Dean Koontz’s latest offering, The Good Guy, delves into familiar territory for anyone who’s read much of his work. Like Velocity and The Husband (or, for less recent fare, Dark Rivers of the Heart or Intensity), The Good Guy centers around a (sort-of) ordinary guy finding himself pulled into a conflict with a killer who seems almost unstoppable.

The titular “Good Guy” is Tim Carrier, a stone mason who tries to keep the lowest profile he possibly can. A regular at a local bar, Tim enjoys striking up conversations with some of the eccentrics that come in. A conversation with someone he’s never seen before leads to a case of mistaken identity, and before Tim has time to clear it up, the newcomer is gone, having left Tim with an envelope of money and the identity of the woman he’s supposed to kill to earn it. Following a run-in with the real killer, Tim finds himself unable to just sit back and do nothing, and his attempt to rescue the target drags him into a game of cat-and-mouse with a killer whose resources seem almost endless.

I’ve been reading Dean Koontz novels for many years now, and I can’t say that this is one of his best, but it’s certainly not one of his worst, either. Other than reading a few pages when I first bought it at the store, I finished this book in one sitting, and it never dragged. The ending did seem a bit rushed, as the secret Tim’s past is revealed just in time to act as a deus ex machina to save the pair from the hired gun’s employers, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere, and the explanation makes a reasonable amount of sense. Besides, the rest of the book was a fun enough ride to more than make up for a quick wrap-up to those issues.

All in all, if you’re already a fan of Koontz’s work (especially if, like me, you’ve enjoyed most of his recent works with the exceptions of The Taking and the Odd Thomas novels), you should enjoy this one. If you’re not already a fan, I’d recommend going back and starting with a different book. Velocity, Lightning, From the Corner of His Eye, Watchers or Tick Tock are all good choices, in my opinion, but just about anything you find with Koontz’s name on the cover is worth a read.

Spider-Man 3, which has been called the last movie in the trilogy by some (though it remains to be seen if the “Spider-Man trilogy” will be misnamed in the same way the “Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy” was), was released on Friday. Unlike the previous two films, this one doesn’t focus on a single villain. Instead, Spider-Man must contend with Sandman, a new Goblin, and Venom. Overall, I was very pleased by this movie. It wasn’t as good as the previous one, but that’s neither surprising nor particularly disappointing, since the last one was excellent.

There were definitely scenes where this one fell flat or was unintentionally (I think) funny, but the overall story is solid, and while at the end of the movie you do feel like there’s been a lot of stuff going on for the last two hours, it doesn’t feel overly crowded. The Venom and Sandman storylines probably could’ve been split up and fleshed out enough to make this into two movies, but doing so would’ve made the conclusion to Harry’s storyline that’s been threaded through these first three movies much less satisfying.

Spoilers follow. You know the drill. (Not as many thoughts as you usually would’ve gotten, though, since I’ve put off writing this for a week. Sorry)

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I picked up a copy of Steve H. Graham‘s The Good, the Spam, and the Ugly at Borders the other day. It’s very funny, though the central gag wore on me a bit after a while. I think it would’ve been funnier if I’d read one chapter at a time with a good break between each, instead of consuming the whole book in a day, but it’s definitely worth the read.

Web Log

A woman who has been at the scene of several fights between Spider-Man and various supervillains becomes convinced that Spidey is stalking her, and writes about it on her personal weblog.

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After House of M, most of the Marvel Universe’s mutants lost their powers because of the Scarlet Witch’s reality-bending abilities. Only those heroes who were involved in trying to set the world right know exactly what caused the mass de-powering of mutants, and they’re not talking, out of fear of causing a worldwide hysteria.

It’s been a week since the mutants lost their powers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. wants answers. Knowing that the X-men and the Avengers went to Genosha just before the event, and that her only “witness” keeps muttering “House of M” repeatedly in her padded cell, she calls Tony Stark (Iron Man) looking for information. Tony, one of the heroes who knows the truth, dodges the question and ends the communication. Meanwhile, a super-powered something crashes to Earth in North Pole, Alaska, and begins wreaking havoc.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I’m enjoying both of the Avengers books that spawned from Disassembled. I hated the Disassembled story, and I can’t think of a single tie-in to that event that was even worth the paper on which it was printed, but the spin-off books, The New Avengers and Young Avengers, are extremely fun reads. I like the way Brian Michael Bendis writes this team (especially Spider-Man, who doesn’t show up in this issue — Iron Man is the only Avenger who does, in fact), even if the stories don’t quite feel like “Avengers” stories.

The first 3/4 of this book is fantastic. The art is wonderful as always, and even without Spider-Man, Bendis tosses in a few funny moments. The problem comes when the Avengers story ends, and we’re “treated” to a backup story starring, um… Kickers, Inc. I have no idea who “Kickers, Inc.” is, and if this short sample is any indication of the quality of their stories, I’m very, very glad of that. Technically, I guess we’re not shorted any pages of Avengers story, but between the 8 pages of Kickers, Inc., and the fact that the first nine pages have a total of eight panels (yes, that’s right — big panel covers two full pages), with absolutely no text on any of them other than the “Previously…” stuff at the beginning of the issue, this issue felt very short, and very, very light on actual Avengers.

All in all, not a bad issue, but it really felt like a prologue that would’ve fit just as well in the first two pages of an issue that actually got us into the story.