C alled "America's most popular suspense novelist" by Rolling Stone magazine, Dean Koontz demonizes authority figures who irresponsibly abuse their power and, under the guise of giving aid, injure and destroy. He normally focuses on government and corporate conspiracies, particularly ones involving biological experimentation that advances unchecked, but in False Memory he concentrates on a psychiatrist who practices brainwashing for diabolical personal motives and holier-thanthou academics whose ludicrous theories damage young people and lead to destructive patterns of behavior. His villains always have in common their willingness to play God, to experiment on the innocent, and to unleash nightmares with no care for the consequences. Koontz does not trust professions whose members see themselves as superior to the rest of humanity because he believes that arrogance and personal smugness lead to a contempt for humanity that invariably works itself out in dangerous patterns. Ironically, the villain...