This book intrigued me when I first heard about it. Dean Koontz is one of the leading horror authors, Kevin Anderson the author of one of my favourite series of recent series (saga of the Seven Sons), and Frankenstein one of the classic tales of science fiction. So how I wondered were these two excellent authors going to handle one of the staples.

The answer thankfully is very well indeed.

The starting point for this tale is that the events recorded in Mary Shelley's novel were a representation of actual events. And this world's Victor Frankenstein continued his work following his being driven out by the villagers after the birth of his first creation - work that has greatly extended his lifespan.

But he is not alone in being of his time, for his first creation also still lives, with the dramatic events of the night of his birth Frankenstein's creature is near immortal and has adopted the name Deucalion. When Deucalion hears that his creator lives and is the New Orleans business man and scientist Victor Helios he leaves the monastery that has been his home and heads to the United States to once again encounter his maker.

Carson O'Connor and Michael Madison are homicide cops investigating a serial killer nicknamed "The Surgeon" from predilection for taking body parts as souvenirs. The investigation is proceeding in a fairly routine if grisly manner until they discover one of the victims appears not to be human. The medical examiner describing the body as different more by design than by mutation.

I have to admit to having a certain trepidation when I started this. Could it actually live up to my hopes? Well the answers to these came very quickly indeed, as within just a few short chapters I was hooked.

And that is part of the reason – short chapters. I've often found that lengthy chapters can cause me to become rather stuck in a book, limiting the progress I can make. When you add to that a very comfortable writing style, this is a wonderfully rewarding and comforting read.

Now before you start to think that I feel this is the greatest book ever written, I'd better qualify my statements. This is not the most highly original novel you will read, even given the fact it is a sequel of sorts. All of the constituent parts herein are recognisably similar to those in many, many other previous novels, and from TV shows and films. Not that this is derivative in any way, just that it uses known situations and characters to ease the readers into the story.

Or to summarise, in this book you will not find anything revelatory in any way whatsoever, but what you will find is a wholly entertaining novel.