False Memory (Group Read - May 2015)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Here is a new discussion thread for False Memory, which will be featured along with Mr. Murder as May 2015 Group Read.

Note: there is an older False Memory thread, which you are welcome to visit also.
Thank You! :-)

[Barbara]

I never finished that book......it was too depressing to me......maybe I should try again
:/

[Karen B.]

Nope Steven, I'm here. I just decided to pick it up today. I was going to just read Mr. Murder but I am lost without a Koontz book for the rest of the month. So far though I have to say I think I know why I didn't care for it the first time I read it. The beginning is depressing! It starts out with Martie experiencing her own phobias... no gradual build up. I wish we would have seen Martie and Dusty interacting in the morning or something in a positive way before going right to the negative. I'm still going to stick with it though.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I will be reading False Memory after Mr. Murder. I'm reading Mr. Murder right now.

[Karen B.]

Once we got to the end of the first day it was easier to take and in fact, I was so riveted last night that I had to force myself to put the book down to go to sleep.

[Karen B.]

I found the weather part of the depressing part of the first day. I know there was one Koontz book (and I don't think it was this one) where it rained constantly and it was such a distraction for me and that is why I didn't like it.

[Karen B.]

*LOL* at Dustin, I am listening ... "The Plot is Entertaining, The Characters are colorful. I am enjoying it."

[Karen B.]

Who else is reading False Memory ? I feel like I am talking to myself here. But if anyone is reading it or has just read it ... can anyone explain why Ahriman's "group" had him program someone to bite off the President's nose? It said something about the government getting back to doing government business but I didn't quite get it.

and speaking of "government business" a little current even curiosity. Did anyone find it "odd" that the day after the Amtrack incident this week, the Congress/Senate voted to cut back money for updating the safety of the system?

Going a little "Fig" here I guess. Then today the New York Times post that they believe the engine was struck by something? Makes me wonder if someone wasn't behind the Amtrack incident.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Karen B. wrote: "Who else is reading False Memory ? I feel like I am talking to myself here. But if anyone is reading it or has just read it ... can anyone explain "


I know the feeling of talking to myself in the discussion threads. Been there, done that :-)
Thank you to everyone who participates in any way.

FYI: I will be offline for one week May 19-27 so, if anybody is wondering where I am - feel free to let them know that I will be back. Co-Moderator Shastina "Sassy" will check in while I am gone.

[Christopher]

I don't know if I'll give False Memory a read. I've seen reviews on it and Koontz has done stories about brainwashing before. I read Door to December(and enjoyed it) where it was a central theme and I think Night Chills was the same. I figure I will read Night Chills before False Memory, because I like darker, earlier Koontz.

[Christopher]

Karen B. wrote: "I found the weather part of the depressing part of the first day. I know there was one Koontz book (and I don't think it was this one) where it rained constantly and it was such a distraction for ..."

Sounds like The Taking? The rain there is part of the apocalypse, so it makes sense to have it for the majority of the story.

[Karen B.]

Christopher, now that you mention it, I think the Taking was the book that was so depressing for me with the constant bad weather.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Christopher wrote: "I don't know if I'll give False Memory a read. I've seen reviews on it and Koontz has done stories about brainwashing before. I read Door to December(and enjoyed it) where it was a central theme an..."

I read False Memory before Door to December. I think it does make a difference with books which you read first because you will always remember the first book that presented a particular idea and then ever afterward think "Oh, this reminds me of ...."

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Karen B. wrote: "Christopher, now that you mention it, I think the Taking was the book that was so depressing for me with the constant bad weather."

That is so funny. I almost posted The Taking? when you mentioned rain throughout the book and then I thought "Na". :-)

[Christopher]

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "Christopher wrote: "I don't know if I'll give False Memory a read. I've seen reviews on it and Koontz has done stories about brainwashing before. I read Door to December(and enjoyed it) where it wa..."

I think it's part of the reason some people say he reuses ideas. The more I think about it, the less I think that description (and my earlier statement) is fair.

I mean, I love Stephen King, but how many times does he make the main character or one of the main characters a writer of some sort? How many times is there some great monster or mysterious goings on in a small town? He even admits that he likes writing stories like that,and I love reading them.

So, thinking that, I might pick up False Memory (after I'm done with The Talisman) later on this year and read it with an open mind.

[Shastina , Koontzland Social Media Moderator]

I remember the first time I read False Memory. There was a moment I had to pause, because I got really angry at a character. I may or may not have tossed the book into my closet and left it there for a few weeks before I decided I needed to know how it ended. (Okay, I did.)

Because The Taking was brought up, that is both one of my favorite and least favorite books by Koontz. The suspense throughout it was great, but the ending... man, that ending. I got through most of that book terrified of the rain (Having been living in Seattle at the time, also being a weenie... I'm not sure why I read so much horror.)

Then I got to the end and... meh. The ending ruined it for me.

[Diane Lynch]

Shastina (Sassy) wrote: "I remember the first time I read False Memory. There was a moment I had to pause, because I got really angry at a character. I may or may not have tossed the book into my closet and left it there f..."

Sometimes stories are so good their is no ending that will do it justice. Sometimes it's just about the journey.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

So much truth is being spoken in these last few posts :-)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I am getting close to finishing the book and hoping to increase my rating to 5 stars when I am done :-)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Thanks Eve :-) One of your favorite Koontz books, but only 3 stars?

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I'm glad to hear. I really like False Memory too. I've given it 5 stars, while False Memory is not in my top 5 Favorite Koontz, it would make the top 10 :-)