Customer Reviews

Frankenstein: The Dead Town

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

To say I was disappointed with this book is putting it lightly. I've loved this series since the first book, but starting with Lost Souls and now this... I've been really let down.

That isn't to say that there aren't good parts to this book. Erika V and Jocko are still great characters, and there are a few interesting scenes, but in the end the book is a mess. Victor is a laughable antagonist, whose so arrogent that he never really feels like a threat. The Builders are interesting, but they get overused, and the book lacks the darker, violent edge that made the first two so interesting.

The biggest problem is the sheer number of plotlines. When new characters and storylines are still being introduced during the last 75 pages, it just screams of padding. Then the ending, which should be pulse pounding and exciting, is glossed over and tied up with a "and they all lived happily ever after."

Really not very good, and a disappointing way to wrap things up.

The fifth and final book in the Frankenstein series has reminded me of why I am such a fan of Dean Koontz. It is gripping from beginning to end and really hard to tear yourself away from.I had been losing faith in Koontz, as more and more of his books had left me with a "what a waste of my time" kind of feeling, and when I began reading the 4th book I was very concerned I was again going to be disappointed, but Koontz really pulled it off. My complaint with some of his recent novels has been that he has spent so much of the novel developing and building up, that I find myself 30 pages from the end with no hint of a resolution, and the conclusion feels like he was running out of time and tried to wrap everything up too quickly. Thus was my worry as I delved into book 4. It seemed like he was introducing too many characters and too many settings to be able to adequately be able to flesh each out and bring back in to a neat conclusion, but he DEFINITELY succeeded! I would have liked to hear a bit more on the resolution (on both the good and bad guys sides) but all in all I felt that most of the questions were answered, and the story was brought to a very well rounded out conclusion. I'd like to see Koontz return to writing novels this gripping as the standard, as opposed to this being a rare gem in an increasingly disappointing line up.

I love Dean Koontz's depiction of the classic Frankenstein tale. So, since reading Lost Souls I have anxiously been waiting for the next installment.

The Dead Town was an enjoyable book. Koontz has a way of bringing characters to life that keeps me coming back. Carson and Michael are as quick-witted as ever. Erika and Jocko are still amusing in their oddities. Deucalion shines in this novel. And Victor Immaculate, who was barely glimpsed before, shows the mindset of absolute domination and total arrogance that defines him. A lot of side characters had plenty of action, which has good and bad points.

It did get repetitive, however. The Builders are interesting, but it seemed to go over the same scenes with them over and over. The ending was not as dramatic as I hoped, but it was a long way from disappointing.

Overall, I liked the book. If you liked Lost Souls, you will probably enjoy The Dead Town.

Dean Koontz is one of my all-time favorite authors. He is talented enough to take on just about any subject and weave an exciting story out of it. So, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is one of the classics, one that almost every child or adult has read or, if not read, then certainly watched one of the many movies or television versions that have come about over the years. The name automatically brings visions of monsters with creepy bolts stuck out of his neck and jagged scars made from stitching his body together--pieces cut free from fresh corpses stolen from the cemetery.

Dean Koontz has taken this old classic and worked his own kind of magic to bring about Victor Immaculate, the clone to the original Victor, known by many other names in the two hundred years that he has been alive. Deucalion is the first monster made by Victor Frankenstein, though not his last, made from the power of lightning, which can still be seen pulsing through his eyes. Victor Frankenstein was a genius, no doubt about it, but his ultimate goal is not to create, but to annihilate. He wants to see all of humanity destroyed and the world filled with his own creations, a world where everyone will bow down and worship him as their one and only god. Once he achieves this, he plans to kill what he has created, his ultimate goal to be the only living creature to walk the face of the planet. Deucalion may very well be the world's only hope, for he is the only one of Victor's monsters that can stand up to his maker and destroy him.

Deucalion ends up with half his face crushed, almost killed, when he and his father first butted heads. A monk in a monastery where Deucalion lived for awhile spends a great deal of time applying an intricate tattoo to the destroyed part of his face. If he hadn't done something to hide or mask it, everyone around Victor's first creation would know the massive injury was one no normal person could've survived. During this five-book series, Deucalion enlists the help of two private detectives and another of Victor's creations, Erika 5, who was also able to break the link of master and servant, to help him track down and destroy Victor and all the unholy creatures he brought into the world and turned loose on the unsuspecting population. In the end it will take the extraordinary efforts of a motley crew of professionals and misfits working together if they want to have any hope of bringing Victor Frankenstein down permanently.

I wish I had the room to touch on all the many different side plots I enjoyed while reading this series, but my review would be five pages long, and this just to touch on the highlights. Enough to say I became attached to the people involved and couldn't wait each year for the next segment to arrive. The Dead Town brings the scattered groups of survivors from the previous four novels together for the last battle against Frankenstein and his unholy creations. Can Deucalion, and the people he enlisted to help him along the way, survive against almost unspeakable odds to destroy a brilliant mind whose only wish is to see all life on Earth destroyed? I highly recommend all five books in the Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz. You won't regret the investment in this fast-paced, thrilling story, with a brilliant plot and exciting characters, both the good and the evil of the two halves. I was sad to see it all come to an end, even if it was an electrifying end.

This series of 5 books is a great read, This final one is definately a 5 Star! I love Dean Koontz.

Ever since I read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein when I was a teen I've always identified with the creature. I wanted to know more about him. Not his creator who I thought was conceited to have created him, and then negligent when it came to equipping the creature for the world he was to live in. In his character, Deucalion, Dean Koontz thoroughly answers my question: Whatever became of the creature? In the fifth and final book in his series we find Deucalion along with Carson and Michael Maddison in Rainbow Falls, Montana hunting down Victor Frankenstein's clone, Victor Immaculate, who is hell-bent on destroying all of humanity. The action picks up where book four, Lost Souls, left off. Deucalion uses his talent at bending time and space by teleporting wherever his mind takes him. Carson and Michael, cops deep down whether they're actually employed as cops, bring their special charm to the narrative. While Deucalion works on uncovering Victor Immaculate's whereabouts, they are informing the citizens of Rainbow Falls of the threat to their lives, and helping the residents to arm themselves. Erika and Jocko are also in the story line but not in the midst of the action regrettably. Jocko provides a lot of the comic relief. Mr. Lyss the reprobate hobo who has taken Nummy, a mentally challenged young man, under his wing also has some amazingly funny lines to deliver. That isn't to say the story isn't suspenseful, because it is. Koontz keeps the tension taut and with the viciousness of Victor Immaculate's Communitarians (the duplicates who are set in place of citizens who're killed) and his Builders (nanotechnology monsters who devour the bodies and create new builders) the horror factor is also high. You will find yourself rooting for the citizens of Rainbow Falls who have chosen to fight their invaders. The body count will be high in the end, but their resolve to win never flags. Very inspiring!
Another wonderful read from the highly creative mind of Dean Koontz.

After 6 years and 5 books, Dean Koontz Frankenstein series finally comes to a close in "The Dead Town". And, although this was far from some of his previously terrible works ("Relentless", "Breathless", "Forever Odd") it was still a rather lackluster and disappointing conclusion to a series that had so much promise.

When Koontz's first Frankenstein novel came out way back in 2005, it was a thoroughly entertaining, and original piece of fiction. Much like the first 3 "Odd Thomas" books, "Frankenstein" showed much potential to become an instant classic series like "Harry Potter" or "Twilight" Unfortunately, after a long 3 year break, and a weaker, more moody Koontz, this series fell apart the same way as the "Builders" begin to do in this book.
Of course the downfalls are pretty much par the course for most recent Koontz novels: same contrived and ridiculously flat (not to mention fake) conversations, same annoying writing style of Koontz as he tries to find beauty and good in things that are neither beautiful or good, and the typical a 380+ page buildup only to conclude in 5 pages. "The Dead Town" also lacks any decent characters like Michael and Carson who have devolved from the first 2 books from kick ass homicide detectives to a wimpy duo of weak jokes, lame situations, and overall lack any likeablity they once had. And then there is Victor Immaculate who's pride and self arrogance is so off-putting and down right dumb that he makes a very sorry model for the "super-villain" he is supposed to be.

True, this is no "Prodigal Son" or "City of Night", and yes, it is anything but spectacular, but "The Dead Town" is far from the worst Koontz novel, and comes in 3rd place in the series. It's darker, more violent, and generally a quick paced and somewhat enjoyable read. While the plot is weaker than its predecessors and bogs down in places, both The Builders and the Replicants are decent additions to Koontz's Frankenstein mythos, as is Deucalion (even if he too seems weak and uninvolved in this one). Thankfully Michael and Carson take a backseat in this one, and Lyss and Nummy don't seem to be as irritating as previously were in "Lost Souls".

Here's the verdict: I am glad that this series is finally wrapped up. Unlike Harry Potter I never felt a connection with the characters or the story line, and when I finally closed the last page on this collection, I felt more empty than satisfied. Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series could almost be compared to a TV series that has steadily declined with each ensuing season. "The Dead Town" was a minor bright spot in the moribund final 3 novels, but was anything but extraordinary.

How to start? this book sucked from start to finish...
I read the first when it came out, it was good then Mr Koontz decided we must wait years and years for the follow up while he writes like 30 books in between, more sucky than the next, Odd Thomas anyone??
Since I'm a sucker I read them all grinding my teeth, hoping the next one would be good, after all, Koonz gave us (me) so many great reads in the past.

Then all of a sudden he's cranking out Frankenstein's like there's no tomorrow...
This one is my last, that't it, I swear off the Dean. I'm not even going to bother recapping it, it's an atrocious bible thumping monstrosity, the worse being that horrible little dwarf character whose name my mind has blocked, it annoyed me more than Golum in the LOFTR trilogy.

I've come to realize that Koonz has let his religious belief take a front seat to the detriment of his art, every book I read of his for the past decade is more bible thumping than the next, the last few? I actually felt preached to. I do not mind my belief and opinion challenged by a book, that's why I read but I resent being talked to like a child at Sunday school. if you don't believe me, read "the taking"

As for the present book, it was nauseating, all that preachy BS about how good middle America is and the good folks salt of the Earth and the evils of big cities and snooty smarty pants elitist intellectuals (I guess Dean hasn't heard about the Crystal meth epidemic and it's origins) it's also an open love letter to the NRA and the Tea Party with the President of the United States as the bad guy who would take our guns and freedoms (since the book is happening now guess who that is?) really, it could have been written by Glen Beck with it's end of the world let's go to the bunker with our guns vibe.

YUCK!

With all the build-up this book creates, the climax and wrap-up happens too quickly and neatly - almost as if he couldn't wait to get this damn thing written and finished so he could go back to writing something else. And did it seem to anyone else that books four and five didn't feel like they had Koontz's passion and style? Sure, it had his formula, but it felt like he had written the outline and the company gave it to a ghost writer.

The Frankenstein novels are simply wonderful. I have loved them from the start, and all I ask is that Koontz keeps writing more and more and more.

And once again, Koontz manages--although how, I have no idea, since pretty much nobody else seems able to do it--to juggle tension and terror with humor.

And the characters! For my pure enjoyment reading, I love thrillers. But so many of them have characters that have less then stellar personalities. More types than people.

But Koontz not only creates characters that have depth, I also care about them. If you don't like Jocko...well, I can't actually imagine anyone not liking Jocko.

Now, about this book in particular.

Once again, Koontz manages to spin out logically from his original thesis. The newest batch of clones are full of problems, just like the first, but in new ways. They can't determine the difference between a minor problem that needs fixing and a major problem that could destroy all their plans.

And a word about the new Victor, who seems to me to represent a mixture of Dawkins and perhaps modern western flirtation with various Asian philosophies. Why, why, doesn't anyone else in these reviews mention how scathingly Koontz depicts modern culture and the current insanity of western culture? I found the newest Victor (whom we met in the previous Frankenstein book also) to be brilliant. A creature without a soul. Rather like a parody of the way many of the new atheists portray themselves--as Mr Spock without a drop of humanity.

Just wonderful.