
Joanne M. (
Joanne) wrote on 4/21/2008...
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
One of my favorite Koontz books (tied with Odd Thomas). I just fell in love with Einstein - who wouldn't want a dog like that - and I'm not even a "pet person"! Highly recommended.

Denice S. (
DeniceS) - Berkeley, MO wrote on 10/18/2007...
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is my favorite Koontz novel. I re-read it every few years. It is a great story and I've passed my original copy around to friends so many times(and demanded it back
)it's getting a little worn!

Laurie S. (
LaurieS) wrote on 6/3/2006...
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I just finished up rereading this book which I had initially read nearly 20 years ago. Surprisingly enough, I did manage to enjoy most of it despite the fact that I've become much pickier and crabbier about my reading choices as I've, eh, matured.
This is Koontz's famous tale about genetically engineered animals which is probably much more probable and frightening in 2007 than it was in 1987! Political bigwigs have managed to fund and create "The Other", an intelligent killer who lives for the thrill of the kill. They've also created a golden retriever with the intelligence of a bright human (I state this because many dogs I know are smarter than many humans I've come across). The government intends to use the dogs as spies to learn about the "enemy". After all, who'd ever suspect a retriever of spy tactics? So to get on with things, these two genetically altered creatures are so smart they outsmart the scientists and escape the lab. The "Other" goes on a killing spree, the retriever finds a loving home with a kind man and is named "Einstein". For some inexplicable reason "The Other" hates Einstein and because the two are psychically linked, it spends its time tracking down the dog (when it's not decapitating innocent people and animals).
The remainder of the book is filled with the antics of a crazed killer-for-hire, corrupt political goings-on, "The Other's" quest for death and destruction and the gooey-sweet love story between Travis, a victimized woman (who is so naive as to be completely unbelievable and whose name I've forgotten) and Einstein.
I still loved Einstein but spent a large majority of the book annoyed at the only woman character in the book who was all helpless, pathetic and needed rescuing. She was 30, THIRTY folks, and so sheltered and beaten down by a crazy old aunt that she had absolutely zero life experience and was completely missing a backbone. I don't remember noticing those things when I was a teenager or maybe I just accepted them as normal because I didn't know much at the time either. If that's the case, maybe getting older isn't such a bad thing ;)