Relentless is written in first person. It starts off with backstory, then a mention of his guardian angel that had been with him since he was six, and how Ralph (the angel) suddenly went on sabbatical when he was thirty-four. Hint, hint.
More backstory.
A reference to what his family would come to call the situation they found themselves in (in his thirty-fourth year), and the fact they never expected Evil to "suddenly, intently turn its attention on our happy household or that this evil would be drawn to us by a book I had written."
Think the opening of Magnum, P.I. where Tom Selleck (who I could watch for days and days and days) does the voiceover for the upcoming episode.
Although well written, and interesting, Koontz pretty much throws everything I've learned about backstory and lousy foreshadowing out the window.
And yet the book has me totally entranced.
Why?
Because I trust Dean Koontz.
A new author I'd never read before? I might stick it out a bit more because the writing is good (other than what I've mentioned), but my red flag would be high and my drop-kick-it-to-the-wall boots would be primed.
Trust. It counts for a lot, doesn't it?
Huh. I guess I have a relationship with Dean. Of sorts. Kind of like my relationship with Tom Selleck.
By the way, if you want to read an excellent book where next to no backstory is used, except for out of the mouths of the characters in dialogue, you'll have to pick up a copy of The Good Guy. Written by . . . Dean Koontz.
You know what I'm reading.
It's all better with friends.
Tom Selleck, huh? Yeah, you're from my mom's time. :P
ReplyDeleteI think some of the "excerpts" from Relentless you've been posting are awesome...like the one with the gunmetal clouds. Creative!
Yeah, it's amazing what our "fav" writers can get away with. lol... I don't even have that much trust in myself. :)
Okay, youngster. How's Johnny Depp? I could watch him for a while too.
ReplyDeleteKoontz has a way of stringing together a few words and showing a million tiny elements with them.
Koontz knows his readers will trust him. Maybe it's like when I taught chess and the kids had to learn the "good ideas" and make them work before they could break them. Perhaps not breaking the rules is a new writer's apprenticeship where we learn how to break the rules successfully.
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