FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE

By Dean R. Koontz

Bantam Books (2000)

Reviewed by Robert Thompson 12-27-90

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I can't believe that I missed this book for a year and a half!  I usually read a new Dean Koontz book as soon as it comes out... 

Although the writing in this book is the typical Dean Koontz quality, it is somewhat of a departure from his normal style.  Rather than having a super-powerful, evil, insane but super intelligent  or "high tech" type  villain, This time the "bad guy", Junior Cain is bad enough, but he really is pretty stupid and vain and it is only "good luck" that he gets away with things for so long.

In fact, the bad guy is really not very important to the story other than being the thread that eventually ties a bunch of wonderful people together.

What makes this story so special IS the collection of "good guys".  Usually there are 1, 2 or 3 people in a Dean Koontz book that are kind of special due to their particular talents, skills,  goodness or strength of spirit, but in From the Corner of his Eye, there are MANY people who are just amazing in their goodness and strength of spirit.

This book follows the threads in the lives of several people, beginning in 1965 and ending on 2000.

The "main" character in this story is supposed to be Bartholomew Lampion, but it is such an ensemble "cast" it would be difficult to find one that is really more important than another.

Bartholomew was born on January 6, 1965,  just minutes after his father was killed and his mother injured in a car crash on the way to the hospital.  Within just a few weeks, it is obvious that "Barty" is a special kid- not only is he a loving and really well behaved child, he is a child prodigy,  able to read "teen-level" books by the age of two and adult level books by the age of three, he also has an amazing grasp of mathematics. Also before he makes it to four years old he is blind- losing his eyes to a particularly nasty case of retinoblastoma.  But the loss of his eyes doesn't really seem to bother him much....

Barty's  mother, Agnes is "the Pie Lady" who's main reason for life (beyond caring for Barty) is baking pies for those more unfortunate  than her, making sure that the poor and infirm of her community have enough to eat, enough clothes and a habitable place to live.  Agnes has two good hearted but very odd brothers, Edom & Jacob.  In the eventual course of the story, we find out just why they are so odd.

Celestina  is a beautiful young artist, the daughter of a black Baptist ministerial couple.  She has adopted and is caring for Angel, (who was born at the same time Barty was ) the child that her sister died in giving giving birth to.

Dr. Walter Lipscombe is the surgeon that tried to save Celestina's sister's life.  He soon turns into Celestina and Angel's own Guardian Angel, and eventually something more.

Thomas Vanadium is a homicide detective "with a past" (and a special but very unusual ability) on the trail of Junior Cain.  Vanadium's past is that he is a Catholic Priest, on "leave" from the church.

There are a lot of other good and interesting characters, but the ones mentioned above are the primary ones.

I'm not really going to go into the story, as it is mostly just the way that all of these people eventually come together.

A few people have found the story to be somewhat contrived, but I found it an interesting "proof" that there are no coincidences, and an illustration of how a seemingly insignificant action or omission of action can have an astounding or shattering effect on people across the country and across the years.

Some people have said that so many really wonderful people make the book kind of cloying.  Personally, I found that it was uplifting, gave me hope, and maybe even made me a better person (THAT probably won't last too long though ;-).

I really enjoyed the book, and was unable to put it down for a moment in the final about 200 pages.

Highly recommended!
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