One trailer away from abduction
Written: Mar 03 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's Dean Koontz, so you won't be bored.
Cons: Not his best work and some chapters are a little long-winded.
The Bottom Line: Any Dean Koontz novel is better than none at all, but he has far better to choose from than this one.
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| pattipita's Full Review: One Door Away from Heaven Books |
Another Koontz book and always a satisfying read, but this one falls short of his other novels. "One Door Away From Heaven" is a montage of storylines and characters who/which all come together at the conclusion of the novel. It begins with an attractive but dysfunctional heroine, Mickey, who lives in a trailer with her kind but slightly strange aunt. Mickey is trying to get her life together when she runs into the next-door-neighbor, a 10-year-old, disabled, child prodigy named Leilani. They strike up an immediate friendship, and Mickey eventually learns that Leilani's step-father is some weird bio-ethicist alien-catcher guy who is responsible for Leilani's disabled brother's disappearance. Step-daddy claims aliens abducted him to heal him, but Leilani knows better, and knows she's next on his list. Apparently step-daddy believes that people with disabilities or low quality of life (according to him) should die and save themselves and others unnecessary suffering. The interesting part of this storyline is that there really are bio-ethicists out there who believe this, and Koontz exposes some of them and their philosophies in this novel.
Mickey is then on a mission to save Leilani. Meanwhile, their is another storyline of a boy named Curtis, escaping something or somebody, we know not what exactly, but either aliens or CIA or FBI or somebody with evil intentions.
Another story is the one of policeman turned private investigator Noah, who hates injustice and loves kids. There is also a cool dog, and druggy-mom, and other assorted characters. Dean Koontz is a master of characterization and always manages to make you care deeply for the plight of his heroes and heroines, and he does so in this novel, as well. But where he misses, I believe, is in some of the drawn-out chase scenes, and in some of the less than believable dialogue. It can be quick, funny, intelligent, at times, and then becomes formulaic at others. You get the feeling you've read the lines before, probably in another one of his novels.
But all things considered, a bad Dean Koontz novel is better than most novels out there. Not that this one is bad. I don't think I've ever read, or ever could read, a BAD Koontz novel. But he's written far, far better ones. My recommendations: Watchers, Midnight, and Dark Rivers of the Heart.
Recommended:
Yes
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pattipita
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Reviews written: 73
Trusted by: 6 members
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