Frankenstein: Prodigal Son
Book 1
Dean Koontz

Every city has its secrets. But none as terrible as this. He is Deucalion, a tattooed man of mysterious origin, a slight-of-reality artist who has traveled the centuries with a secret worse than death. He arrives in New Orleans as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his victims for the humanity that is missing in himself. Deucalion's path will lead him to cool, tough police detective Carson O'Connor and her devoted partner, Michael Maddison, who are tracking the slayer but will soon discover signs of something far more terrifying: an entire race of killer who are much more - and less - than human and, deadliest of all, their deranged, near-immortal maker: Victor Helios - once known as Frankenstein.

This is the first book of the five book Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz. So far, so good. As a fan of old school horror, I was a bit worried about how this book would work. Both Frankenstein and his monster in modern day New Orleans? But it works, and it works well.

Not only is the plot tight and will keep the reader interested, but the fleshing out of Deucalion (Frankenstein's monster) and giving him his own personality works very well. I'm also happily surprised with the treatment and portrayal of an Autistic character in this novel. As the mother of an Autistic son, I find most portrayals to be inaccurate and sometimes downright insulting. I don't know if Koontz has someone in his family with Autism or not, but he did a good job with this character.

All in all, this is a very interesting novel that I would highly recommend to Frankenstein fans and would also recommend to those who aren't that into Frankenstein. It's more of a mystery, so people who are not into horror need not be concerned.

My rating: Four out of five snails.