I read a LOT of books. I'm always reading at least 1 book if not 2 or 3. Sometimes, I read them quickly, sometimes it takes awhile for me to get through them;but, I am always reading something. I've read a lot of really good books. Good books are the books that I enjoyed reading and also usually wished they were longer so I could remain in that world for far longer.
Every once in a while I read one that is even better than a really good book. It's a book that I feel thankful for having the opportunity to read. A book that renews my faith or gives me hope in some way. A book that taught me something (or many things...) A book that even though it may have negative elements does not in any way make you feel degraded or hurt. A book that keeps you turning the pages long after bed time because you just have to see what happens. And even if you've long since intuited the plot twists and turns and know exactly how it's going to end, you happily immerse yourself in the story anyway. But, the best way to tell that I've found a great book and not just a really good book, is that when I've put the book down after reading the last page: It stays with me. I feel uplifted and energized. The story is someplace that I can and will revisit when I need to have someplace/someone to turn to. When I'm running out of sources of joy, I will be able to bring up the story and have 1 more source. Every person finds joy and renewel in their own way, thus everyone will have a different definition for a really great book. But, this book definitly fits my personal description very well.
Dean Koontz has been one of the authors I've been reading for my whole life. He has some books that didn't quite reach the mark as really good books let alone really great books. He also has some truly, dark, terrifying stories out there. In fact, when I first started reading his books, he scared the crap out of me, even more than Stephen King. Mr Koontz incorporates the BIG picture into his books. Bringing the whole universe into his stories. And, when the universe is a scary place that is just about the scariest thing that I can imagine. Albert Einstein once said, "the single most important decision any of us will ever have to make is whether or not to believe that the universe is friendly." Experiencing the universe as an unfriendly place is terrifying. Thankfully, Mr Koontz and I have at least 1 thing in common. And I know this by reading his newer novels. Somewhere along the line we have both decided that the universe is a friendly place. There is Love and Light wherever you choose to see it, because it is EVERYWHERE. Sure he adds some darkness and negativity into his stories, it wouldn't be much of a story without them. But, it's darkness with a little d, and negativity on a human scale. Bad things happen, adversity visits us all, sometimes things don't work out like we wanted, and yes there really are much worse things than dying. C'est la vie. That's just how it is. What we do with that knowledge is the important part.
One Door Away from Heaven has it all. Suspense, fantasy, characters that you'd like to have as friends and some that you wouldn't EVER want as enemies, twists and turns, humor and intelligence. It is also educational and has a message.
This review from Amazon.com seemed to sum up the plot and action fairly well:
Dean Koontz virtually invented the cross-genre novel, and in One Door Away from Heaven he mixes an action thriller with post-X-Files alien paranoia to remarkable effect. Micky Bellsong is a young woman at a crisis point in her life, using a stay at her Aunt Geneva's to sort things out. Then the precocious and deformed Leilani Klonk walks into her life, telling stories of her stepfather and drugged-up mother, who believe aliens will beam the girl into their mothership and heal her deformities before her 10th birthday. But tales of the stepfather's vicious past, including his hand in several murders, leave Micky believing that a far more terrible fate awaits her friend. So when the parents take off with Leilani, Micky pursues.
As is typical with a Koontz novel, nothing turns out to be what it seems, and the meticulously crafted plot tightens like a noose with every turn of the page. His characters are exceptionally drawn, driving the novel forward with realism and warmth. Micky is one of his more attractive young heroines, but the real star is Leilani, a mature young girl whose plucky nature and sparkling dialogue instantly make her Koontz's most memorable creation. She embodies his belief that despite violence, pain, and suffering, there is always goodness to be found in every person and situation. Koontz has once again proven why he is one of the premier novelists of his generation. --Jonathan Weir, Amazon.co.uk
But what about the educational aspect and what is the message you may have wondered? This book is "powered by an impassioned stand against utilitarian bioethics." (Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc) Mr Koontz's afterword makes it very clear that Utilitarian bioethics is not a figment of his imagination and is in fact a real threat to all of us. He recommends reading the book Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America by Wesley J. Smith. I haven't read it yet but Mr Koontz says, "You will find it more hair-raising than any novel you've ever read." He also says, "One day our great universities will be required to redeem themselves from the shame of having honored and promulgated ethicists who would excuse and facilitate the killing of the disabled, the weak, and the elderly." I've been thinking that there is something 'wrong' with medical ethics for a long time. Now I know exactly what it is and what is driving it in the direction it has taken. Utilitarian bioethics "embodies the antihuman essence of fascism, expresses the contempt for individual freedom and for the disabled and the frail that has in the past marked every form of totalitarianism." Which unfortunately does not bring to mind this quote from Kurt Vonnegut, "History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again"; but this one by George Santayana, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Now onward to the message. What is the message of this book? It's one that's so very simple and so very beautiful. "We are the instruments of one another's salvation and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness into light." And as many people have heard me say "it only takes 1 match to set the world on fire." Share your flames people! Fan those sparks! Let's get this place LIT UP!
See how beautiful that is?!
