As ever, DK writes in his fluent style although, on this occasion, I found the early stages of the book less pacey than normal.

Koontz lacks the macabre machinations of King or the prevalent panache of Herbert but he probably doesn't care. He's sold millions of books over the years and has established himself as one of the Grandmasters of his genre (along with a few million dollars).

This book is recommended as a very tangled web that’s weaved in a typically entertaining Koontz yarn.
Downside, it left me feeling, once again, that DK could have made more of this and, in particular, the conclusion (care taken not to give you too many clues as to how it ends). I’m still stuck with liking "Watchers" more than anything else DK’s ever writte
n and I’m still waiting for him to surpass it.

The book is available at the usual outlets e.g. Amazon.com. My copy cost £6.99 and has IBSN 0-7472-6680-8.

More info is available at deenkoontz.com which has details of his latest offering ~ "One Door Away From Heaven"

Marandina

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