False Memory

Dean Koontz

Average Rating 6/10 (1 Review)

Martie Rhodes is a happily married, successful video games designer, and a compassionate woman who, twice a week, takes agoraphobic friend, Susan Jagger, to therapy sessions; although each trip is a grim ordeal, it has also been a bonding experience that has brought the two friends even closer together.

Then one morning, Martie experiences an irrational fear of her own. She suffers a brief but disquieting terror of... her shadow. She sees something twisted in it, something not right. Other anxiety attacks quickly ensue... until Martie discovers she is afflicted with one of the rarest and most intriguing phobias known to psychology: autophobia, a fear of oneself. Because of the astonshing and terrifying ways in which this phobia manifests itself, Martie's life changes suddenly, radically - and her future looks dark.

Martie's husband, Dusty, is a rock for her. He loves her profoundly, and he becomes desperate to understand the nature and cause of her autophobia. But as Dusty comes ever closer to the terrible truth, he himself begins to exhibit symptons of a psychological disorder, even more unusual and frightening than that afflicting Martie...

Review by Nigel (100600) Rating (6/10)

Review by Nigel
Rating 6/10
Dean Koontz is among my favourite authors, his novels Lightning, Dragon Tears and Dark Rivers of the Heart are brilliant, fast paced and terrific to read. False Memory, however, is not one of his best.

This is not due to the storyline, which is good, but more down to the length. The story starts with a typical Koontz impossible situation. The main characters best friend is having serious problems and when she explains what these are, no one believes her. Now, with this being a Koontz novel you know there will be a plausible explanation coming and you can't wait to see if you have guessed right.

The trouble with False Memory is that after the first 100 pages you understand that it's impossible and why, and you just want to know what is causing it all. The novel continues in the same way for the next 200 pages with you thinking all the time "Bloody hell get to the point!"

False Memory is good but it would have been better 200 pages shorter. A definite cure for Insomnia.
Nigel (10th June 2000)