My posts

5 words: surrogates, tantamount, mundane, trepidation, furtively

473pages 

This is my third Dean Koontz book I have read and the more of these books I read the more I learn about this author and his writing style. My favorite part about this author’s style is the way he leaves me guessing. I guess it depends on how you like not knowing what is going to happen or not. I like this quality in the author because it is the key factor that keeps me hooked on a book. I also liked that he made me ask questions to help figure out the book on my own. Its another key to keeping me interested.

Basically, this story is about a family who has suffered a recent family crisis who live in Downtown L.A. Fortunately their luck ends up turning when they inherit this beautiful Montana Ranch, from a long lost friend’s dad. They decide to move from L.A. to start a new life, but was it the best decision? You will have to read to find out. I love mysteries that is my favorite type of genre. Mysteries are the books you can stay hooked on because they never give you the answer. You have to dig deep within yourself to find it.

This was one of the first books I really stayed hooked on because of another one of the comprehension strategies, “visualization”. This was a big part of the book. One scene I remember visualizing really well was when the other described this portal from another world. As I read it it talked about a big portal from which beings of another planet come through. As it described the portal it talked about the size, shape, and thickness of it. What I pictured was a portal big enough to fit a train through it, yet the portal is paper thin and is invisible from a side view. Even though it just described the portal being just black, the way the author described it so well I was able to add my own flare to the portal seeing it with many more colors in it. Thats what is great about visualization, it brings the best out of your own ideas. It sparks new thoughts, and new stories, within your original story.

I think you make part of the book, along with the author. Without using these comprehension strategies, I personally probably wouldn’t read as many books and I wouldn’t be able to expand my ideas the way I am able to. It helps to make reading more enjoyable. I hope to be able to read more Dean Koontz books and learn more about him and hopefully continue to discover how to use these strategies.