Comments on: “Cold Fire,” Dean Koontz http://www.errantdreams.com/reviews/2006/06/14/cold-fire-dean-koontz/ 700+ book reviews, kitchenware reviews, and more. We may be insane, but we're on your side! Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:01:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: heather http://www.errantdreams.com/reviews/2006/06/14/cold-fire-dean-koontz/#comment-8019 heather Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:41:54 +0000 http://www.errantdreams.com/reviews/?p=145#comment-8019 <b>Ovrnite:</b> Hi! This is a very useful take on the book, which is why I approved your comment post. For future reference though, as the 'about commenting' page notes, please don't cut-and-paste wholesale reviews here: "Comments that are full additional reviews. Feel free to add details or your opinion or agree or disagree with something we’ve said, but please don’t turn comments into an additional review posting area." Ovrnite: Hi! This is a very useful take on the book, which is why I approved your comment post. For future reference though, as the ‘about commenting’ page notes, please don’t cut-and-paste wholesale reviews here:

“Comments that are full additional reviews. Feel free to add details or your opinion or agree or disagree with something we’ve said, but please don’t turn comments into an additional review posting area.”

]]> By: Ovrnite http://www.errantdreams.com/reviews/2006/06/14/cold-fire-dean-koontz/#comment-7934 Ovrnite Sun, 16 Dec 2007 22:18:17 +0000 http://www.errantdreams.com/reviews/?p=145#comment-7934 Dean Koontz’s ‘Cold Fire‘ centers on the incredible talents of Jim Ironheart. Somehow Jim can tell when someone is going to die. He seems to have no control over this power. He just gets feelings that he needs to be in certain places at certain times to save some stranger from death. A reporter named Holly Thorn soon begins to suspect his involvement in multiple cases. Each one involves a mysterious stranger saving someone from certain death. Jim has never been too clear on what guides him to saving certain people. He just believes that it’s a higher power. Holly begins to suspect that something else is guiding Jim. What is certain is that there is another power, separate from the benevolent force guiding Jim to save others. This other power is dangerous and wants to prevent Jim and Holly from discovering the truth. ‘Cold Fire‘, like Stephen King’s ‘Blaze’, is told from a limited perspective, but unlike King’s work, this novel suffers from the limitation. Not only are Jim and Holly the only perspectives used, they’re almost the only characters in the entire book. I was very disappointed to see a promising premise devolve into cheap psychology. The idea of a man who is forced to travel the world because a voice in his head demands that he save people’s lives is an very interesting one. That got me hooked. The evolution of an interesting idea into a pedestrian one was very disappointing, especially with the lengthy explanation of every detail that composed the conclusion of the story. So, for future reference, if you’re going to take a cool idea and start explaining it, make sure that your explanation is cool too. http://ovrnite.com/books/cold-fire-by-dean-koontz/2007/09/27/ http://ovrnite.com/ Dean Koontz’s ‘Cold Fire‘ centers on the incredible talents of Jim Ironheart. Somehow Jim can tell when someone is going to die. He seems to have no control over this power. He just gets feelings that he needs to be in certain places at certain times to save some stranger from death. A reporter named Holly Thorn soon begins to suspect his involvement in multiple cases. Each one involves a mysterious stranger saving someone from certain death. Jim has never been too clear on what guides him to saving certain people. He just believes that it’s a higher power. Holly begins to suspect that something else is guiding Jim. What is certain is that there is another power, separate from the benevolent force guiding Jim to save others. This other power is dangerous and wants to prevent Jim and Holly from discovering the truth.

‘Cold Fire‘, like Stephen King’s ‘Blaze’, is told from a limited perspective, but unlike King’s work, this novel suffers from the limitation. Not only are Jim and Holly the only perspectives used, they’re almost the only characters in the entire book. I was very disappointed to see a promising premise devolve into cheap psychology. The idea of a man who is forced to travel the world because a voice in his head demands that he save people’s lives is an very interesting one. That got me hooked. The evolution of an interesting idea into a pedestrian one was very disappointing, especially with the lengthy explanation of every detail that composed the conclusion of the story.

So, for future reference, if you’re going to take a cool idea and start explaining it, make sure that your explanation is cool too.

http://ovrnite.com/books/cold-fire-by-dean-koontz/2007/09/27/
http://ovrnite.com/

]]>