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Kevin J. Anderson

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son Hardcover – February 3, 2009

by Chuck Dixon (Adapter), Dean Koontz (Author), Brett Booth (Illustrator)

4.5 2,055 ratings

Book 1 of 5: Frankenstein

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In the nineteenth century, Dr. Victor Frankenstein brought his notorious creation to life, but a horrible turn of events forced him to abandon it and slip away from the public eye. Two centuries later, a serial killer is on the loose in New Orleans, gruesomely salvaging body parts from each of his victims, as if trying to assemble a perfect human being.

Detective Carson O’Connor is cool, cynical, and every bit as tough as she looks. Her partner, Michael Maddison, would back her up all the way to Hell itself–and that just may be where their new case leads. For as they investigate the strange killings, O’Connor and Madison find themselves drawn into a weird underworld of deception and secrets where a man named Victor Helios has created an entire race of perfectly engineered people who are meant to take humankind’s place one day. But something is happening to some of Helios’s creations, and it may be that this bizarre serial killer is the least of the detectives’ worries.

From the masterly pen of New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz–and featuring an adaptation by legendary comic book writer Chuck Dixon and gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Brett Booth–Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Sonis a story filled with fast-paced action, gripping horror, and thrilling adventure.

Book 1 of 5

Frankenstein
Print length

144 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Del Rey/Dabel Brothers
Publication date

February 3, 2009
Dimensions

6.84 x 0.49 x 10.53 inches
ISBN-10

0345506405
ISBN-13

978-0345506405
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based directly on the bestselling novel by Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson, this exuberantly gruesome comic adaptation draws some themes from Mary Shelly's 1818 original but also many images from horror movies, including contemporary slasher flicks. Deucalion, the first Frankenstein's monster, is summoned from meditation in a Tibetan monastery by news that Victor Frankenstein, aka Helios, is alive and thriving in New Orleans. Although Victor poses as a philanthropist, he actually is creating hoards of genetic slaves in an abandoned hospital. His control over his creations is slipping, however, and one has become a bloody serial killer, convinced that he can find what it takes to be human if he looks inside enough people. As this installment concludes, a tough female police detective is beginning to believe Deucalion's story, while the violence increases. Booth's vigorous layout and pencils do an admirable job of keeping characters and action clear. Dixon's adaptation also effectively uses Koontz's greatest skill, his breakneck thriller plotting, so that the story races from one ghastly shock to the next. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up—Detective O'Connor manages to look seductive and tragic while snacking in parking lots and blindly following the trail of New Orleans's most gruesome murderer. She and her partner, the slightly lackluster Michael Maddison, have discovered corpse after corpse throughout the city, each missing limbs or organs. Meanwhile, life seems easy for Victor Helios, scientist and technology mogul who lives in the lap of Southern luxury with an army of servants and a spouse to rival the most astonishing of Stepford wives. Strangely though, his company, Helios Biovision, housed in the crumbling Hands of Mercy Hospital, features bricked windows, security cameras, steel doors, and a staff that never sees the light of day. Based on the novel by Kevin J. Anderson and Dean Koontz, this graphic novel is one of the more compelling in the recent trend of "classic" adaptations. The story, though familiar, is packed with a satisfying blend of sinister twists and modern supporting characters. Booth's art has enough intensity and detailed creepiness to make any reader squirm. The eyes of the characters convey a sense of doom and inhumanness that adeptly mirror the philosophical darkness of the plotline. Blending questions of the human condition, justice, and revenge with a healthy smattering of gore, this first volume is sure to be snatched up by teens.—Shannon Peterson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Del Rey/Dabel Brothers; Stated First Edition (February 3, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345506405
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345506405
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.84 x 0.49 x 10.53 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,929 in Literary Graphic Novels (Books)
- #4,278 in Horror Graphic Novels (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 2,055 ratings

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Dean Koontz
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Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirits of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
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Kevin J. Anderson
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Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. My major new fantasy trilogy (all finished!) consists of SPINE OF THE DRAGON, VENGEWAR and GODS AND DRAGONS. My newest Dune novel with Brian Herbert is THE HEIR OF CALADAN, end of a new trilogy. I also love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series—newest one is DOUBLE-BOOKED— humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS, CLOCKWORK LIVES, and CLOCKWORK DESTINY, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are some of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.
I have written more than 175 books, including 59 national or international bestsellers. I have over 24 million books in print worldwide in thirty languages. I've been nominated for the Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Bram Stoker Award, Shamus Award, and Silver Falchion Award, and I've won the SFX Readers' Choice Award, Golden Duck Award, Scribe Award, and New York Times Notable Book; in 2012 at San Diego Comic Con I received the Faust Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement.
I have written numerous bestselling and critically acclaimed novels in the Dune universe with Brian Herbert, as well as Star Wars and X-Files novels. In my original work, I am best known for my Saga of Seven Suns series, the Terra Incognita trilogy, the Dan Shamble, Zombie PI series, and Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives with Neil Peart. Along with my wife Rebecca Moesta, I am also the publisher of WordFire Press. Find out more about me at wordfire.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter and get some free fiction.
FOR RIGHTS INQUIRIES (Film/TV/Gaming/Foreign/Literary) please contact me directly at info (at) wordfire (dot) com, and I will put you in touch with my appropriate representative.
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Christopher Horne

Amazing read with a fantasic story line

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2011

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There is a murderer on the loose and it is Carson and Michael's job to find the killer. Harker (another member of the New Orleans Homicide division) is attempting to find peace with himself. Deucalion only wishes to finish what he has started. Victor is trying to make his world perfect. Roy is trying to complete his mission of making himself perfect and finding the perfect girl for himself.

This book was filled with many side stories, that, while I was reading it I was unsure how everything would fall into place. After you get a third of the way into the story, you realize that you are following two different stories, one of Carson and Michael along with the New Orleans Homicide division and the other of Victor and Deucalion. When the conclusion of the novel comes about everything fits into place.

When I first started reading this novel I was blown away by the amount of characters that I was following. The novel started off following four different people all with different story lines. I was unsure of exactly how I liked that but, I believe that it really worked out. I also wasn't happy with the amount of jumping around between stories. It seemed that every new chapter (which consists of about three pages on my kindle) we were headed to a different person. I was left wondering how anything was really going to advance with the amount of jumping around. It soon became apparent that all of the jumping around led to one story line.

I really liked the book and once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. I loved the developing story line and never knowing what was going to happen next. I always had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, I was never able to get it partly right (i.e. killer is found, starts running, gets caught, dies. When in reality killer is caught, runs away, starts to change, gets in a tight spot, almost makes it out, gets killed and yet gets away at the same time).

I didn't like all of the jumping around. I never felt like I got to know the characters in the beginning of the book. By the end of the book I had a good knowledge on the characters but I was lacking some form of attachment to a individual character. I also didn't like how none of the characters really developed through the story. Carson was Carson from beginning to end, Michael was Michael from beginning to end etc. The only one who really changed throughout the book had such a small part in the actual story line that the change was easily overlooked.

Overall the story line was amazing and fast paced. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries and especially anyone who likes mysteries where they are drawn to a mystery and then the end comes and the reader is like 'What just happened, I'm blown away'.

13 people found this helpful

Dr. Frankenstein is still alive, and so is the Monster

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2008

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Set in exotic New Orleans, Dr. Victor Helios (aka Dr. Frankenstein) is still alive, and still practicing his wicked ways behind the façade of running a legitimate business called Helios Biovision. At the abandoned Hands Of Mercy Hospital, instead of simply reanimating corpses, Victor is using new technology not only to extend his own life but to create life from scratch. His new technology includes direct-to-brain downloads so his creations emerge fully ready to take on their roles in life. Creations like Erika Four, his lovely custom made wife, the fourth he's gone through so far; and Randal Six, who's been created with autism so that Victor can experiment with using autism to develop more focused workers.

The monster, born of the grave, also immortal and now calling himself Deucalion, is living in Tibet with a group of monks. When he receives a letter informing him that Victor is still alive, Deucalion decides he must travel into the real world again to find a way to destroy Victor. He travels to New Orleans and moves into the Luxe Theater with his old carnival friend Jelly Biggs.

Detectives Carson O'Conner and Michael Maddison are assigned to the case of a new serial killer who's killing young ladies and removing specific body parts from them (hands, eyes, ears, etc). The bodies of three men missing internal organs complicate the case. The killer has been nicknamed The Surgeon, and partners O'Conner and Maddison must find him before he strikes again. Aside from her tight work schedule, Carson is also caring for her autistic younger brother Arnie.

Strange bodies turn up at the morgue, Carson runs into a mysterious man claiming there are more like him "out there", and Victor continues his evil experiments. Reviving Frankenstein sounds like it would be a weak or clichéd idea, but Koontz and Anderson pull it off. Despite pilfered ideas from the old Black & White movies The Frozen Dead and The Brain That Wouldn't Die, not to mention a character similar to one already created in Koontz's 'Hideaway', there's enough new and unique material in the story to make it dynamic and highly entertaining. Watch out, the book ends in a real cliffhanger, so you'll want to have book two, 'City Of Night', already beside your elbow. Although I became disappointed in Koontz after 'Mr. Murder', it seems he's regained his old formula with this Frankenstein series and written a seat-of-your-pants novel. I recommend this book to horror and thriller fans. Enjoy!

3 people found this helpful

His goal of creating a superior race is well underway and his skills have grown ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2015

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Dean Koontz has found a way to capture the mind of many adults in his intriguing Frankenstein Series. In the first book you find yourself hooked automatically by the main character who is none other than the Frankenstein monster in modern day. It has been hundreds of years since that fateful storm that brought Deucalion to life. His struggle to maintain humanity is an ongoing battle. His strive for peace is interrupted when he gets news that the man he fears and loathes the most is still impossibly alive. Victor Frankenstein is alive and his work has never stopped. His goal of creating a superior race is well underway and his skills have grown since his first success. Deucalion travels to New Orleans with the hope of stopping this mad scientist. The city is flooding with Victors creations but there is confusion in quite a few of them. They are strong, smart, sophisticated but they are missing one key element that they are striving for but cannot achieve because of their program. Happiness. This town is full of those who strive to find and understand numerous achievements human and monsters. There are numerous killers in this book. Each one with its own personality and ending goal. Happiness, Perfection and Control. Dean Koontz’s talent for writing from numerous characters points of view shines bright in this novel. The fear that we are surrounded by a different species comes to life and will make you question if every myth you have ever heard is real.
The way that Dean Koontz has built his characters are like none I have ever seen. All of his characters contradict themselves. Randall Six craves the outside world but doesn’t want to go out into the world for fear. Deucalion is a monster and is made from the worst kind of humans but yet strives to not be that. Victor is a human but views himself as godly and better than everyone. Koontz has awakened a classic in a modern day society in the slums of New Orleans. I have never read an author that is capable of scaring the crap out of you in one chapter and making you laugh uncontrollably the next. I would highly recommend this to any mature mind out there. Warning it make keep you up all night.

10 people found this helpful

Barbara Frederick

Very Different Frankenstein Indeed

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2014

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OK, here's the problem with reading a series in the wrong order. I read book three of this series (Dead and Alive) first because I got a deep discount on it: $1.99. But of course that made me eager to get the first two and the last two, which were not on discount. *sigh*

This is the book that makes the bridge between Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" and Dean Koontz's. It opens with Deucalion (aka Frankenstein's monster) in a Tibetan monastery, where he is learning serenity. But his past calls him back with one compelling fact: Victor Frankenstein, who now calls himself Victor Helios, is still alive, apparently has not aged, and is living in New Orleans. There he meets Carson O'Connor (female) and Michael Maddison, two smart, brave and resourceful homicide detectives who have fallen into a nightmare of unexplained murders and inexplicable physical anomalies.

You see, Victor Helios has been building himself an army of "meat robots," that are stronger, more capable and more blindly loyal to him than Deucalion ever was. They have two hearts, their programming is downloaded into their brains while they are still in the cloning tanks, they can block pain and heal quickly if they are injured. He has replaced various humans with these creatures where they will subvert the government and institutions of New Orleans. His ultimate goal is to take over the world and eliminate the "Old Race" (us) and replace them with "New Race" of his own creation.

What could possibly go wrong?

We meet a fascinating cast of characters, not always knowing how many hearts one has, and gradually discovering some of the flaws in Helios' plan. Only some of them: there are five books total in the series.

One interesting story thread involves Carson's autistic little brother and a New Race entity in which Helios has artificially induced autism in order to study whether it can be useful to him. Along the way, we learn a good bit about modern theories of autism.

The most interesting character is Deucalion, who has developed a complex and fascinating character in the two hundred years since the torches and pitchforks came marching up the hill to the old mill. If you felt sympathy for the "Monster" as portrayed by Boris Karloff, you will love this series.

One person found this helpful

Who is the monster now?

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2016

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I am a big Dean Koontz fan, having read some books I rated with 3 stars, to 5 stars. This book was not a disappointment.
Koontz takes the classic Frankenstein story and builds on it as though it really happened. In his book both the Monster (Deucalion in this book) and Victor Frankenstein (calling himself Victor Helios) have survived. There is a rash of serial murders in Louisiana and Deucalion returns when he finds out Victor is still alive. In the two hundred years that have passed Victor found a way to keep himself alive and is a wealthy scientist who is still "creating" new life. Deucalion, once the monster has grown and changed into a humane "human" and Victor is becoming the monster. Victor's new creations are not happy and become aware that they are being used. On the case of the serial killings where body parts are being taken, are two homicide investigators, partners who learn of things they never thought possible.
One of the things I like about Koontz is the "little" touches he adds to his story. The other detectives, Old-timers, and not so fond of the two young detectives, appear to be lazy and looking for just the glory. One of these detectives is named Harker, Jonathan Harker. Victor names his creations and at one point creates a head with a brain with no body. He names this creature "Karloff" in a nod to the movies which he loved. These are two of those little things that make me appreciate Koontz' writings all the more.
I am holding myself back from reading the next in the series to prolong the enjoyment as I had not previously read any of this series, so these are like "new" Koontz books to me.

Different, interesting take on the Frankenstein story

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2023

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I liked that the maturity the monster has obtained. I didn't like that he's hardly in the book or that he has mystical pUowers. But, all in all, good enough to continue the series

One person found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Modern take on Frankenstein

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2022

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Modern storytelling of old classic leaves you breathless & begging for more thrills & nightmares.
Very scary but imaginative.

If you like your novels fast paced & unpredictable, this book is for you.

A Good Present Day Twist to an Old Classic

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2011

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I see a lot of bantering about who actually wrote this novel. Was it Koontz or Anderson? Truthfully? I really don't care. Unlike other co-authored books, I mostly find awful, I liked this one.
The author does a good job bringing Victor Helios (Dr. Frankenstein) into the 21st century using modern technology to create his "New Race."
Helios (The Father) is pretty well nuts. I wish there was a bit more depth to his character.
There's a couple of cops working the opposite end of this story. They do provide some tongue in cheek comic relief to Victor's gore. Naturally, they're a bit blown away & mystified by some of what they discover. The book has it's share of gore for a Koontz novel. Mr. Koontz also weaves his way through the book very well. After all, it is one of his best traits.

I know this is the first in a series of Frankenstein novels, but the ending suffers greatly. There is no sense of conclusion to anything. There's no hanging thread to lead the reader into the next installment. The book ends very abruptly. One almost feels the last page has been torn out. Ready for some sort of ending, one instead, finds a lead-in to one of Koontz next books. I found it a major shortcoming for the novel.

One more thing: Doesn't Kevin Anderson's name deserve to be on the cover? What's with the omission?

2 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2022

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I guess I keep expecting to find the magic of Odd Thomas in every series he writes, and I am disappointed every time. This was just ok. The ending was not just a cliffhanger, it seemed to abruptly stop, as if he just chose a spot between chapters of a book and turned it into two books instead. I'm not going to read the second.

Frankenstein Revisited . . . and How!!!

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2005

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A series of peculiar murders are happening in New Orleans. The monster -- Deucalion-- is called from Tibet to New Orleans because someone has recognized the true identity of a famous philantrophist: Victor Helios.

Helios has a plan to infiltrate mankind with his superior creations which he refers to as the "New Race." (I'm reminded of Damaskinos's "infected" Reaper vampires in the second BLADE movie-- more lethal than the "true-born" vampires.)

Helios, in the process of growing them (they cannot breed) has engineered in them (apart from supernatural strenght and intelligence), the desire to obey only him and strangely enough a command that will NOT allow them to destroy themselves. (I wondered how HELIOS, a UTOPIAN, would consider this necessary, if he had created a MASTER RACE?) Anyway, something has gone wrong!! SURPRISE! Some of his creations are beginning to think more than they should? They want to find the Bluebird of Happiness but they don't know how! They are, in a sense, becoming infected by the ordinary humans they are intended to supplant.

Note: Of particular interest is Koontz's serial killer, Roy Pribeaux, who has to be up there with Hannibal Lecter. His psychology is one the more "breathtaking" ones to be found in thrillers. How he manifests his hatred of unattractive people is "morbidly funny".

Erika, Viktor's vat-grown bride who is bred to be a wife and with a measure of "free will" or at least Viktor's definition of it.

And the literary treatment of 2 autistic characters: one human called Arnie who may be mildly precognitive and shares a talent with Deucalion . . . and Randal 6 who is engineered to be autistic!

A pretty good abridgment and a cool Frankenstein take by Koontz

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2009

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Prodigal son is Dean Koontz's take on Victor Frankenstein. 200 years later He is still alive but living under an alias and living in the city of New Orleans. He is still practicing his art of creating humans or monsters, and they are called the "New Race". As we enter the story he is creating a army of the new race to one day take over the old race (humans), but his creations are starting to have minds of their own, questioning existence, god, and trying to find happiness. This is all a bad sign as things are getting a little chaotic.

We follow the stories of a few new race monsters, one is Deucalion, the original monster that Frankenstein created and is the basis for the original book. Another is a murderer trying to find something inside others, one is the sexual plaything of Victor Frankenstein, and one is an autistic monster trying to find happiness. Pulled into this whole mess is two New Orleans detectives: Carson and Michael, who slowly come to grips with the astonishing fact that this is all real.

The voice acting was good, the abridgment was not. Although we get 5 discs, which is why I still read it, as I expect maybe one, at most 2 discs were cut in the abridgment, and I can live with that. I still think I got the gist of the whole story, and see no reason to not recommend it. I liked the story and the audio production.

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2022

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Was a fun read

Amazon Customer

Book vs Graphic Novel

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2023

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I purchased what I thought was a printed book but it was not a book it was instead a Graphic Novel. I am not happy.

One person found this helpful

ancient submariner

Arrggh! A cliffhanger book.

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2014

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I have kinda avoided this book. I've read and enjoyed Dean Koontz before. I've been told that this was a good series and generally I avoid series. because I have a tendency to get hung up on them. However I walked into Odd Thomas and became hooked. I n a week, I had read four of them. I had to pull myself away or I would go broke. So I started this book. Shit, now I am hooked into another series. The story is good, the writing is good. others will describe that. Koontz develops characters that you like or hate but you don't feel ambivalent about. However you cannot walk away. The ending leaves you like you are in the middle of a desert and found a glass of tonic water and lime. You feel good while you drink it, but you are still in the desert and need more. I have to pick up the next book or I will die of thirst.

Sherry Wessman of Livonia Mi.

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021

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I've read a couple books in the series. Now I'm going back to finish them. Some of his best work! Why I started reading Mr. Koontz in the first place, these many years ago. A must for fans! Unto the next!

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