Shadowfires

Rating:
Summary: Zombies are real, but they have some issues to deal with
Review: Eric Leben is a brilliant rich scientist. He's not a nice guy though and after an encounter with a garbage truck is dead. Rachael who had decided to settle on next to nothing in their divorce settlement suddenly inherits his company.

The government knows what Eric was working on and wants his secrets and everyone who knows about them. Meanwhile Eric's corpse walks out of the morgue. He wants his documents back and his wife dead. Being immortal isn't as much fun as you'd think, Eric has some physical and mental issues to deal with.

Ben Shadway who has had a crush on Rachael since he met her decides to accompany her while she flees those after her. He has a few secrets of his own and enemies.

This isn't Koontz's best work. It's fairly dated with references to communism with national security. It's storyline is fairly predictable in parts and the ending is very disappointing and unimaginatively simple. I also didn't think the moral dilemma about Anson Sharp was resolved properly for Jerry Peake before he acted either.

Rating:
Summary: A great movie! But it's a book...
Review: Like a fast-paced, well-crafted thrill? Well, here you have it. Dean Koontz has put together a good, long story with believable, likeable folks (except for those two bad guys), a nice little romance or two, plenty of white-knuckle moments and a satisfying (though a tad too pat) ending. For our love interest, we have Rachael Leben and Benny Shadway. Rachael, a real beauty, has been separated a year from her obsessive hubby, Eric. Benny, seemingly a low-key real estate guy with a fondness for old trains and Benny Goodman, turns out to have a past of gut-wrenching violence, tension and plenty of gunplay. And he's the good guy! Who'd a'thought it? Then there is Eric, a mad scientist who uses himself as a test-tube with lamentable and gooey results. But we won't go into that here. You need to sleep well tonight. While yucky Eric is pursuing Benny and Rachael across Southern California and Nevada, federal agents Anson Sharp and Jerry Peake are doing the same. It gets complicated. Listen up! Sharp is a bad guy, though he should be a good guy, federal agent and all. Really he's a slimeball. Well, so is Eric but for different reasons. Tagged up with Sharp is Peake, a young good-guy agent who dreams of becoming a legend. He has the misfortune of being teamed with Sharp. It presents difficult dilemmas, really difficult. While Eric is chasing Benny and Rachael, and Sharp and Peake are chasing Benny and Rachael (for very different reasons), two California cops, Julio Verdad and Reese Hagerstrom, are right behind them. Well, sometimes they are right ahead of them. It moves right along, this tale. They are a couple of really good guys, and who are they messing around with: Scumbag Sharp and slimball (literally) Eric. We have reason to worry about these two nice cops. Serious reason, because Eric, whoo-boy, is sliding down a wicked slope. Let this be a lesson to you: Never mix up your medications. Not only does he develop, uh, physical problems, but he changes in other ways too. And he does terrible, really terrible, things to people. And...at least once...it involves...the staff of his manhood...which has changed too. You don't want to even think about it. Mixed into all of this you will find "The Stone," a ham-handed, redneck of principle, Teddy Bertlesman in flamingo-pink who gets Reese Hagerstrom's motor running with anticipation, and, lastly, Whit Gavis, who has just one arm, one leg and some facial problems, but he's another good guy. Who survives? Who doesn't? Read the book and see. I have to hush up now because I see a hook coming at me from offstage.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book.
Review: Many of my favorite Koontz novels were originally published under the psuedonym LEIGH NICHOLS. There is something so engaging and suspenseful and passionate about those earlier novels that I really think he was in the top of his form back then. SHADOWFIRES stands out as one of his best. Beautiful and intensely-likeable Rachel Leben has finally escaped the neglect and cruelty of her husband, brilliant genetecist Eric Leben. Or at least she thinks she has. But Eric's hate for her (mainly for leaving him which in turn humiliates him) becomes a force of nature. Nothing will stop him from destroying her. Not even death... I've read this book at least twice now and will probably read it again. It's a classic "chase novel" with a creepy blend of science and horror and suspense. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Makes me wonder why I keep reading Koontz...
Review: Maybe I'm jaded, but the more of Koontz I read, the more I wonder why I keep going back for more. This book is a really good example of why: it shows Koontz's ability to take what could have been a really creepy ghost story and turn it into a government conspiracy. To top it all off, the ending was almost identical to that of "Mr. Murder" -- just a bit more predictable. If you'd like to see a better version of this same story, try "Mr. Murder." The one good thing I can say about "Shadowfires" is that I liked the characters...but sometimes characterization just isn't enough.

Rating:
Summary: An ex-husband back from the dead?
Review: While this story has a great premise, I do agree with some of the reviewers in saying that Koontz doesn't completely pull it off.

I'd really give this book about 3 1/2 stars if I could. It did keep me on the edge of my seat, wondering how things will turn out, however, some of the topics were just a little too out there for me.

Some of my favorite of Koontz's are: Odd Thomas, False Memory, Key to Midnight, House of Thunder & The Bad Place.