77 Shadow Street, Week 2

This brings us up to Part Two.

The separate threads of the plot line are coming together as the different characters seek each other out.  Was there any other way to write this story?  In retrospect, it seems pretty much inevitable, and is handled masterfully - Koontz makes it look easy, as always!  The technique of skipping from subplot to subplot within a chapter - each subplot captioned with a character's name - certainly is an improvement over the usual approach of staying with one subplot for an entire chapter, which allows the other subplots to go stale.

The imagery continues to tantalize, moving between the mundane (e.g., bickering elderly sisters) and the bizarre (a paralyzed character watching her hand transform into something alien right in front of her face!).  DK's ability to have us vividly visualize the scene is as good here as it gets.

One question that has to have occurred to other readers besides myself:  Did this story, this plot, really need the subplot of a murder which occurs at the same time as the main plot?  Does the murder subplot add to the main premise of the story, or is it an unnecessary distraction?  Will we find later in the story that there is a hidden connection we didn't know about that causes the subplot to be important to the main idea?  I'm hoping that's the case; otherwise it sort of looks like the author felt that his main idea wasn't compelling enough (which it certainly is!) to hold the reader's interest without some extra sensationalism to keep the reader hooked.

The Creepiness Factor continues to be ever-present, providing some chilling imagery.  I'm reminded of the cover art on some of Clive Barker's books, though I've yet to encounter a strong equivalent in his actual stories.  The horror of imagining the human form grotesquely twisted out of its normal shape seems to be an effective way to "entertain" us.  Ever slow down at a traffic accident in the "hope" of seeing something...unusual?

We get a lot of background information in this book about the characters that are, at least at present, pretty minor players.  How much do we need to know about the influence that the murderer's mother had on his psychological make-up?  Again, maybe this information will come in later as something germane to the main plot, but for now it seems like overkill (pun alert).  Not that it isn't interesting; DK can make almost anything interesting simply through the strength of his narrative skill.  But for those of us that are "staying up all night in the thrall of a real page-turner" it can take some of the momentum out of the driving suspense.

I feel as though I'm being overly critical.  Maybe I am, as I hold this author to a very high standard. Also, I don't normally over-analyze a story as I'm doing here, being in it mainly for the fun of it.  I would love to hear another's thoughts about this book - especially if you have contrasting or contradictory observations!  In case you have decided simply to give this book a pass but might want to chime in on the next one, give me ideas on what the next book should be.  The one I'm going with if I get no feedback is The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan, or possibly The Bonesetter's Daughter by the same author.

Enjoy!