Reviews

Lightning by Dean Koontz

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kristinmagoo's review against another edition

4.0

I read Dean Koontz constantly in my high school years, and I can honestly say Lightning is so unlike anything else by him I have read. I am unsure if Koontz meant to conceal the fact it was a time travel story, but I realized it from the opening scene—and what a beautifully written opening scene it was. In this story, Koontz almost entirely casts off his horror writing style in favor of masterful characterization and stunning imagery. His portrayal of adolescent girls is particularly spot-on and I know he must have daughters or a multitude of sisters. My only complaint is how it ended—how quickly summed up Laura's new relationship was. Did he skip over so much because he assumed the reader would take it for granted they would end up together? Did an editor chastise him for an overly long book and just start chopping material out? Either way, I felt I was missing out on an emotional payoff that was very out of step with the rest of the book. But really it was my only complaint. I genuinely love this book and I might have to recommit to reading more of his work.

scarlettarobinson's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

acidfemme's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

jmarchek's review against another edition

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2.0

Pretty good DK thriller, nothing supernatural/super freaky in this one, however I dislike novels where bad things happen to kids. At the beginning of this novel a lot of bad things happen to the main character Laura. She has a "guardian" who protects her from some of the worst things that happen, but he can't stop everything. He is a time traveller, but to reveal all the details of that would be a bit of a spoiler. Anyways there are some time travelers who are trying to kill her and while her guardian tries to protect her. Of course she's also gorgeous, brilliant, and rich, blah, blah blah.

ngallion's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A fun, light read that had a few flaws preventing it from being five stars for me. First, it does a thing in the first half of the book that I really don’t enjoy - it puts our main character through a series of awful circumstances and refuses to give her any kind of happiness. It creates situations just to make her miserable. A certain amount of that is okay, but at a certain point in the book if something good was given to her, I came to expect that it would soon be taken away. The other issue is in the last half of the book where it has almost the opposite problem and the vast majority of the plot (and even some significant world events) is tied up a bit too neatly.

Still, despite these issues, enjoyed this and am glad I read it. I’ll be checking out more of Koontz’ work.

lyricsninja's review against another edition

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3.0

My feelings on completing the book Lightning, by Dean Koontz were ones of happiness, at least initially. I was very satisfied with how the book ended, though there were some small bumps along the way that I may not have been as enamored with. Lightning follows Shane across her life and a strange guardian who periodically drops in to ensure her safety. As the story unravels you find out where the guardian came from and why they chose to intervene when and how they did. There are some interesting themes (how important literature can be to people, predestination or lack thereof, etc) but was it enough to get over some of the shortcomings of repetitive phrases? I would say so. The concepts held in the book are interesting though a little predictable. Still, it’s a fun read.