KCFemme's Full Review: Dean R. Koontz - From the Corner of His Eye
I'm truly a Dean Koontz fan. Only about a year ago my husband introduced me to this author of thrill, horror and adventure and have found myself reading book after book after book.
From the Corner of His Eye is one of those books that if read, not knowing the author or title, you would know it were Koontz if you were a fan. Some of the characteristics that you would find would be the push against the limits of the current views of reality. It's amazing how he can take his story just slightly beyond what is known bring a realistic view to "what-if" situations.
In addition, some of his characters tend to have slightly elevated sixth/seventh senses. They have extraordinary abilities, but they consider themselves nothing more than ordinary people.
The other element I find in his books, and once again found, is the underlying "goodness" of the good guys and the "pure evil" in the bad guys. Dean Koontz does not ever leave you guessing as to who is good (who you are supposed to root for) and who is bad (the one that's gonna end up dead or wishing they were).
The story itself is actually several stories that are all related, but take time before they meet. You get to know the different groups of people, you constantly question what they have to do with each other, and they invite you into their lives.
Joey, Agnes & Bartholomew - These are good people who always try to help others. Unfortunately a lot happens to them that is difficult to accept when you want to be a part of their family. Barty is the main character of the book and it's interesting because even at the age of three he understand that he is the main character.
Seraphim, Celestina, and Angel White - Two sisters and a daughter. Heavenly messages move through this group. Evil brought them all together, but all were good enough to realize. Angel, born the same day as Barty, lives a state away, but both were born with the same purpose.
Enoch Cain (Junior) - Begins by luring you into a trap of wanting to really like this guy ... Many, Dean Koontz certainly throws you for a loop with him. But instead of going from Good to Evil, he took the progression small steps at a time. Every day he became for self centered and focused. Unfortunately there are two small children in his future.
Detective Tom Vanadium - A priest turned cop. Bound to make the world more balanced, has a few gifts that are similar to those of the children. In addition, he is an amateur magician, throwing his suspects into confusion and then paranoia, until he finally gets them where he wants them.
This story has so many small plots, and has so many things in which to make you think about that it can be a slower read than many of his other books. From The Corner of His Eye have already given my husband and I many discussions on the Quantum Mechanics that make up reality. The possibilities that are discussed in the book are those that aren't so far fetched that anyone would read thinking this is just science fiction ... these ideas bring just a little shadow of doubt to the surface to make you wonder ... What If?
There are two main principles in this book that I found very intriguing.
1 - Any small kindness (or meanness) will affect others throughout the universe. The affect may not show itself or years and years, but at some point, it will have made a difference.
2 - Any time you make a decision that may not be the right decision, another parallel universe is created where you did make the right decision. Therefore, when you lose something or someone important to you remember that in another place you still have them, and you should always be thankful for you do have in this time/place because other yous may not be as lucky.
Ok, this may sound like a really philosophical book, but it is also very much a thriller. It isn't a horror like Intensity, and it isn't as much action as Watchers, and it doesn't take you too far beyond the realm of belief like in Phantoms. It brings them all together in smaller portions to create a very well written book.
The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because of how long it took before the story lines began intersecting and before you began to learn the main purpose of the entire book. It took three quarters of the book to move through three years, setting up the story lines, and the last quarter was wrapping everything up and showcasing points of their lives over the next 20 years.
Overall, I did enjoy it, I was never bored with, and it produced a lot of great discussions that are still going on. Debates about our perceptions of reality and whether it is possible that Dean Koontz just may have spotted all these things "From the Corner of His Eye"
This is the story of a young boy who loses his sight and then mysteriously regains it. It is the story of a courageous band of seekers, and a relentle...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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