Ashley Bell
01/17/2020
We are introduced to Bibi Blair our 22 year old main character. From the get go I have a major issue with her characterization. If you've read any book by Dean Koontz you know all his characters are basically the same, while story lines play out differently, there is a VERY detectable pattern to them. Well Bibi Blair is essentially like any other female character Koontz protrays. As someone who was quite recently a 22 year old woman, in college with many other woman around that age, and worked in a coffee shop I can with full confidence say... Bibi Blair is the most unrealistic character I've ever read.
At 22 she lives on her own in Southern California... with no room mate... surviving as a writer... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah. Ok. Sure. She dropped out of college. Drink 3 cups of black coffee in the morning (did I mention I was a barista, I've never seen a 22 year old drink any amount of black coffee).
Her speaking style is also HIGHLY unrealistic. It just gets annoying how unrealatable she is when given my demographics and the fact I'm a writer I should be able to see myself in her rather than my grandma.
BUT, I digress! In the beginning chapters Bibi has a stroke. She calls her mom, Nancy, and they go to the hospital where she is told she has brain cancer and only a year to live. From there her health quickly deteriorates, and by quickly I mean within the day. Overnight at the hospital she sees a hooded man with a dog, she pets the dog and the next day she wakes up cancer free and healthy. Wow miracle! Or is it?
Bibi goes home to find Calinda Butterfly there to read her future to find out why this miracle occurred. She gets two messages via divination: TO SAVE A LIFE, then ASHLEY BELL. Unfortunately during this seance of sorts The Wrong people show up which scares Calinda and sends Bibi on the run.
Bibi is being stalked by two factions. 1). Chubb Coy, the former cop and head of security at the hospital for some reason. 2). The Wrong People lead by Birkenau Terezin. Terezin is a pseudonym for Robert Warren Faulkner a man who murdered his mother and mutilated his father.
Working with Terezin are two of Bibi's former English teachers. One from 11th grade, Marissa Hoffline-Vorshack The other the college professor who forced her out of school, Dr. Solange Sr. Croix.
Bibi is doing her best to investigate what's happening so she can find and save Ashley Bell. Except she really isn't.
Back in the hospital are her parents, Murphy and Nancy Blair, with her best friend Pogo and her fiance Paxton Thorpe. They are watching a comatose Bibi suffer not only the effects of her brain cancer but of her vivid dream state. It's similar to Nightmare on Elm Street, what happens in the dream happens in real life.
During her search Bibi gets a tattoo on her wrist, ASHLEY BELL WILL LIVE. This tattoo shows up on her comatose body alerting her family that something more is going on. So, Pax and Pogo (Averell Beaumont Stanhop III) team up to try and save her.
It becomes apparent that Bibi has a lot of repressed memories and her mind is working hard to keep them that way. If you've read Dean Koontz' novel Coldfire, it's the same story but the woman has the powers. My disappointment in this book stems from my own hype. I thought I was going to get a story when a women sets off and an adventure to rescue another woman. Alas. No.The novel goes through a lot of exposition for a rather simple narrative.
Pax and Pogo visit a woman Halina Berg aka Toba Ringelbaum who is Bibi's favorite author. There they learn Ashley Bell is the name of the main characters in one of her novels who grew up to becomes a surgical doctor specializing in brain cancer.
They then get a recording from Bibi's grandfather, Captain, explaining how he drugged, hypnotized and essentially brainwashed Bibi to forget about her powers. So, the question, what are her powers? She can conjure things into existence.
"Fiction is a dangerous art. It has risks. Not just for readers who may be influenced by it but to authors as well."
When Bibi remembers her powers/abilities she realizes she can remove the cancer from herself and wake up from the dream-story. But, Terezin, the antagonist of the dream wants her to leave the dreamworld intact when she leaves. It gets Coolworld.
"If we can't trust our gods, who can we trust?" She leaves the world but does not continue it thus defeating him and her cancer.
I didn't like the novel and don't recommend it. I do however recommend Coldfire!