City of Night (Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein #2)

OK, this is the book in between the third one, which I read first, and the first one, which I read second. I still say I should have read them in the proper order, but at least now I know the details behind things that were mentioned in passing in the third book, Dead and Alive. I found out why Deucalion chose the name he did: it is the name of son of Prometheus. I found out what happened to Arnie, Carson O\’Connor\’s autistic younger brother. I learned a lot more about what was going on in the garbage dump where Victor Helios has his bodies buried, including Old Race people he has replaced and New Race people that didn\’t turn out quite right. The dump workers call them Gone Wrongs. But I also found out about characters and situations that were not mentioned in either book one or book three, such as Benny and Cindi, two New Race assassins sent out to kill Carson and Michael. Cindi is obsessed with having a child, even though she knows it\’s not physically possible, and believes voodoo can help her. Michael is just a simple guy who loves to dismember his victims while they are still alive. Cute couple. This book has sealed my fate: now I must get book four and book five.

In the second installment, the reader again deals with Victor Helios, the original Dr. Frankenstein. He\’s now in 21st Century New Orleans. We have two cops onto him & his creation of the New Race. Ordinary humans are killed, sent to a garbage dump, and their beings duplicated as one of Helios\’s creations in his attempt to take over the world. Enter his first. less than perfect, creation Deucalion, who has arrived in New Orleans to save the world from this madman. Victor continues creating new replications of humans. He sorts them into various work & professional classes. They have two hearts & other biological anomalies, are difficult to kill, and serve only the master to the fullest. Unfortunately for Victor, at one time or other his replicated beings seem to have software problems & begin to go loopy. Victor believes Deucalion to be long dead, being his first primitive creation. He finds otherwise when confronted by his creation. The books need to be read in order. The first, \”Prodigal Son\”, set the stage nicely & was enjoyable. This one builds on the first & is full of repetition. How many times, can we learn of the smells at the garbage dump? How many times do we need the description of a young boy\’s Autism? How many times do we need detailed description of Erica 5? How many times do we need to hear of the New Race Cindi wanting a baby? There are new characters, but many are from the 1st book. The biggest disappointment (Kindle Edition) is at 92% of the novel it abruptly stops. Yep, 92%. The reader expects a new chapter only to be dropped of a precipice to await the next installment. Instead the reader gets protracted upcoming novel previews as fill in fluff. The book is a disappointment, especially from Koontz

I strongly recommend reading \’Frankenstein: Prodigal Son\’ first, since the first books ends in a cliffhanger leading to \’Frankenstein: City Of Night\’. As we left the first book in the series, detectives Carson O\’Conner and Michael Maddison were hot on the tail of Victor Helios, aka Dr. Frankenstein. Still alive after two hundred and forty years, Victor continues his practice of creating life, but now using new technology to \”grow\” his creations rather than piece them together from graveyard corpses. Leaving the last book, Carson\’s younger, autistic brother was in grave danger from Randal Six, a Helios creation who has unexpectedly thwarted his internal programming. Dr. Frankenstein\’s original \”monster\”, naturally immortal from his birth during lightning, has come from the mountains of Tibet to assist in ridding the world of his creator, though through his programming he cannot do it himself. Now calling himself Deucalion, he has joined forces with O\’Conner and Maddison, feeding them information on Helios with the hopes that the two detectives can help him. Two new characters are introduced, Benny and Cindi Lovewell. Members of Helios\’s New Race, they are but Gammas in his hierarchy and programmed to kill O\’Conner and Maddison. But something has gone wrong with Cindi. While she still enjoys the thrill of the kill, Cindi has become obsessed with having a baby, something the New Race is incapable of. She yearns for a baby with unnatural desire, and Benny is reluctant to report her for fear of being terminated himself. Erika Five has replaced Erika Four as Victor\’s wife, but is she going to be the perfect wife he keeps hoping for? Will her idiosyncrasies be more or less annoying than Erika Four? And as for Victor, it seems some of his creations are making mistakes, errors that point to their direct-to-brain downloads going wrong. How many mistakes can Victor tolerate? While in this second installment I felt that too much time was spent rehashing what already happened in Book One, but the additions of new characters and thrilling confrontations keep this second installation alive and well. Deucalion\’s understanding of the quantum universe is skimmed over, adding more intrigue and dimension to the gigantic and ugly monster. The plot moves slower but is no less intense in anticipation of what\’s to come. And like the first book, \’City Of Night\’ also ends in a cliffhanger. I can\’t wait for Book Three of the series to come out. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

This book is the second in a series of five. I did not realize that when I bought this book, and was able to easily pick up the story line despite not having read the first book. That said, I do recommend reading the series in order since characters are developed as time progresses, and characters are continued from one book to the next. Dean Koontz is a talented writer. His plot development, character development, story pacing is all excellent. I found myself caring about the characters, even some that were not the designated \”good guys.\” There is a modicum of violence in these stores, but it not gratuitous, and it is not overly done. I would not recommend this book be read by people under 15 years old, at least.

Conversations were somewhat choppy, but overall, a good read. Excellent book for those who like the macaubre. Left me hanging, however. Not even an ending to take you to the next book. Not sure I liked that. Now, I\’m waiting for the next book. I suppose that\’s a selling point.

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