Book #58

Frankenstein: City of the Dead, by Dean Koontz. Unabridged audio.

This picks up right where book #4 left off, with the town of Rainbow Falls, Montana under attack from Victor Frankenstein's monsters. This is the first part of his plan to (rub hands and laugh maniacally) take over the world.

I liked the way Koontz handled the small-town and religious elements of the story. Both of these aspects can easily fall into stereotypes, but Koontz avoids those writing temptations. The small-town folk, and the religious folk, both contribute strongly to the action in the book. From the days of Mary Shelley herself, the Frankenstein story is one that lends itself to making strong thematic points, and Koontz uses the legend to make points about the nature of humanity and God.

I thought that only a few of the characters were well-drawn and interesting, and the ball seemed to have been dropped on some of the key characters in book #4. Yes, they were here in book #5, but not the same extent that they were previously. Reading the books so closely after each other made this flaw stand out.

Based on the ending of the novel, I am assuming the series is finished up. Yes, we thought that after book #3, but this time I think the story is done.