Monday, April 7, 2014

Innocence.

Title/Author:  Innocence by Dean Koontz.

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

Genre: Fantasy.

Publisher:  Brilliance Audio.

Source:  Library.

Synopsis:  He lives in solitude beneath the city, an exile from society, which will destroy him if he is ever seen.
She dwells in seclusion, a fugitive from enemies who will do her harm if she is ever found.

But the bond between them runs deeper than the tragedies that have scarred their lives.  Something more than chance - and nothing less than destiny - has brought them together in a world whose hour of reckoning is fast approaching. ~Goodreads.com 

Midnyte Musings:  I was pleased to see a new audio book by Koontz at my library and although I have mixed feelings about Innocence, it was fun, kept me guessing and reminded me a bit of old Dean Koontz.

There is definitely a creepy, supernatural vibe going on and as a reader, I felt the underlying tone of mystery throughout the story. Things are not what they seem in Innocence and secret after secret is revealed to show the reader a fantastical and kind of whimsical world.   Addison Goodheart (yes, that's his name) must hide from the world because everyone who sees him is overcome by his appearance and tries to hurt him.  His own mother tried to kill him several times until at last, she simply turned him out at eight years old.  Addison finds a man who has the same issue he does and they hide and exist in a subterranean dwelling only venturing out for food runs.

On one excursion, Addison runs into a beautiful girl, named Gwynneth, with her own issues.  She has social anxiety, and therefore is just as isolated as Addison. Unfortunately, she is running from the man who killed her father and wants to destroy her.

To top it off, the threat of a viral contagion that will wipe out humanity is breaking out in the city where Addison and Gwynn live and they will also discover their lives are more intertwined than they knew as events unfold.

I feel that Koontz takes great liberties with his stories in the fact that the characters are over the top, the situations really far-fetched.  I mean really, Dean Koontz can write whatever he likes.  On the one hand, I feel that Innocence works, because it is crafted in such a way where the over the top situations and characters are believable and fun.  Maybe it's because the story started out with the over-the-topness as opposed to inserting it into a real situation.

However, on the other hand, as with a lot of Koontz books, there is a LOT of explanation and a few things that I felt were not played out logically. What was that knocking in Gwynn's attic?  What was up with the clears and the fogs?  I also felt that the marionnette plot device was amazing and would have liked to have seen an entire book written around that premise, not just touched upon.  There are several elements in this story that are hard to swallow. 

Narration:  I liked the narration.  He did Gwynn's voice well, no falsetto.  The villain, Ryan Telferd, was exceptional and carried smugness and arrogance.  Many characters really seemed like different people reading.  

Constellation of Characters:
Addison Goodheart - The male main character, who is so loving and forgiving although all of mankind wants to kill him when they see him. 

Gwynneth - Addison's love interest.  She is his perfect Eve to his Adam, but first must overcome a few obstacles of her own. 

Starstruck Over:  I don't know if I would really recommend this book, but for the most part I enjoyed the fun and the fantasy of the story.  


1 comments:

Karen said...

Probably not for me but I would still like to read something by Koontz one day.

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