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Dean Koontz

He probably always suffered the drawback to be writing at the same time as Stephen King. But he is a talented author.
 
I think Intensity was the first one I read and it was actually scary. I've read a number of his other titles since and most of them are just so-so. Certainly not scary.

I'm currently reading Life Expectancy and the similies and analogies are really grating at this stage.

*flicks through pages for an example*


My face seemed to have been starched, and my lips felt as if they had been stretched on a clothesline and pinned at both ends...
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..and I couldn't figure out how anyone's eyes could twinkle so constantly as his unless implanted in them were motorized prisms that ceaselessly tracked environmental light sources.
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Does this quote make any sense or is it just me?

I wish I could more clearly see Lorrie.
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I have read Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. It was the first Koontz novel I read and I absolutely loved it. He has a great imagination and the story with its crime and detective aspects was enthrilling. I'd recommend it.
 
So this Dean Koontz thread has been buried for three years. What a sign of disrespect, I'll have to ressurect it now.

I just read my first Koontz novel, Breathless. I loved it, even though the ending was a bit hasty and jumbled. Many readers of the book felt the same way, and they went straight to Amazon to give the book a one star review. That was totally unfair! The story and the writing throughout the book was outstanding, just because the ending was a bit of a letdown is no reason to trash the book.

Anyway, I'm in this thread tonight to announce I am a Koontz fan and the two second-hand bookstores in my neighborhood will be my hunting ground for more of his books.

BTW, while searching youtube for Koontz related videos, I found a clip from an episode of Family Guy. Brian is driving his car down a country road, (I assume it was at a writer's retreat, knowing Brian), and he hits somebody with his car. He stops and gets out to check on the person he hit. "Oh my god, are you Stephen King?", he asks the person lying in the road. "Ack, cough, sputter, No, I'm Dean Koontz". Brian says, "oh", and gets back in his car.

And then backs up and runs over him again.

Anyway, I wonder what I'll find this weekend.
 
Hugh said:
I just read my first Koontz novel, Breathless. I loved it, even though the ending was a bit hasty and jumbled. Many readers of the book felt the same way, and they went straight to Amazon to give the book a one star review. That was totally unfair! The story and the writing throughout the book was outstanding, just because the ending was a bit of a letdown is no reason to trash the book.
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Breathless was okay, certainly not a 5 star effort, by any means. I mostly enjoyed the plot of the guy killing his brother and wish it was its own story, a novella or something. All the separate plot lines in the book seemed to be their own story, made the book feel like a book of short stories instead of a novel. I kinda wish it was, otherwise I'd have given it more than 2 stars.

Here's my review on Amazon:

I didn't have high hopes for this book after reading some of the reviews here on Amazon. If you listened to them, you'd think this was the worst book Koontz ever written. I don't think that it is his worst, but it is far from his best. If you want to read his worst, check out Your Heart Belongs To Me.

Breathless didn't leave me breathless as much as I wanted it to, which is not at all. There are some interesting characters here with interesting plots that have little or no relation to each other until the end, where they are weaved together poorly.

Breathless felt like it wanted to be a book of short stories, stories that Koontz had left lying around, stuck them together and voila: Breathless. This would be a 5-star effort as a book of short stories, but as a novel, it falls flat. I love Koontz and I'd wish he'd release a book of short stories again. Strange Highways is a great piece of work.
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Koontz hasn't written a book that's really grabbed since The Good Guy, and that was mostly because of the serial killer, I thought he was hilarious, had me cracking up. The ending sucked the big one. Probably the worst Koontz ending I've read. The serial killer dealt with in one sentence, after spending a whole book of building up the character. I was pissed. I was expecting a classic showdown between The Good Guy and the bad guy, but it just didn't happen.
 
My fav Koontz novel is Intensity. It's not called Intensity for the hell of it,but it really is the most intense novel I've ever read. I felt my hands practically shaking with anticipation and suspense.

Edgler Foreman Vess has to be my favorite villain of all time. He's like Hannibal Lecter unrestrained. Trust me, Edgler even got a hand over my 2nd fav villain,Barlow,from King's book Salems' Lot. Edgler made Intensity.
 
Intensity is definitely one of Koontz's best novels.

Velocity is pretty damn good too, if not as strong. I liked the mystery of it, anyway. Very suspenseful.
 
I a Koontz fan myself and there are several threads floating around this forum that discuss his work. I like some of his early novels; Lightning, Watchers, Phantoms.

I have been patiently waiting the third book in the Moonlight Bay series. As of 2003 Dean Koontz said he was half way done with it. It is now seven years later. It appears he (Koontz) got side tracked with his Odd Thomas series (a series that has fallen off since the first book in my opinion) and has yet to release the next Christopher Snow book.
That's OK, I'll continue to wait. It's not like I don't have anything else to read.
 
There are already two one-star reviews on Amazon from the Amazon Prime people for What the Night Knows. Again, they make their case, but they keep comparing this novel to Koontz's past books. If they genuinely feel that the book is a one-star, then so be it. But it's unfair to trash a book because it didn't meet the ideal of past works.

I just started Odd Thomas. So this is a series? Do I have the first one? I hope so. I almost called in sick to work so I could stay home and finish it. DON'T GIVE ME ANY SPOILERS!! I'm near the end and August 15 is starting. I'm shaking wondering how bad Pico Mundo is going to get hit.......

All right, grabbing my Oreo Cakesters and headed to the couch now. Locking the door first though...
 
Hugh said:
There are already two one-star reviews on Amazon from the Amazon Prime people for What the Night Knows. Again, they make their case, but they keep comparing this novel to Koontz's past books. If they genuinely feel that the book is a one-star, then so be it. But it's unfair to trash a book because it didn't meet the ideal of past works.

I just started Odd Thomas. So this is a series? Do I have the first one? I hope so. I almost called in sick to work so I could stay home and finish it. DON'T GIVE ME ANY SPOILERS!! I'm near the end and August 15 is starting. I'm shaking wondering how bad Pico Mundo is going to get hit.......

All right, grabbing my Oreo Cakesters and headed to the couch now. Locking the door first though...
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Yes,that's the first.

I don't know about you,but most of the reviews I've seen on Koontz's book review sites,is a bunch of King fanatics,bashing him on how he's not like King. But of course,most hardcore King fanatics have not read anything from any other authors.
 
I do not want to offend people but personally I think dean Koontz is much better writer than Stephen King. It seems to me at least recently Stephen King just tries to think up sadistic and gruesome stuff but stories have no suspense or excitement. In his stories there is only bad in world nothing good. In Dean koontz books there are good and bad and the stories seem more believable as this is the way world really is.
 
The Amazon review page has 322 five star ratings and 22 one star ratings, which restores my confidence, even if just a little bit, in public reviewers.

I avoid reviews for books I haven't read yet because I don't want to stumble across a spoiler, nor do I want my mind to become biased if I should read a very strongly worded or eloquent review.

Anyway, next up on the list is Velocity, I picked it up along with Odd Thomas at the bookstore.

After Velocity, I will get as many of the Odd Thomas books as the bookstore has, and then order the rest from Amazon.

I'm officially a Dean Koontz fan now.

What do we call ourselves? Koontzheads?
 
chiangmaifalcon said:
I do not want to offend people but personally I think dean Koontz is much better writer than Stephen King. It seems to me at least recently Stephen King just tries to think up sadistic and gruesome stuff but stories have no suspense or excitement. In his stories there is only bad in world nothing good. In Dean koontz books there are good and bad and the stories seem more believable as this is the way world really is.
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I personally like King. He written some of my favorite books(Namely Salem's Lot,Pet Sematary,and Christine). Koontz is more of a thriller writer; if anything else.

King is a horror author who loves to create in-depth characters,and he's really good at it. Although I wouldn't say everything he's ever written is a masterpiece,like most King fans like to say. From what I've read,there really isn't much gore in King's novels,only terrifying suspense and creatures lurking around the corner. He's hit and miss form me.
 
I admit I really did enjoy The Shining. Also The Stand, though I thought that book was longer than it had to be. Also Needful Things was pretty good, but I think what I really object to is all the violence against children, which I get upset about even in fiction.
 
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