“For the power of man to make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to make other men what they please.” – C.K. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

The first book in this Frankenstein series is the Prodigal Son. I read the series first in 2005, and I’ve read the series and listened to it multiple times since then. I love this series, such a cool take on the Mary Shelley, Frankenstein story.

It begins in Tibet, where Deucalion is staying at the Rombuk Monastery with the monks. He wakes from a nightmare that is prophetic. He’s here at the Monastery you see to help quell his murderous homicidal urges because at one time it’s all he wanted to do, and so he’s been spending his time here at the monastery if only to quiet his rages for a time.

If we all remember the original story about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley then you remember how hideous in appearance he was made, the twist on Dean Koontz Frankenstein is a bit different, in many ways. In Dean Koontz version, he’s made with the parts of criminals, murderers, pedophiles, rapists; essentially from some of the most depraved of humanity, hence his homicidal rages.

His body’s filled with hideous scars, and one side of his face is a ruinous mess, but the other side is quite handsome, as his maker made him a handsome man, until he tried to do something to his maker that was forbidden. His name is Deucalion, and he’s been around for the last two hundred years or so when we meet him.

Sure, would be awesome if I could hang around for two hundred years, but you know still look about 150. Well, one can dream😊.

While at the Monastery, he receives a letter from New Orleans from an old friend and so he goes to New Orleans to find out what’s going on. Sadly, he finds out that his friend has passed away, murdered in fact. In letters his friend has been sending him, Deucalion learns that someone from his past he thought dead is in fact still alive. This of, course happens to be his maker, Victor Helios a.k.a. Victor Frankenstein.

Although he had not killed for a long time, he still harbored the capacity for homicidal fury. Here he strove always to suppress his darker urges, sought calm, and hoped to find true peace.
From an opened stone balcony of the whitewashed monastery, as he gazed at the sun-splashed ice pack, he considered, not for the first time, that hese two elements, fire and ice, defined his life.

Ha! How could he still be alive after 200 hundred years, after all, he is nothing but a mortal right. He is a trillionaire though (is that a word? 😊). He can do whatever he wants with all that money too.

Well, Mr. I am a god, I can do whatever I want. Builds a new race of man and woman, ya, he did, crazy right! I mean jeez, some guys always think they’re god in one form or another (sigh). I won’t say any more about the new race here because if you haven’t read this series and you love Dean Koontz story telling you will enjoy this series. You are going to meet many different characters in the series, some will make you laugh and some will just downright horrify you.

So, we meet Carson O’Connor and Michael Madison, two New Orleans Detectives. Man, I love these two, they are just awesomely hilarious, the banter between the two will have you in stitches. Anyway, they’ve been investigating a serious of murders: some wack-job was getting off cutting up women and discarding what he didn’t want.

Well, it’s while investigating these horrendous murders that they meet Decaulion, and from there the real adventure begins. I would recommend reading these books in order. There are five books in the series.

I love that Koontz weaves in some religion, sci-fi, horror, thriller, fantasy, and mystery throughout the series. You know, good vs. evil, light vs. dark, beautiful vs. hideous. It is after all how most of us humans view the world through whatever lenses we are looking through at a particular time, a place, a moment in our lives.

There’s also a graphic novel series to enjoy. Just saying 😊

Frankenstein book series:
Prodigal Son (#1)
City of Night (#2)
Dead and Alive (#3)
Lost Souls (#4)
The Dead Town (#5)