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Think of someone who has been exemplary in their field of endeavor.
Take Tiger Woods, for instance. I can't recite all of his accomplishments,
but he is acknowledged as being an incredible golfer. Now, suppose,
in the course of his next tournament, Tiger steps up and to the
tee and hits a hole-in-one --- not once, but 18 times in a row.
This would be an unheard-of feat. His previous accomplishments,
however, would not be denigrated; they would be regarded as important,
incredible, and as natural progressions toward an undreamed-of event.
Anyone reading Dean Koontz's new novel is going to have to evaluate
his previous work in a similar light. Koontz has been writing memorable
novels since before the time that a majority of his readers was
old enough to hold a pencil properly; and he has a loyal, solid
base that grows with each new book he writes. Harlan Ellison predicted
great things for Koontz over 30 years ago and he was absolutely
right. Nothing that Koontz has ever written, however, will prepare
his new or established readership for FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE.
Koontz, as befits a veteran author of his stature, boldly begins
FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE with three conundrums: 1) Barty Lampion
is blinded at the age of three when surgeons, in order to save him
from cancer, remove his eyes. Barty regains his sight at age 13;
2) Barty's mother, Agnes, a woman of great faith, selfless charity
and quiet strength, with the capacity to move the world without
a fulcrum, dies on the day Barty is born --- but lives long enough
to make him proud of her before she dies a second time; and 3) the
man who changed Barty's and Agnes's lives forever, on the day of
Barty's birth, is a stranger whose destiny is inexorably linked
with theirs.
The first of these is presented and resolved relatively early in
the game. The second and third take awhile. All are the subject
of plausible resolution. Along the way we are introduced to Junior
Cain, an individual of such monstrosity and unpredictability that
he can only be too real --- a man who regards Barty as an enemy
almost from the moment of his birth, without knowing who he is.
We also meet Angel White, whose existence is the result of an unspeakable
crime and unconditional love. The lives of these people, separated
initially by thousands of miles, are linked to each other in ways
that are simultaneously profound, beautiful and horrific. And it
is here that Koontz demonstrates the breadth, depth, and magnitude
of his talent. Although the reader's instinct is to read this magnificent
tale as quickly as possible, Koontz's prose demands that it be savored
slowly. This is not merely a novel of suspense; it is also a story
of belief and reflection, of hard choices and the beauty that can
blossom from doing what is right, rather than what is easy.
In his introduction, Koontz quotes from THE MOMENTOUS DAY, by H.
R. White, to the effect that each small act of kindness reverberates
across great distances and spans of time; this philosophy permeates
FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE. And Koontz, while dazzling the reader
with magnificent turns of phrase that will evoke simultaneous admiration
and envy, alternates the mood between tenderness and suspense. Barty
is in terrible danger from Junior Cain; yet the selflessness and
kindness of Agnes and the White family are presented in such a gentle,
nonintrusive manner that when Koontz focuses on those aspects of
the narrative, they are not a distraction but are, instead, uplifting.
Koontz closes FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE with a very short Author's
Note concerning how human relationships reflect Quantum mechanics.
The reader does not have to understand either area to appreciate
where Koontz goes. It is enough, rather, to know that underneath
each apparent chaos there is some strange order. Koontz beautifully
and vividly taps into this with a novel that is absolutely perfect
from opening word to closing sentence.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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