This is only the second book from Koontz that I’ve read, and since this one introduces his Frankenstein series, it certainly won’t be the last. I finished it in record time for me – just 7 days.  It’s a fast page turner thanks to its short chapters, lots of dialogue, and lack of detail. Sure, it may not hold much literary merit or be an engrossing read that really makes you think, but it still holds a certain amount of entertainment value that I liked.

Victor Frankenstein, now known as Victor Helios, has survived the last 200 years since Mary Shelley first wrote about him.  He’s rich and living in New Orleans, and he has perfected his ability to create life.  He is creating a New Race to live upon us and eventually wipe out the “Old Race.”  His new creations have two hearts, no scars, and lack the ability to feel certain emotions such as the urge to kill or harm themselves.  They also lack the need for love. Sexual gratification, achieved by having sex with any member of the New Race because they lack the needs for attraction, only brings them self satisfaction and they are all sterile.

To Victor, they are the perfect humans and he will conquer the world with them.  He’s even on his fourth wife, Erika, who is the perfect servant.  But Erika loves to read and begins to question Victor’s motives.  She wonders why he collects fine art – all created by humans – if he hates the Old Race so much. And Victor’s first creation – the monster – is also still alive.  While Victor has become the monster, his first monster has become more human.  He now goes by the name of Deucalion and he comes to New Orleans to find Victor and discover what he has been doing.

However, a serial killer is upon them – killing both Old and New Race members and collecting body parts. Young detectives Carson  O’Connor and Michael Maddison are on the case. They are quick-witted and smart, and they are also attracted to each other. Carson’s brother, Arnie, suffers from autism and spends his time building an elaborate castle from Legos.

Victor has also created a New Race Member known as Randal Six, who also has qualities of an autistic child.  Randal is determined to escape from Victor’s lab, Hands of Mercy, to find Arnie and discover what brings him happiness.  Meanwhile, O’Connor and Maddison team up with Deucalion to track down the killer and to get one step closer to Victor.

These are pretty much the story lines that make up the first book in the series.  The detectives chasing down the killer is actually probably the weakest of the lot.  Their sarcastic humor and loving looks at each other are pretty dry, and their steps through the case are somewhat predictable. When the identity of the killer is revealed, it’s not much of a surprise, but at least the reader gets to find out who it is before the detectives do.

While you’d think that Deucalion would have a primary part in the first book, he doesn’t.  He spends over half of the book in an old movie theater – doing no investigation of his own to find Victor.  It’s not until he teams up with the detectives in the last 200 pages that we really see him step out and begin to move around. The best parts are Ericka, Victor’s wife, being tormented by what she believes to be a rat.  The more time she spends at home with herself and her books – she loves Emily Dickinson and becomes a metaphor for one of her poems – the more she begins to question humanity and what Victor really is.  Randal Six’s attempt to escape the lab, via spelling out crosswords on the tiles in the floor, is also a nicely paced tale.  We want to see him escape.  We connect with him as a character because of his condition.

There’s also lots of intense scenes and good writing involving the subjects of creation and God and mortality – science vs. religion.  Koontz definitely has several underlying messages here to make you think, which really make this an intriguing read overall as Victor’s New Race members struggle.  They aren’t supposed to question their existence or feel the need for religion.  He has purposely denied them such feelings, but sometimes even immortal humans begin to question and when they do, their fragile balance is thrown off.  It is these inner conflicts that really give this book life, overshadowed with a killer on the loose.

Like I said, its the minor characters that I really connected with here and who stole the show.  Was it enough to keep me reading?  Absolutely.  I plan to move forward with Book Two right away.