Watchers

I took a sick day today. I'm not feeling well and after I realized this stupid cold isn't going anywhere, I decided to succumb and stay home with some thera flu and my book. I finished Watchers by Dean Koontz today. His books are known for having that supernatural element. But, he writes it in a way that it is believable.

In this book a genetic company had altered DNA to create two super human animals. One good, one bad. The good one was a dog with human-like intelligence levels and the other was created to create mass hysteria. It had the same intelligence level, but it was hideous looking and not so nice.

Both the dog and the other escaped the lab and the dog found Travis and became his pet. The other spent all of his time outside of the lab tracking down the dog to kill it, murdering several innocent people and animals along its way. The dog could sense when the Outsider was coming and would warn Travis using a ridiculous Scrabble-tile-dispenser to spell out words for his owner.

Finally, there was a big showdown. The Outsider was killed, the dog was hurt but survived and everyone lived happily ever after. I read the afterward by the author and he claims this to be his best work ever. I'm thinkin' not so much. It was good, don't get me wrong. It was hard to put down during the last 50 pages or so, but definitely not his best work ever. I was a little disappointed probably because this came off of the tails of my last book where the central theme was also genetic engineering. A topic which is of absolutely no interest to me.

Oh. I almost forgot. My quote: Most people believe psychoanalysis is a cure for unhappiness. They are sure they could overcome all their problems and achieve peace of mind if only they could understand their own psychology, understand the reasons for their negative moods and self-destructive behavior. However, in spite of that understanding, most people do not change their behaviors. See, now I think that's just a bunch of crap!

Don't worry, I joined book club. Maybe if someone tells me what to read, I will start having better luck. Look forward to future posts of doves and daisies, my friends.

The Third Twin

This book was by ken Follett. I have read a few of his books and they were pretty good. I let Jim pick it because I was having such a hard time getting back into reading. I just seemed like everything sucked! It was pretty good, though.

It was about a young scientist who was doing research on identical twins raised apart. The age-old nature versus nurture question. She develops a search engine that can track them based on their medical history. Dental records, echos, thumbprints, etc. She finds a set of twins that meets her criteria. she begins to question them. One an upstanding citizen. The other a criminal.

Turns out she embarks on a journey to get to the bottom of some deep mystery buried under the CIA, Senators and CEOs of genetic research companies. They don't want her to find out their secret. Which is that 23 years ago, back when fertility treatment was an experimental phenomenon, they developed a method to split embryos who had desirable qualities. Basically, neo-nazis dressed up as leaders and contributors to our society. Blech. They split one embryo seven times and implanted eight unsuspecting women with these embryos who were undergoing fertility treatment at one of the facilities involved.

Ms. Super Scientist figures it all out though. They fired her, ruined her reputation and had the life of one of the "good" twins (octuplets) hanging in the balance.

Ooooooh. Then, the plot thickens. She falls in love with the good one and this gives her more ammunition to expose these people. In the end, she does. All the women are compensated and she and the good twin live happily ever after.

It was a good book. Entertaining, but clearly written by a man. I just don't think that the lead figure should be female if the book is written by a schovanistic male as Ken Follett clearly is. The undertone of his writing infuriated me. The way women were portrayed, their desires, etc. was borderline offensive.

I did pick out a quote. "If we're all aggressive, obedient soldiers, who's going to write the poems and play the blues and go on antiwar marches?"

I'm looking forward to my next book. The Watchers by Dean Koontz. A friend of a friend said it was sooo good that she was reading it while she was brushing her teeth. Now, THAT'S a good book!