Lightning Kindle Edition

Completely different from other authors and from Koontz himself. The story runs pell-mell through the life of Laura Shane and finishes in a very satisfying manner. I actually set it down for a day to make it last longer.

Lightning is a great book. I read it over 20 years ago for the first time and was surprised how much I remembered on the reread I completed today - that's a sign that an author has something special. The story centers on the life of Laura Shane, from her beginnings as a young girl, a teenager in the foster system and finally her life as a successful author with her husband and son. Throughout her life, a mysterious man shows up and intervenes several times in bad situations that could result in her death, only to save her and vanish just as quickly. She comes to think of him as her guardian angel and this forms the crux of the story.The characters here are top notch. Laura and her family are easy to root for. Thelma is one of the funniest characters I've read in some time and Stefan is brilliant as a man trying to atone for his past mistakes. Although the revelation of his origins is a little far fetched, it worked for me. If you've never read Koontz before, this is a great example of his talents. Give it a shot!

I really was on the edge of my seat with most of the book. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was a personal issue. It was unbelievable. I stopped reading Dean Koontz books because of that. I really liked the suspense and not knowing what was next. I especially was intrigued by the start with the alcoholic physician and how Stefan stopped him from going drunk to perform the delivery. That alone kept me reading. Some very sad parts but showed the strength of Laura. It really was a good read.

The first several times, I read Lightning in print. I re-read it every year or so - my favorite Dean Koontz book ever, and one of my favorite books of all time.The way Koontz so skillfully weaves the story - it’s so full of surprises.Even after knowing the outcome, re-reading it is great, because the skill in the weaving of the story is like a great painting. You never get tired of looking at it - always seeing something new in it. It’s wonderful.

I miss the dogs, but I still enjoyed the book. I have to be very careful with this author as his new efforts are disasters. In addition, those little stories advertised as books with only 70 or 80 pages for a buck. He can't be that hungry. Anyway, I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

I enjoyed the story very much, but I do have a question regarding the rules of time travel in the book and how the book seems to disregard the very rules it set up. I'm probably not understanding something. Anyway, here's my questions:Time travel obviously plays an integral part of the story. One of the main rules of time travel the book lays out is that a paradox is not allowed. It then goes on to give examples of what is not allowed. They say that one cannot travel forward in time and back again then travel forward in time again to a point before the previous time such that you might see yourself appear. Let me offer two examples. One was at the end when Laura and her son are in the desert and Stefan travels back to his own time, then forward again 5 minutes after he left. When he comes back 5 minutes later, Laura is already shot in the back and her son is dead. He then goes back to his own time and tries to travel ahead to stop the shootings. When he tries to adjust to reappear 4 minutes since he originally left (since he can't travel to a point prior to when he last left), he realizes he can't since it would cause a paradox because he would see himself appear 1 minute after that, so he send the note in the bottle since the note and bottle did not previously travel and would not cauise a paradox.Second example is when Laura's husband is killed on the road. Stefan says he can't travel to a point before to stop the murder because he's already traveled to a point after that. It would cause another paradox.My question is that if that rules exists, how does 1 person do more than 1 jaunt? How does Stefan repeatedly save Laura? He supposedly travels into her future to see what happens, then goes back and makes changes. But doesn't that violate the rule already established? Once he travels ahead to see her future, he shouldn't be able to travel again to any point prior to that jump. Because if he were to stay in that timeline, he could see himself pop into existence in the future when he made his first jump to check Laura's future. Same goes for the hits squads who are tracking them. Same idea.Also, if they have such trouble pinpointing a time and place when they travel (they end up miles away from their intended spot) and they've made all of these jaunts, how have they never materialized in a wall or a tree or a rock, or another person? Seems like if they couldn't pinpoint their location exactly,then they would run into these problems.Okay, tell me how stupid I am, and GO!

A book with some very interesting twists. Can't say more than that without giving stuff away. Not as charming as the Odd Thomas books. Dean Koontz fans will enjoy it.

Action packed. Couldn’t put the book down. With a surprising end. Highly recommend for the Sci-Fi enthusiasts.

i spent most of my teen years reading steven king. Koontz never really appeared on my radar bcos he didnt always rite horror and if it wasnt horror i wasnt interested.the first Koontz book i read was phantoms, bcos i loved the film. But, (and im ahamed to admit) i went back to King and Laymon.Now im an adult and as all adults i have a budget. So after coming back to King to reread some books i was shocked to find hes charging over £6.99 for all his classics.pfft, no way. But there below him was Lightening and for 99p! Realised it was Koontz and thise old doubts came rising up. i pushed them aside and dived in.very glad i did! I have really enjoyed this novel and read it quickly.i have a few niggles with it. its annoying that her beauty is always given as a reason to save her etc. and i wondered about a few of the instances which would have brought on a paradox. Such as the nazis killing the policeman who would have arrested her and her son. if they killed him he would not have made the report and so the nazis would not know where she was. maybe i misread though, bcos ultimately the author was pretty on the ball with the paradoxes.I enjoyed his afterword as well and showed me i shouldnt be worried about readingv his stories.which i will.i must thank the author for not charging so very much for his books. i love to read. i get through books so fast that i cant afford to keep up my hobbie sometimes. Youve given us a wonderful gift and you have shown fans are more important than money. thank you x

I liked the concept of this novel very much and for the first part, I found it enjoyable. Unfortunately, about half way through it became quite boring and I found myself wandering off while trying to finish it. The rest of the book just seemed to be going on and on, quite vaguely about the Nazis with no factual or interesting content, which was unexpected. What really shocked me was the apparent heralding of 'Winston Churchill' who was responsible for the deaths of millions of German people. He was actually quoted as saying he didn't care about Hitler, he just wanted to kill the Germans. Churchill was no hero. DK vaguely talks of atrocities without bothering to give other historical content or details. It's like he glimpsed over it with a quick look at Wiki. It seemed more like a personal view point rather than a proper explanation. The British forces didn't want to carry out the atrocities over Dresden for example because they could see that their ruthless bombings were literally melting human beings onto the streets. The soviet camp comparison was vague also, saying that they were as bad as the Nazis camps. Has DK done his research and seen what happened in the gulags, on the island where people ate each other in their mad desparation? Does he know how the Americans put up posters of the Japanese mocking their appearance and how they were treated once captured? Does anyone know how the Uyigars are treated today? How the Chinese are treated today? How the organ harvesting is so successful? It really annoys me when only one leader is called out and other leaders are appraised when they were in fact genocidal monsters. It undermines the suffering of the victims of these evil lunatics. It still goes on.

I first read this book 32 years ago, when I was 10 years old. I have lost count of how many times I have read it now.Dean Koontz has always been one of my favourite authors and this was one of the first of his books that I read around the same time (the others included Midnight, The Eyes of Twilight and Watchers). Picking up one of his books is like a welcome visit from a very much loved friend.

I have to be honest I nearly gave up after the first 100 pages, I struggled to get my head around what was happening, two different stories and I couldn't get the connection, I'm glad I persevered because it all comes together with a flash and a bang. Then as things become clear you realise the possibilities are endless, so there is no way you can predict what will happen. If you've a taste for the unusual and consider most things are possible, give lightening a go. I really enjoyed the story and how it makes you think in a way that opens up many avenues of thought, you can keep on guessing but you never know how it's going to end until you get there! Well worth the read.

Originally released in 1988 'Lightning' is the story of Laura Shane who was born during a freak storm. Laura is a strange but beautiful girl who is born into tragedy but who seems to have her own Guardian Angel protecting her from some of the repercussions. As the years move on, the story spans her life from birth to adulthood, Laura becomes involved in some incredibly odd situations including the discovery of a Nazi time machine, still in use, through which special agents can travel forwards billions of years in an effort to influence the future with particular emphasis on World War II. There are so many unlikely scenarios here including meetings with Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill while Laura morphs from a lonely, frightened girl into some type of superhero fighting through time for what's right. Murders, mayhem and action scenes throughout but the gore is intentionally lighthearted given the age of the publication. Silly, frivolous and not in any way a horror story though it does have supernatural undertones. I couldn't take Lightning seriously but it was entertaining read and easy to get through.