The City / Dean Koontz / 571 pages

Young Jonah Kirk (These are just two of his many names.) is both blessed and cursed by circumstance.  His father, Tilton, comes and goes while his grandfather, a piano man, and his mother, a beautiful, struggling singer are constants.  Another, somewhat mysterious presence is Miss Pearl, who has revealed to Jonah that she is the city.  Although Ms. Pearl and his grandfather and mother, and later, his friends are integral to Jonah's formation, his own integrity and sense of justice  mold him into a hero for the generations.  This engaging, at times, supernatural, novel takes the reader on an informative walk through 1960's America and the 1940's Japanese internment.  The characters are fully and richly drawn, and the supernatural aspects are made believable as always by Mr. Koontz's command of his craft.