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What if you were told that the story of Dr Victor Frankenstein was not fiction but reality? That a brilliant atheist scientist with actual disdain for god actually managed to create unnatural life and is still living and working in modern-day New Orleans? If you were NOPD detective Carson O'Connor and someone came to her with that cockamamie tale, she would arrest him just for wasting her time. However, when Dr Frankenstein's first creation (yeah, that one -- not the one with the bolts on his neck but the real one made out of murderer's and criminal's body parts) comes to you and asks politely for her assistance, you listen. And so with this begins the first book in a series where a classic story is given a modern twist and with Dean Koontz at the helm, you can expect a few surprises as well as some entertainment. In this first chapter of the series, Dean Koontz and Kevin J Anderson set the stage introducing the players who will be a part of the series. Here they will be investigating a serial killer who's harvesting body parts of his murdered victims, and Dr Victor Helios (aka Frankenstein) is very interested in what's going on. Could one of his creations actually gone rogue? Dr Helios is portrayed in the most hubristic manner as he continues to defy nature by cheating death and creating the world as he sees fit. He has plans to populate the entire world with his creations in order to thumb his nose at god. Deucalion (Dr Frankenstein's first successful creation from 200 years ago) intends to stop him, but in order to do that he needs allies and that is why he goes to Detective O'Connor hoping that by working together they can stop this madman. The authors manage to continue invoking Shelley's arguments regarding nature and how Man continues to fight it head to head. Though existentialist at times, the story is a good read. The track of the serial killer is a good one because it gives O'Connor a chance to see what Helios' creations are all about and what motivates them to do what they do. The book leaves a lot of unanswered questions but it promises to continue (BOOK TWO: CITY OF NIGHT is coming out July 2005). As an introduction PRODIGAL SON works well but that is all it is, an introduction. The killer will be caught and an alliance will be formed, however there are a lot of unanswered questions that will force readers to wait for the next book to come out. By then it should give a better grasp of the story's direction. We'll see. So as it says at the end of some television shows . . . to be continued. Note: This book was the basis of a USA Network made-for-television movie called FRANKENSTEIN that first aired on October 2004.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, April 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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