Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Ugliness; Beauty; Evildoing; Good: My eyes never once glazed over!

InnocenceInnocence by Dean Koontz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What is ugliness? What is beauty? What is evildoing? What is the good? Eyes have glazed over thousands of hours of sermons addressing these questions. Dean Koontz wraps them in a compelling story that kept me whipping through the pages of Innocence, holding my breath at times in suspense. I was attracted to the New York City setting and a unique story line.
He pokes fun at our treasured self image and delusions: (from page 112) "The people of the city were proud of being tough... case-hardened negotiators, brutal competitors, sharp with fools, stripped of illusions by the realities of the streets... not softened by sentimentality... What I do know is that the city was a comfort machine designed to provide amenities and conveniences, and regardless of how flinty and indurate its people might have been...they retreated at once from Nature when she turned furious. They took refuge in warm cozy rooms replete with so many forms of entertainment that the wet and windy world beyond their walls could be forgotten for hours at a time."
I enjoyed this thoroughly. Something just, but higher than justice, prevails in this story. In spite of taking me through literal and spiritual sewers, Koontz left me smiling and feeling light and clean at the end of this wonderful book. I recommend it highly for anyone who is not too "flinty and indurate" to enjoy it.

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