Shadow Fires

Rating:
Summary: Shadow Fires: a less than mediocre book
Review: Dean Koontz's Shadow Fires seems to be a remarkable novel on the outside, but upon closer inspection becomes a convoluted and literally dull book. The plot of a man dying and coming back to life via a revolutionary genetic process, and the following events to keep the "zombie" a secret from the general public would normally have the makings of an inventive, fresh, and interesting novel. However Koontz introduces too many main characters before the reader gets halfway through Shadow Fires , and therefore spends considerable time constructing setting and giving background information on the new characters instead of advancing the plot. Consequently, Koontz moves the book at an extremely slow pace. Also, the introduction of a number of characters does not allow the reader to develop feelings about anyone, because they are being forced to pay attention to many people at once. In addition, Koontz goes in to detail about inconsequential actions, which may add to the general atmosphere of the novel, but also detracts from the time spent on advancing the plot. All of these aforementioned flaws lessen the book's quality, literally destroying the excellent plot of Shadow Fires. If Koontz had removed perhaps half the story and kept the plot intact, Shadow Fires would have been a wonderful novel, however, it is less than a mediocre novel that had promise in the beginning, but lost it quickly.