The Good Guy by Dean Koontz

"The Good Guy" by Dean Koontz was, as I've come to expect from this author, a pretty good read. Koontz went through a real "dry spell" in the early 90's as far as I was concerned. (Mr. Murder springs to mind.) His books had become filled with levels of gloom and doom, with darker characters. I don't know what happened in his life, (I suspect the addition of Trixie to his family....) but later on, his books were filled with interesting, off beat characters, that you could really like. Many of the books are positively gleeful, which makes for a pretty fun read.

The Good Guy is just that...a great story about a really good guy. I'm not going to do a synopsis of the plot here, I'm sure you can find those aplenty. I was nodding in agreement about certain parts of the plot. The explanation for the conspiracy, and the description of our society with regards to all our well publicized fears rings true. From the "oh my God, we're all gonna die from Global Warming", to "oh my God, we're all gonna die from the Alar in apples, the oil used to cook our movie popcorn, the fluoride in our water, etc. etc. etc." it seems like we are to spend the bulk of our lives quaking in fear. The tactics of those who we've chosen to govern us seem to often employ both the politics of distraction, and the incitement of fears.

I doubt very much that any of our politicians from either party would actually admit to thinking the same thoughts as Koontz's characters expressed above, but I'll bet every one of them privately agrees with the last line. And they all think that they know the proper way to manage our world, so much better than we do.

So--The Good Guy...good book, worth your time to read.

(posted on myspace July 9, 2007 and LibraryThing March 7, 2008)