My third book is Lightning by Dean Koontz. The basic plot for this book is summarized as, “A storm struck on the night Laura Shane was born, and there was a strangeness about the weather that people would remember for years. Even more mysterious was the blond-haired stranger who appeared out of nowhere again and again to save Laura from tragedy.”
I first read this book in 7th grade. I remember that in English class, we were supposed to bring in a word we didn’t know each week, from whatever we were reading. The books which were considered age appropriate (Babysitter’s Club and the like)? Knew all of those words. And, I really wanted something with more intense plot. (Although I liked the BSC books, even as a 7th grader, I found it super annoying that they *never* leave 8th grade — hundred some books later? Still 8th graders!)
I needed books which were considered more challenging to my age group, although, admittedly, this was not more challenging *to me*.
I knew all of the English words in this book too. So I brought in the German ones (which I either knew the meaning of, or could figure out with context clues). Then I got in trouble. Such is the life of the advanced reader?
Anyhow, Lightning is extremely engaging. Riveting. It involves time travel, but the time travelers are from the past. They can’t change their past, but they change their future.
And the time travelers? They’re from Nazi Germany — trying to change the outcome of the war.
But what happens when one of them isn’t so sure it’s the right path, and then finds a reason in his future — a future he can still change – to stop Hitler’s plans? I can’t say too much without giving it all away.
It really makes you think — what WOULD happen if people from the past were still living out their lives concurrently with the timeline we’re in now, and changing things . . and we wouldn’t even know a change had happened.
I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book, but each time it is just as engaging as the first. The time travel reads so logically that you really want to believe it is a possibility. A frightening one, to say the least, but a real one. And the characters are well-rounded; full of depth, emotion, feeling — you can truly sympathize with what they’re going through, even if you haven’t had all of the same experiences. You’ll finish the book feeling like you really know them.
Have any of my followers read Lightning? What did you think?
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