Dead and Alive

You might call this latest Koontz oddity: "Transylvania comes to New Orleans." The third installment in Koontz's updated Frankenstein series features the monster of old, now called Ducalian, and the good Doctor F, now called Victor Helios. As New Orleans awaits an enormous hurricane, deaths by monsters begin to multiply, and there's one monster on the loose that tops them all. John Bedford Lloyd is an old hand at this kind of story, and his voice ranges from the scary reality of the menacing monsters to the almost-jovial "replicants" created by Helios who tear humans apart just for the fun of it. The ending is quite satisfying, but makes one wonder whether there will be more to come. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine