The Vision

The Vision

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