Lightning (Group Read - March 2010)

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

:-)Glad you enjoyed the book Carrie!

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

Carol wrote: "I have to admit, I skimmed through almost the whole third quarter of Lightning, and picked up the thread again just before Stefan gives the explanation of how and why the whole thing started. He was also talking about a conversation with Hitler, and apparently he also talked to Winston Churchill, but I didn't read any of that...however what I did read satisfied me for this time, and I will probably go back at some future time and finish the rest of the book. "


Hey Carol, you posted this in the From the Corner of His Eye thread and I wanted to respond but I also didn't want to get the discussion too far off topic so I hope you're still following the Lighting discussion :-)

I remained a fan of Lighting for probably the first 3/4 of the book but toward the end, I was just ready for it to end.
*Spoiler Alert*
The whole meeting with Hitler was just not believable to me.
*Spoiler Alert*

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I enjoyed the first part of the book much more than the last 1/4 and if I were you, I probably wouldn't bother going back and trying to re-read the passages you skimmed over. You probably already got the gist of the story. I'd just start on April's group read if I were you :-) Just my opinion

[Carol]

Whew! Thank you for absolution! I tend to skip over violent parts no matter what I'm reading...war, hand to hand combat, torture etc. But then, without the dark side, would it be Koontz?

[Matt R.]

Really digging this book so far...I plan to post some more once I finish.

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

Matt R. wrote: "Really digging this book so far...I plan to post some more once I finish."

Where are you in the book now?

[Matt R.]

Ok, I am 3/4 of the way through the book and have avoided reading all of the spoilers so far. The book started strong and it still has my attention and interest but I am not thrilled with the whole "person from the future". The book had me laughing in spots. Right now, I rate is 3 stars.

[Denise]

I'm only halfway done with Lightning at this point. It is holding my interest so far and I am not only enjoying the book, but staying curious as well. I only started reading this a few days ago (because I had other books to finish first) but am already 50% done. For me, that is good, and means that I am enjoying the book. If I am disinterested, I normally fall right to sleep during my reading (which is why it took me nearly the entire month to finish Alice In Wonderland). I haven't read the spoilers yet and am still eager to find out what Stefan's facination with Laura is.

[Carol]

Denise said: I haven't read the spoilers yet and am still eager to find out what Stefan's facination with Laura is.

Denise, that's what kept me reading. I ended up skimming a lot of the last half of the book, and I will perhaps go back and re-read it someday, but...there are so many other Koontz books to read! I did like the parts I read, however.

[Denise]

Carol wrote: "Denise, that's what kept me reading. I ended up skimming a lot of the last... there are so many more Koontz books to read!..."

Yeah, Carol, I know! So many! I am really excited about finally reading some of the Koontz books that I've bought. I'm glad I found this group! It's my motivation to keep reading. :)

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

:-)Glad people are participating so much in the Group Reads and other discussions. Koontz fans are the best and you all make this group what it is.

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

Since there are still at least two people finishing up Lightning - we'll keep it featured as a current group read for a while extra :-)

[Denise]

Dustin wrote: "Since there are still at least two people finishing up Lightning - we'll keep it featured as a current group read for a while extra :-)"

Thanks Dustin! Just a couple more days for me. And I'll be done early with this month's book. :)

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

Well, I know you and Matt are still reading - there might be others. Usually at the first of a month we move the previous group read to the appropriate folder - Stand-Alone Novels folder for Lightning. I'll let Matt move the discussion when he's done reading & posting :-) I'm glad to hear you'll be reading FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE also :-)

[Matt R.]

Yes, I am almost finished with Lightning - now I feel some pressure to finish it :) I'll move the thread this weekend. The story is unfolding better than I thought it would.

[Maciek]

Did you guys notice some similarities between Watchers and Lightning ?

Mild spoilers for both books:

-The female protagonist being stalked by a vile man who intends to rape her;
-The savior, who is a complete stranger to her;
-the scene at the doctor - in Watchers Einstein was taken to the doctor when he was sick, in Lighning Stefan is taken to the doctor - both doctors are of course very helpful
-the transformation of the heroine, from an adolescent level to gun trotting mama level;
-the scene with the house with guns hidden everywhere.

there are propably many more, but I'm just interested if someone noticed these things. Maybe that's why I didn't like both books much, LOL ! I'd propably enjoy them more at the age of 13 or 14.

[Jaice]

Maciek wrote: "Did you guys notice some similarities between Watchers and Lightning ?..."

I didn't notice them. Watchers has even more similarities with Breathless though. ;-)

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

The similarities between Watchers and Lightning didn't bother me. I didn't really realize them any more than I would notice similarities between any two books by Dean Koontz. Interestingly enough, the two books were written and published very close to each other.

Maciek, the most interesting similarity you pointed out was the Einstein/Stephan parallel. The least interesting one to me is the guns hidden through the house because that occurs in so many Dean Koontz stories :-)

Like Jason, I thought the similarities between Breathless and Watchers were very evident :-)

[Maciek]

Lightning was written right after Watchers, and I've read it soon after finishing the dog story so that's why they were especially evident for me. The whole frame of the novel is very similar, and the two elements that stand out the most are the doctors and houses filled with guns. I've read many Koontz novels but only in those two he gives an elaborate description of them.
He's well known for recycling various stuff from his works - take a bit of this, put in a bit of that - but here these similarities were especially striking for me.

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

Lightning has been selected as our November 2015 Group Read. This is the old thread from 2010 when it was last featured. There is a new thread for 2015, but you may find some the comments here interesting.