Review: Lightning

Lightning by Dean Koontz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lightning has been on my to-read list for far too long.

Dean Koontz is one of my favourite authors, has been for quite some time. Despite enjoying all of his work, I’m of the firm belief that his older work is his better work. Lightning falls into this category, having been published in the eighties – a time I have dubbed ‘the period in which Koontz wrote his best work’. Over the last twelve or so months I have noticed his older work being released in paperback with new covers, and through this I’ve found myself able to grab them in book deals. It goes without saying that such a thing has made me much happier than it should have, but any book lover understands the mating call of their favourite author’s books when they’re sitting in the bargain bin.

Whilst I wouldn’t label Lightning as my favourite Koontz read, it certainly hit the spot. It has everything you would expect of Koontz, giving us his usual concoction at a time where his stories were at a high.

With Lightning, we’re giving his usual thrilling read, mixed with science fiction to give it that something more. Always Koontz gives us something more, yet you never know what the particular something will be. With this one, you sit with ideas for quite some time, but it isn’t until quite late in that the specifics are given. Whilst other reviews had spoiled the surprise for me (I knew what to expect in terms of the explanation for things, and I promise not to ruin it for you), I still found the revealing of information to be wonderful. I knew the general aspects, but reading the specifics allowed me to see that even the spoiler-ridden reviews hadn’t managed to ruin the entire book for me.

I will say, however, that I did find this story to be a bit slow to begin with. I know it was to build up a series of events, showcasing moments of the main character’s life, but I felt as though it dragged at times. I admit that this is partly due to how I’ve been looking for a high octave read for quite some time. As much as I love Koontz’s work, I know at time it can take him a while before the action reaches the high velocity I was looking for. Due to this, I felt somewhat put off at first. Not that it’s an issue, merely something I didn’t take into consideration before starting the book. In any other situation, I would have loved all the build-up. In fact, I did enjoy the build-up – it simply wasn’t what I was looking for at the moment.

Overall, though, it was a great read. It has everything you expect from such a book – the action, the suspense, the countless emotional moments that leave you making involuntary noises – with it all being delivered in Koontz’s wonderful prose.

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