COLD FIRE

By Dean R. Koontz

G.P.Putnam & Sons (1991)

Reviewed by Robert Thompson 1-21-91

Dean Koontz has done it again! COLD FIRE starts out like most of his other books, with excellent characterizations and a gripping story line.

Jim Ironheart and Holly Thorne are the heroes of this tale. None of the supporting characters are really important other than to advance the plot. The story revolves entirely around Jim, who saves lives. He is not a doctor, a fireman or a cop; He travels around the world under some sort of compulsion, just at the right place at the right time to save a very specific life. He does not know why or how he is compelled to do these things, but basically accepts that he is being used by a "higher power" or God to carry out a mission.

Holly Thorne is a reporter who witnesses one of his rescues. She tries to interview him, but is politely but firmly brushed off. But Holly does not give up easily. Using the resources of her paper's Newsweb data base service she finds out that a mysterious blue eyed stranger was responsible for saving several lives throughout the country, always disappearing like the Lone Ranger, leaving people wondering "Who was that masked man?".

Holly tracks Jim down, follows him on one of his missions, and is herself rescued from death by him. Soon after, she decides to give up being a reporter to become his Tonto. After his initial refusal, he somewhat unwillingly accepts her after finding that they had recently shared some very specific nightmares.

At about this point, the story gets kind of "science fictiony", but quickly moves on to something that is at once more mundane and stranger than science fiction. That is all of the plot you are going to get out of me for now, I'm afraid that I have given away too much already.

Koontz had added a new dimension to his writing, at least one that I have not noted before: a wry sense of humor. For about the first half of the book, Holly has a way of looking at herself in a self depreciating (but not whiny way), that reminds me a lot of some of Erma Bombeck's columns and stories. Holly is kind of refreshing, and Jim thinks so too.

In the first half of the book, you will have an empathy with and an intense admiration for both Holly and Jim. That kind of fades out in the second half, but I am not sure whether the author intended for that to happen, or if the events of the story are just too intense for the lighter side of emotions.

The first half of the book is "10" the second half just an "8", but again I am not sure if I just expect too much from Koontz after being enthralled by every sentence of his "WATCHERS", which I read two times consecutively, and once again a year later. Koontz remains one of my four favorite authors, and is still number one in his field. Stephen King came close with "THE STAND", but not quite.

P.S. If you have seen the movie "WATCHERS" which was vaguely based upon the book, but not read the book, do not judge Koontz' work on the basis of the movie. Koontz is the "Margaret Mitchell" of the scary book genre, (although a bit more prolific) and It would take a production on the scale of "GONE WITH THE WIND" to capture the feeling that you will get from reading WATCHERS.
CLICK here to go back to Reviews Main Page