Watchers

So, I decided to reread Dean Koontz's "Watchers" yesterday. What a great story, and how funny it was to think how different things were 20 years ago. The story involves Russians murdering American scientists to steal their secrets, people diving off boats to get to pay phones (no cell phones then), and, in one part, two cops are discussing the high cost of the new houses being built in Orange County. "At $180,000, they better be mansions" one cop says to the other, and I literally fell off the bed laughing. Were houses really that cheap back then? Oh, my lord! The average size home goes for what, $500,000 now in O.C., I think. What a shocking difference!
Of course, the best part of the story is the idea that a dog could be as intelligent as a human, that it could communicate. We who love our dogs often think they are that intelligent, and wish we knew what they were "thinking". It's sad how different Koontz's writing style is now: while he still introduces a couple of seemingly unrelated characters in the beginning and ties them together by the end, he no longer seems to put the time, effort, and detail into his work like he did in "Watchers". It was so rich, multi-layered, full of vibrant, rememberable characters. It's sad to compare it to what he's putting out these days.