Abandoned by Booklikes

Well this one was a surprise. We have Nameless taking out a black widow. And honestly this one was more delightful than the other two. Probably because of that ending and also the superstitious stuff that Lucia (the black widow) and her mother believed in like carrying an acorn to stop aging, stepping on ants causes rain, etc. Once again though I have to say that Nameless doesn't feel needed here. 

"The Praying Mantis Bride" has Nameless on a special mission. A man that was part of the Ace of Diamonds network is murdered and all signs point to his wife. Doing a study of her (Lucia) they find out the woman has somehow come up empty every time she's married. One wonders how the police ignored it. We get some interesting conversations with the family members and then we watch as Nameless and associates set things up to cause Lucia to have a fate worse than what she doled out to others.

Lucia is more developed than the other villains. I felt a bit sorry for her though when you read about her mother and what was going on there. 

White cats are good luck, but I can’t tolerate them quick and restless. Lots of Benadryl keeps them content.”

Nameless carries a pistol in a shoulder holster under his sport coat. He’s tempted to draw it and shoot the woman in the foot to see if the chicory root works.

I would be too. What a mess Lucia's mother is. 

I think the biggest issue I have with the writing regarding Nameless is it's a bit repetitive at this point. No one is going to read story 3 before the first one so having Koontz remind us again that Nameless has amnesia, he thinks he agreed to whatever was done to him, how he can sleep and tell himself what time to wake up is so not needed at this point. The flow worked a lot better in this one. 

The setting of this book is mostly at Lucia's home. 

The ending made me laugh, I sometimes forget that Koontz can be humorous.