Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
From The Corner Of His Eye
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Dean R. Koontz
Class/Genre: Fiction Mystery Thriller Horror [Short Stories]
Bantam, Dec 2000, $26.95, 630pp.
Along a scenic route in the Oregon coastal forests, Junior and Naomi Cain step out for lunch together at an observation booth where the married couple enjoys the view. They love one another, which makes it more shocking when Junior pushes Naomi over a weakened section of the safety railing. Although one police officer feels Junior killed his wife, the State remits Junior for his loss to the tune of three million dollars.
At about the same time, Joey and Aggie Campion drive to the hospital because she is in the second stage of labor. An accident leads to Joey's death, but not before he asks Aggie to name their child Bartholomew. At three years old, Bartholomew, a precocious prodigy, loses his eyes to cancer.
Awakening from a nightmare, Junior believes he must kill Bartholomew or suffer the fate of the damned, but has no idea who his target is. Junior learns that an underage girl he raped died giving birth to his child. He concludes that child must be his victim, but he does not know the infant, Angel, is female and was adopted by the victim's sister.
All these individuals seemingly living separate lives appear linked in some form of Divine Justice that will prove either the damnation or salvation of each of them. Using that theme, Dean Koontz has written one of the best novels in his illustrious career. This outstanding thriller contains paranormal elements interwoven into the tapestry of a precious and realistic tale. Barty is special as his life is filled with mundane and metaphysical events. Oxymoronic as it might sound, Junior is the perfect sociopath, easy for the reader to loathe. Angel and her biological and adopted mothers play key roles in this Koontzian drama that is a triumph for his myriad of readers.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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