INNOCENCE by Dean Koontz

 Finished Sa 1/4/2025

This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. I loved the book and plan on asking her if I can keep the novel. 

A 'monster' lives beneath the city. He is horrifying to look at and the reason is that he 'was born without sin'. He's like 'oil to water' when he is among normal humans. 

The book is kind of a reworking of the 'Garden of Eden' myths. 

From the Internet:

"Now, I have to admit that Innocence is one the most unusual novels I’ve ever read, especially by Dean Koontz.  The story deals with Addison Goodheart, who, as a young boy, was turned out by his mother, and forced to leave their isolated home out in the wilderness.  Since his birth, no one could stand to look at Addison’s face, or to gaze into his knowing eyes.  To do so turned people mad with an uncontrollable rage that was viciously directed at the boy.  This rage caused them to not only want to kill Addison, but to literally destroy him.   Even his mother could only bear to look at his face for so many years before finally throwing in the towel and making the child leave to fend for himself in the woods surrounding their cabin and then in a large city where he would have to avoid people at all cost or risk being killed.

Fortunately for Addison, he happens upon a man who appears to be in the same boat as he with regards to his facial features.  The adult offers his hand in friendship and takes the boy under his wing to live in the tunnel system underneath the city.  Together they flourish with the man teaching the boy everything he knows about survival.  Tragedy, however, erupts after a few years and Addison once again is alone.  That is until he sneaks into a closed library one night to read and witnesses a girl (Gwyneth) about his own age, fleeing from a well-dressed man who seems intent on killing her.

Luckily, Gwyneth manages to escape the killer and through a strange turn of events, become friends with Addison.  It’s love at first sight for Addison because Gwyneth is a real beauty, but she can’t bear to be touched or to be around people.  Still, she accepts Addison into her life.  On many levels they are both alike in their sorrows and inner spirit.  In fact, they are kindred spirits.  Gwyneth also makes it a point not to look at Addison’s facial features, understanding his need not to be seen by anyone.

Before long, Addison gets caught up in Gwyneth’s unusual adventures that deal with her murdered father and the man who’s after her.  They will have to figure out a way to defeat this individual and his accomplices if they want to survive the next twenty-four hours.  What the two young kids don’t realize is that this is only the tip of the iceberg and making it through the day is nothing compared to what’s ahead.

Dean Koontz has proven himself to be a master of character development.  He has a unique skill at being able to create relatively innocent children or adults, and then of putting them into highly dangerous situations with villains who are filled with such inner darkness that there’s not a shred of light emanating from their souls, if they have one.

Such is the case with Innocence. 

You have a young boy whose heart is overflowing with compassion and love; yet, no one can gaze upon his face or look into his eyes.  Then, you have a young, beautiful girl who is literally a genius; yet, she can’t bear to be around people.  Together, these two individuals will have to face the ultimate evil within humanity just to live for another day.  With all of this going on, the reader learns to care about these kids and to hate the men who are after them.  It takes a great deal of talent to hook harden readers like this, and Dean Koontz does it in spades.

Though it’s not important to the enjoyment of Innocence, Dean Koontz works every bit as hard on each upcoming book as he did at the beginning of his career so many years ago.  He may write each page thirty, forty, fifty, or even seventy times in order to find the right words needed to tell the story."

THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION by Robert Ludlum

Finished Tu 12/31/24

This is a hardback library book that I bought used from Amazon and received Tu 12/17/24. It was from the Alexander Memorial Library in Cotulla, Texas. This is a tiny town between San Antonio and Laredo, TX. 650 pages and weighed 5 pounds.

I spent far too long on this novel, but I just had to know how it came out. 

The novel was released in 1984 and concerns Joel Converse. He's a man who realizes that a retired American general is masterminding a plot to turn the entire world into a fascist state. The general has set up false 'revolutions' in countries all around the world that will occur simaltaenously. This violence will allow the generals to step in and clamp down on any resistance and bring about 'peace'. 

Kirkus Reviews:

"A global Third Reich. . . One big Supreme Court, each chair owned by a fanatic . . . that group of men who've come together to promote a kind of violence that'll stun the world, toppling governments. . . ."" Don't Ludlum fans ever get tired of this same cartoon-conspiracy plot, shamelessly recycled virtually every other year? Apparently not. So here it is again, with fewer frills and convolutions than usual: the plot--though stretched out to 650 pages with repetitious talk and minor complications--is surprisingly straightforward this time around. Joel Converse, a young-ish lawyer on assignment in Geneva, is approached by old chum Avery, who (on behalf of an anonymous client) offers Joel $500,000 to undertake a patriotic mission against some world-wide conspiracy. Moments later, naturally, Avery is murdered--and Joel's on his way to Greece, where Avery's colleague outlines the mission: six militaristic super-fascists from six countries (US, UK, France, Germany, Israel, So. Africa) plan to take over the Western world by fomenting violence; to prevent this, Joel must somehow use legal means to undermine the plotters. Implausible? Indubitably. But Joel's off and running nonetheless--meeting the bad guys in Paris and Bonn, trying (idiotically) to infiltrate their group. Not that the bad guys are much more efficient: they capture Joel several times but keep allowing him to escape; they also frame him for a half-dozen murders. And so Joel, realizing that the ""Aquitaine"" conspirators have allies within all the Western governments, is now a fugitive from justice too, trying to get to Washington alive to convince someone in US power about the Aquitaine threat. The only person who seems to believe him: ex-wife Valerie, who rescues Joel in Amsterdam, takes his messages to America (more deaths ensue), and eventually joins him in the long countdown finale--when Joel (with CIA help at last) crushes the Aquitaine leadership, arranges an assault on the Aquitaine communications-center. . . but doesn't quite succeed in averting the assassination-festival which Aquitaine has already scheduled. Sounds familiar? Of course it does: to an even greater extent than previous Ludlums, this reads like second-rank John Buchan with a case of elephantiasis. Still, there's more old-fashioned action here--and much less murk--than in some recent Ludlum thrillers; and if some fans may miss the mysterious atmosphere, others will appreciate the absence of intricate, headache-inducing gobbledygook."

An excellent recap of the novel from 'Raritania':

https://raritania.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-aquitaine-progression-by-robert.html#:~:text=Alas%2C%20after%20the%20midpoint%20of,agent%2C%20capably%20dispatching%20enemy%20after

I spent far to long on the book because it promised far more than it delivered.