Lost Souls

May 31, 2010
Set in Rainbow Falls, Mont., Koontz's goofy, grisly fourth riff on the Frankenstein theme (after Dead and Alive) finds Victor—previously presumed dead but apparently as easily resurrected as cinematic incarnations of his monster—perfecting his "New Race" of humanoid replicants. As affectless pod-person lookalikes gradually replace the town's citizens, the task of saving humanity from Victor and his megalomaniacal plans to "destroy the soul of the world" fall once again to husband-and-wife detectives Michael and Carson Maddison; Victor's soulsearching original monster, Deucalion; and a host of local yokels who provide both sympathy and comic relief. That the "good guys" are instantly recognizable by their abundant compassion, generosity, and sense of humor and the "bad guys" by their fussbudget fastidiousness and dedication to efficient extermination of inferior humans helps lay the foundation for the humanitarian homilies that punctuate the narrative.

June 1, 2010

In the fourth installment of his Frankenstein series (Dead and Alive, 2009, etc.), Koontz posits a new kind of vexation with the same old objective: Kill everybody.

For reasons that may not prove perfectly clear to all readers, Koontz's Frankentstein has gone over, having dedicated himself to the obliteration of humankind: "the ultimate annihilator," he calls himself. In effect, Frankenstein and the monster have traded places. And dispositions. Shelley's monster was a card-carrying fright, prone to running amuck and scaring villagers. Koontz's—Deucalion by name—has had an epiphany and, having been redeemed, is now a committed Frankenstein-hunter. Deucalion is thoroughly aware of how slippery his foe is, and it rattles him. "I saw him die," he tells a friend. "But he lives again. Somehow...he lives." Collecting a pair of tested members of the Frankenstein-hunter fellowship—private eyes Carson O'Connor-Maddison and her husband Michael—Deucalion sets off after the bad doctor, convinced that if he isn't stopped Frankenstein will plague humankind with still another threat to its existence. He's right, of course. Enter the replicants: new and improved zombies, programmed for mass murder.

Comic strip characters and pedestrian prose—pretty silly stuff really, but we all know how it works for Koontz: 400,000,000 copies sold in 38 languages, give or take.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2010
Koontz ("Breathless; Odd Thomas") revisits his successful Frankenstein paperback series ("The Prodigal Son, City of Night", and "Dead or Alive") with this first hardcover edition of a new trilogy that picks up where the first series left off. The mysterious Deucalion, plagued by his gruesome appearance and carrying the burden of being of Victor Helios's first creation, has moved from New Orleans to Montana, alongside Victor and his fabricated wife, Erika 5. Also arriving in town are Detectives Carson O'Connor and Michael Maddison. The characters' renewed alliance tests not only their strength but also their humanity as a whole. Fans of the first trilogy will have no trouble following this story, yet Koontz is careful not to alienate new readers. VERDICT This successful mix of crime-inspired detective story and sf adventure is ideal for Koontz devotees as well as readers who enjoy genre crossovers. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 3/1/10; ebook ISBN 978-0-553-90767-4.]Carolann Lee Curry, Mercer Univ. Medical Lib., Macon, GA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2010
Lost Souls continues the saga of the seemingly unkillable Victor Frankenstein, now a megalomaniac bent onwhat else?world domination, via wiping humanity off the globe, from a few years after where the trilogy Dean Koontzs Frankenstein left it. Since the blowup (literally: Katrina was raging) in New Orleans in which Victor and his replicant New Race went down for good, Erika Five, the last and most independent version of Frankensteins wife, has settled outside a Montana town, happily laying low. Then, shopping in town, she sees what could only be Victor. It is, and it isnt, as she later figures out. Meanwhile, a new bunch of replicants starts replacing their human prototypes and launches a mass termination of the rest of the populace. Fortunately, Deucalion, as Frankensteins original creation is now known, is on to the plot. He brings the detective couple from New Orleans, who are now married, new parents, and PIs in San Francisco, into the action, which races to a climax that doesnt quite conclude in this book. Obviously enjoying himself, Koontz does his dance of grisly suspense, wry dialogue, sharp characterization, outlandish but charming (and well-integrated) comic relief, and cultural criticism more adroitly than almost ever before.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)