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Title: A Werewolf Among Us
Series: ———-
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Mystery
Pages: 211
Words: 53K
| Synopsis: |
Baker St Cyr is a detective, a Cyber-Detective! He can plug a portable computer into his chest and have it integrate within himself, thus giving him an edge of logic that most humans don’t have. It also nags him about his dreams, dampens his emotions and can affect his actions.
St Cyr is hired by an extremely rich man on a pleasure world to find out who killed some of his family. With no clues whatsoever, the local constabulary are baffled. Several more murders occur while St Cyr is there and an attempt is made on his life. All clues point to a local animal that supposedly can turn humans into werewolves. St Cyr must also battle the deadening of his emotions and the awakening of said emotions when he falls in love with his client’s daughter.
In the end, St Cyr figures out that the “butler” did it, is prevented from destroying said robot by his own cyber-unit (because it isn’t logical as all robots must adhere to the 3 Laws) and almost dies. The love interest saves the day, saves St Cyr from himself and saves herself from a stifling family relationship.
| My Thoughts: |
Koontz turns his hand to future murder mystery with rather predictable results. Just looking at the cover should tell you who the murderer is. As soon as the main character noticed that the robot butler went around on an anti-grav plate, I knew it was the robot. There was no mystery. It would have been cooler if there HAD been a werewolf.
The main reason I knocked off some stars is because of the final fight scene. St Cyr refuses to accept that his cyber-unit is deliberately affecting him by not allowing him to shoot the killer robot, that is trying to kill everyone right then, right there in full view. So he wastes half the fight trying to shoot down Robo-Butler and missing, while his love interest is screaming at him to throw the gun to her so she can turn Robo-Butler into Robo-Scrapmetal. He ignores her until it is almost too late. That isn’t logic but plain stupidity.
The overall story was a fun little tale, even while being completely predictable. I’d probably have notched it up to a 3 ½ star rating if it weren’t for St Cyr acting like a complete idiot in the fight.
Well, another old Koontz under my belt (I believe this was published in 1973?).
★★★☆☆
What? There’s no actual werewolf in this book? What a swizz! I want a real werewolf and I want it among us!
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There is a legend of the natives that states that there are werewolves, but sadly, there is no actual werewolf.
If I were you, I’d complain to management and get your money back! And do it quick before everyone else has the same idea…
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Great, are you the manager? I’d like to be compensated for my lost time and money, thanks.
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I’m not the manager, honest. Ummm, it’s that guy, over there! * points *
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You don’t actually work here? Come back so I can read your nametag…
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Really, I just stopped by, to, umm, meet a friend. Yeah, to meet my friend. Oh, there he is. Gotta go!
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What friend? There’s no-one else here! You’re wearing a uniform, you must work here!
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Just because I happen to like to dress up fancy with a little red hat and a name tag does not mean I WORK here. My goodness, your class prejudices are really showing through.
In fact, I feel offended. I think you owe me money for offending me! $10 bucks buddy,or I call the cops and tell them to arrest you for offending me!
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Right, I want a MANAGER and I want one NOW! I’ve been coming to this werewolf shop for 20 years and don’t come here to be blackmailed!
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Officer! Officer!
We have a luney over here who offended me! Arrest him immediately!
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I’ll be back! Lawyered up! Never had such poor service!
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Wow, that went downhill FAST.
That was fun! 😀 😀 😀
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It jumped up a notch!
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😂
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I haven’t heard of this one before. Mind you I haven’t read a lot of Koontz over the years. I can’t say he was a favourite.
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Even with my reading through a large part of his catalog I don’t think I’d qualify him as a favorite either. But there are enough elements that I like about his writing to keep on going 😀
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Well…that’s…disappointing I guess is the right word. I have so far not read any Koontz novel, which is strange considering my fondness for novels such as these. I know my mum read quite a few novels by him, but as the comment above says: I know he wasn’t really a favorite of his. Guess I will need to pick one up myself to determine what I think of him. While the synopsis for this book sounds pretty cool, it seems the execution left a bit too be desired I suppose😊 And really…the butler did it? Lol😂 Great review!
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While Koontz has some fantastic books, most of his stuff is in the 3 star range. He’s prolific without being fantastic. I think he’s a writer for the kind of people who read one, maybe two, books a year…
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One, maybe two books a year huh? Well..don’t think I ever had a year like that before😂😂 Maybe one day I will pick something up from him at some point. Gotta try at least every flavor of icecream once I guess they say 😊
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Lightning or Odd Thomas are my 2 top recommendations if you ever do decide to try Koontz.
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Thanks for the recommendations: will put those on my (way too long, lol😂) reading list😊
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All right, I’ll stick to Odd Thomas and Lightning then! 😄
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Good call. I’m thinking of making a note of any of the outstanding Koontz I read 😀
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👍 And if you make a blog post on it, I’ll be the first to read! (Well, metaphorically speaking, I don’t really pay attention if I’m actually the first on people’s posts 😉)
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Well, considering I have over 50 more Koontz books, that particular post might be a long time coming 😀
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Well, probably Mr. Koontz should have stayed in his usual horror & supernatural territory, because this one does not sound very intriguing – and for some reason the detail about the plug-in computer sounds more funnily silly than anything else… 🙂
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Sometimes technology just doesn’t age well if it is handled like this 🙂
Whenever I realize the book I’m reading by him is outside his normal stuff, I know I’m in for a treat, whether good or bad!
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Ahhh, stupid characters. They’re made of all kinds of surprises… This title by Koontz sure does sound off compared to his more celebrated oeuvres…
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I had hopes….
that were cruelly dashed 😉
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