Once in a while I receive a book as a gift that I’m just not sure about. It might be that the book is from an author I’ve never heard of or am not wild about. Sometimes the story looks a bit limp. Well, Tick Tock had both of those factors working against it. I’d been in the mood for very serious reading, and I find Dean Koontz’s work to be a mixed bag so this title raised my eyebrows more than my hopes. I held off on final judgement until I could read it through, though. The cover didn’t sell me, but that’s okay since it cost me nothing.
The story featured one of my all time pet peeves, a protagonist who is a writer. I do not like “writers writing about writers”, but I’ll save that rant for another time. Suffice it to say, this type of character drives me nuts. Tommy Phan, the ‘hero’ of Tick Tock, writes corny detective novels featuring a hardnose ladykiller of a detective named Chip Nguyen. Chip is quite awesome and Tommy is, to put it kindly, far from. Tommy’s imagination runs amok the way writer’s minds are expected to and I had to cut Koontz some slack because Tommy is pretty unique as far as heroes go.
See, Mrs. Phan’s little darling comes from a family of folks who left Vietnam for the United States when he was knee high to a water buffalo. They fled the tension and violence of their homeland and sought a new life in the land of so many dreams, both broken and realized. Fortunately, the Phan family bakery turned into a local empire so now they live well. Tommy’s siblings outperform him at nearly every turn, in terms of meeting his parents’ expectations. Tommy’s drive to be creative doesn’t sit too well with these traditional Vietnamese folks. The dreaded Mrs. Phan doesn’t believe her son is living his life the right way. She believes he’s disrespecting not only his his heritage, but his family, as well.
True to his American Dream inclinations, Tommy rebels. Then, he experiences the kind of guilt that only a sterotypical old-fashioned mom can summon. In fact, in my estimation, these are the strongest themes that the book addresses: stereotypes and life choices or how we are expected to be versus how we choose to act. The character of Tommy’s mother gets dosed with a heavy accent, frugal economic sensibilites and a rather racist outlook on the world. It would definitely be irritating if it weren’t so hilarious. Koontz doesn’t let it look as if he’s trying to portray a real person, he lets the stereotype be the joke and he lets it bother Tommy. A bothered Tommy Phan means great entertainment for readers because the innately jittery, hopeful and guilt-ridden nature this hero keeps him the star of his own little screwball comedy. That’s the art form Koontz meant to emulate with this title.
To offset Tommy’s rather quirky, but straight-laced personality we have what appears to be a real Koontz favorite, the strong-willed female character. She’s usually mysterious, stubborn, resourceful and a dynamo of sorts. Del, Tommy’s female interest, comes with all these features and more. The more ends up being a dog. Tommy isn’t all that into dogs. Then again, other than his new Corvette, Tommy isn’t into much. His reluctance throughout the course of the book keeps it worth turning the next page, just to see Mr. Uncertainty have to survive a few more paragraphs of mayhem.
I wouldn’t call Tick Tock scary, but it’s got very cool elements of Vietnamese folklore and it gives you lifts at the right moments. It’s not riproaringly hilarious, but it’s amusing enough to elicit genuine laughter and plenty of smirks. It’s not a spellbinding tale of the human condition, but really, how many of those do we need?
Sometimes, we need to make some time for fun. If that’s what you’re looking to do then I’d recommend Tick Tock to you.
Visit Dean Koontz’s website to learn more about his books: http://deankoontz.com
Click here to get your hands on “Tick Tock”
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