Sunday Salon: The Good Guy by Dean Koontz is maybe just a bit too good

I spent the past week in Las Vegas and actually had very little reading time, so I have not yet completed The Good Guy. I can tell you that the premise is very intriguing and I can't wait to see where the story goes.

Basically, you have the protagonist who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and is mistaken for someone else--someone who appears to be a contract killer. Someone wants a woman dead. The "good guy" takes it upon himself to insert himself between this woman and the real killer. And the chase begins. I'm not far enough in to predict much, but I have a feeling there may be a few twists along the way.

Dean Koontz has always been one of my top 2 idols. But I have to admit, I have a small complaint about this novel. Something seems off in the writing of The Good Guy. There is witty banter between the main protagonist and the bartender. Witty banter between the main protagonist and the woman. It is getting a bit tiring. It makes everyone seem too good, too nonchalant, too flippant.

I'm a fan of offbeat witty banter, if done in moderation. I don't believe everyone talks this way or responds this way all the time, so it must fit the characters. I use banter with some of the characters in my Divine series, but I try to keep it real, and it must be balanced by a character's deeper emotions, otherwise they appear flat and lacking in emotion. They can't joke their way out of everything.

I'm hoping that as The Good Guy progresses, the dialogue becomes more meaningful and deeper. That's what I want to see in the characters I read about. Show me their thoughts and emotions, and make me feel what they're feeling. I'm hoping The Good Guy will end up being a really GOOD read. I'll let you know. :)

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention

http://www.cherylktardif.com
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