Very good tale of quantum mechanics & alternative worlds and souls

I picked this up because Dean Koontz is one of my favourite authors. He can be hit-or-miss, but when he's on, he's REALLY on and I eagerly devour his books.

This one started out a little slow and meandering for me. I wasn't quite sure about it for the first hundred pages or so, but then I found myself eagerly picking it up every chance I had. The thing about Koontz's style is that it is meandering. He lets his characters wander, and he delves into their psyches until it's almost uncomfortable to go that deep. But then just when you think it's too much, he throws in something completely unexpected and jolts you out of your reader complacency.

Koontz also writes extremely well-developed characters, and villains you love to hate. I found myself moved to tears a few times while I was reading, and I was outright sobbing during the last few pages. Overall, this is another Koontz winner for me, and I'm eager to read more from him! ( )

Fue un día trágico, preñado de terrores, el del nacimiento de Bartholomew Lampion. Un día que iba a cambiar la vida de su familia. Y no solo porque Barty tuviera unos ojos hermosísimos. Unos ojos que parecían destinados a ver lo que los demás no podían ver. También, cuando Barty nacía, un ser demoníaco, a muchos kilómetros de distancia, supo que alguien llamado Bartholomew iba a convertirse en su enemigo más mortal, que encontrarlo y aniquilarlo tenía que ser el primer objetivo de su existencia.
Tiempo después del inicio de esta extraña danza entre el odio y la inocencia, aparece un nexo entre ambos: una niña, fruto de una violación, cuya historia se entrelaza con la de ellos y que acabará impulsando a Barty a armarse de todo su valor para hacerse cargo de su existencia. Se inicia así una lucha a muerte que en su dramatismo condensa la eterna lucha entre la pureza y la corrupción..

Read this when first published, just listened to the audio version. just as good as i remembered. Stephen Lang did a wonderful job of narration. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Bartholomew Lampion is born in Bright Beach, California, on a day of tragedy and terror, when the lives of everyone in his family are changed forever. Remarkable events accompany his birth, and everyone agrees that his unusual eyes are the most beautiful they have ever seen.

On this same day, a thousand miles away, a ruthless man learns he has a mortal enemy named Bartholomew. He doesn't know who Bartholomew is, but he embarks on a search that will become the purpose of his life. If ever he finds the right Bartholomew, he will deal mercilessly with him.

And in San Francisco a girl is born, the result of a violent rape. Her survival is miraculous, and her destiny is mysteriously linked to the fates of Barty and the man who stalks him.

At the age ot three, Barty Lampion is blinded when surgeons reluctantly remove his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer. As the growing boy copes with his blindness and proves to be a prodigy, his mother, an exceptional woman, counsels him that all things happen for a reason, that there is meaning even in his suffering, and that he will affect the lives of people yet unknown to him in ways startling and profound.

At thirteen, Bartholomew regains his sight. How he regains it, why he regains it, and what happens as his amazing life unfolds results in a breathtaking journey of courage, heart-stopping suspense, and high adventure. His mother once told him that every person's life has an effect on every other's, in often unknowable ways, and Barty's eventful life indeed entwines with others in ways that will astonish and move everyone who reads his story. ( )

This read like it should have been one of his earlier works. It wasn't. I was actually angry when I finished this book.

The main "villain" of the story is a man by the name Junior. Junior is basically every bad thing the author could think to paint him as. Faithless? Check! Draft Dodger? Check! Murderer? Check! Rapist? Check! Transphobe? Check! Disgusting? Check! Arrogant? Check! I mean the list really goes on. . .

I mean I have to give Koontz some points for managing to fit in so many trope/bad villain character traits in a single novel but it was just such a train wreck. Equally some of the protagonists ran into similar issues although not to the extent the villain did. There are entire characters that could have been removed from the book without the over all plot changing much. It was just. . bad. It was bad. So bad. ( )