The Vision Essay, Research Paper

Most people are skeptical about psychics and psychic powers. In the book The Vision by Dean Koontz, there arises a real convincing psychic Mary, who has visions of murders that are yet to happen. But, a new twist to the story causes Mary to see a different kind of vision. Murders more gruesome than ever. More difficult to see. Harder to pursue. All these factors cause the reader, and possibly Mary to wonder who are the ones who really care for her. Can the murderer possibly be someone she loves? Or maybe a haunting truth about the past.

The story takes place in various locations of modern day California. Some of the story takes place in Los Angeles, but the most momentous part of the story takes place in a little town called King’s Point. The town is on the Pacific Coast Highway, and expensive houses dot the shoreline. Pertaining to the visions, Dean Koontz vividly describes the scene of each of them, as they take place. For example, he takes the reader to one of the scenes of a murder. A small beauty shop in Santa Ana, California. He forces the reader to picture the various aspects of a normal beauty shop, such as, the exterior. The neon lights, the palm trees, the jade-plant hedges, and the money-scented air. He informs the reader of the scent of the shampoo, cream rinse, cologne, and perspiration. He tells how the floor was covered in hair, and the purple color of the walls, and the plush purple carpet. He describes the sound of the hair dryer and the gunshot in which the murderer shot the cashier. As one can see, the author thoroughly describes the setting.

The main character is of course, the psychic, Mary Bergen. She is the author of a syndicated newspaper column about psychic phenomena, and the one who pursues the visions in which the murderer creates. The true identity of the murderer is not clear until the end of the book. Max Bergen, Mary’s husband, and Alan Tanner, Mary’s brother, each try to help Mary pursue her visions to catch the killer, and to free Mary’s life of the horrible stress that encompasses her. But Max and Alan don’t get along very well. Alan feels that Mary could have picked a better man to marry, because he believes that all Max is after is Mary’s money, and that Max doesn’t really realize how fragile she is. Max knows how Alan feels, but obviously he disagrees. Max is pretty a strong man, six inches taller, and forty pounds heavier than Alan. Although Max had promised Mary that he would never physically fight another person, he feels a strong need to fight Alan, but knows that won’t stop him from being so arrogant. Alan on the other hand, can easily persuade people with his sweet voice, and pleasing appearance. There is also Dr. Cauvel, Mary’s psychiatrist, and Lou Pasternak, one of Mary’s old friends. Cauvel desperately tries to link Mary’s visions to the past. Pasternak, an alcoholic journalist, helps Mary and Max try to find the killer, and stop him.

Mary Bergen, the well-known psychic, has unfortunate visions of murderers killing their victims. One day, a terrible vision appears with no warning. And from then on, these visions are even more macabre than her usual visions, and they always prevent Mary from seeing the killer’s face. This puzzles Mary, so she goes to her psychiatrist Dr. Cauvel, to seek some answers. He tries to delve into her past and unveil some truths. She was abused as a child by one of her neighbors, who supposedly killed all of her brother Alan’s pets. And her father died when she was really young. Mary doesn’t clearly recall any of the abuse she experienced. All she can really remember is the flapping of a lot of wings, like those of a bird. She often has visions of just the wings, and it is an enigma which severely frightens Mary. All she knows, is the wings relate to her abuse. Considering that Mary has blocked this part of her past out, Cauvel believes that her abuse is what caused her to start having these visions. That same day, a vision comes to her. As she tries to pursue the vision and see the killers face, hundreds of glass dogs that the Doctor had collected, flew of the shelves, and at Mary. Scared and confused, Mary later looks for comfort in Max. He of course comforts her, and tries to help solve the mystery. He takes her to King’s Point where the next murder is to take place and to meet with Lou, who helps them by having a seance to answer some of Mary’s questions. A Ouji board assists in answering these questions. But, there are a few questions asked by the reader, such as: Is the killer actually someone who is close to Mary?

The Vision by Dean Koontz, is a very exciting book that will most definitely keep one turning the pages. It has a lot of suspense, and most of all, a lot of mystery. The author does a good job in letting the reader know what is going on at all times. He does so in such an interesting manner, which keeps one begging for more. The book itself has a very attractive cover which also gets one’s attention. This book is recommended to almost anyone, but mostly to those who like murder mysteries.

In reading this book, one will find that the main character Mary, goes through many perils but never seems to give up. She persists with her visions until she feels that justice has been served. Even though she has some people against her, mainly the skeptics, she also has people who love her helping. This just shows that even though one might feel like the world is against them, they actually have friends who love them enough to help them solve all their problems. It just takes persistence and patience.

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