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I love Koontz, although sometimes his politics and faith can get in the way of a good story. Maybe it's impossible to separate the essential viscera of who a writer is at-heart with the story they convey at any given time. Whatever the case, Innocence is a unique Koontz novel. Less thriller, than lyrical fable convoluted by the horror trappings of Koontz's imagination, Innocence is almost mystical allegory.

Here, Addison Goodheart believes himself a monster, so he hides his face from all of humanity, until a chance encounter in a library with a woman dressed like a harlequin puppet fills him with hope for a future where he does not have to live hidden away from the eyes of everyone else. They both have scars, both visible and invisible; yet their brief encounter initiates a relationship that may have negative consequences for both.

As always, Koontz tells an intriguing tale bordering the fantastical and the feverish fugue of a dream. Definitely, hopeful, but sweeping you up the way the tornado swept up Dorothy and Toto. I couldn't put it down. A really well-done literary treatise with possible merit as a masterwork.