Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post about a book I bought that was number one in a trilogy and it was not a full book- book 1 ended in the midst of the action and I felt like it was a tactic to get me to buy the next one in the series. I refused. I want the books I read to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Period. End of sentence.  They can go on to have the same characters in other stories but I want a full story in the volume.  This cutting the book at a pivotal scene is nothing but a marketing tool and I DO NOT LIKE IT!! See here: https://sherryfowlerchancellor.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/the-summoning/

Imagine my surprise today when I read one of the books that  has been in my “to be read” stack for several months and One Of My Favorite Writers DID IT TO ME, too.  And he did it even worse. Right before a battle scene- I kept thinking there were not enough pages left in the book to bring together all the various peoples and defeat evil. AND THERE WEREN”T!!! 

This was book FOUR of a series with the same characters- each book previous HAD A SATISFYING ENDING!! This one did not and I’m pretty pissed off. I had every right to expect a full story from this writer- he is an excellent writer- love his characters, his wit and his philosophy. This particular book was 292 pages of a great book until it wasn’t.  I never expected this out of this writer.

I’m going out on a limb here and telling you not to buy Lost Souls by Dean Koontz.  Never, never, never thought I’d be telling people not to buy one of Dean’s books but I am. I never thought he’d sell out to marketing people. One of the things I always admired about him was his refusal to allow his books to be abridged by audio books- his were always full length.  He always said he’d never sell another one to Hollywood either when he hated the one movie they made (which I saw) but why, why, why did he do this to us??  Why not finish the book, Dean?  I feel bereft.