Dean Koontz is at the peak of his powers with this major new novel ? a rich, multi-layered story that crisscrosses decades and generations as a gifted musician relates the “terrible and wonderful” events that began in his city in 1967, when he was ten. There are millions of stories in the city ? some magical, some tragic, others terror-filled or triumphant. Jonah Kirk’s story is all of those things as he draws readers into his life as a young boy, introducing his indomitable grandfather, a “piano man”; his single mother, a struggling singer; and the heroes, villains, and everyday saints and sinners who make up the fabric of the metropolis ? and who will change the course of Jonah’s life forever.
Koontz At it AGAIN! Loved The City! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was an incredible honor for me as I have been a HUGE fan of Dean Koontz for “decades”!The City is the story of remarkable young Jonah Kirk who, in his late-fifties, decides to tell the story of several years in his youth beginning when he was 8 years old. From the first line where Jonah gives his full name of Johan Ellington Basie Hines Eldridge Wilson…
Kindness, courage, and soul All great cities have a soul. At the age of eight, Jonah Kirk meets a woman who tells him she is the soul of the city made flesh. Jonah calls her Pearl. He introduces the reader to Pearl when, at 57, he starts dictating the book we are reading. Jonah attributes the appearance of new piano in the community center (and thus the beginning of his career in music) to Pearl, whose connection to the supernatural is immediately apparent to the reader, if not to young Jonah.Despite the…
A modern fairy tale Dean Koontz seems to have in recent years decided to redefine what makes him a writer. His stories have always been just on the edge of “out there” with classics like “Watchers”, “Phantoms”, and “Lightning”. When “Odd Thomas” came along, Dean seemed to lean heavily on that vein of writing but still branched out with stories like “77 Shadow Street”. Then “Innocence” came along last year and it looked like Dean had reinvented himself…