A truly awful book - Rated 
This is a truly awful book. Koontz seems to have given up story telling in favour proselytization. His one dimensional characters, for whom I couldn't develop any sympathy, drag us through a series of unimaginative, disjointed and poorly written events (some of his descriptions and metaphors would make an online writing course tutor cringe). The plot is designed to illustrate the point that people who believe in god and love dogs are good and people who have `no faith' are evil, psychotic killers. The ending comes complete with miracles and angels.
Koontz also manages to cast aspersions on Second Lifers, through one of his more pathetic players, but amazingly seems to equate appreciation of the works of Franz Kafka, Wallace Stevens and James Joyce with evil, through the death of one of his faithless, malevolent protagonists. Ridiculous and pathetic, save your money.
Great book - if you're a religious dog-lover - Rated
I am generally a fan of Koontz's work, have read pretty much everything published by him and always look forward to new releases. However, I found this novel extremely disappointing. There is always an element of religion and/or dog loving in Koontz, however in this story he was piling it on way too much for my liking.
The storyline was unconvincing and not up to Koontz's usual standards; it was very cheesy, a bit predictable, and in the end I found myself not caring at all about the main characters.
Read this book if you're a dedicated fan or really have nothing better to read, but don't expect anything spectacular. I would definitely not reccomend this for a first time Koontz, since you may come away disappointed and put off what can be a great author.
The darkest evening of his career? - Rated 
I have read Dean's books since I was 11, and sadly this one has made me question my faith (how ironic) in my favourite author.
A few years ago Dean seemed to run out of steam and the characters in the books such as Velocity, The Good Guy, Life Expectancy, The Husband and The Taking became very one dimensional and (please note this is a personal view) quite religious and overly righteous.
As I have read all of Dean's books I am quite disappointed by this and I must say I found this one quite made me queasy with some of the undertones of moral purity and the righteous path of god... eeek too deep!
Essentially the book follows the same formula (man + woman + dog in dire need) followed by the same memesis (psycho loner + eccentric millionaire) leading to an expected (semi religious experience inducing) conclusion where family and dog(s)live happily ever after (no sex 'till marriage, the purity of dogs, family life etc etc. It's not exactly From the Corner of His Eye or Watchers is it? What happened to the excellent story telling of Fear Nothing or even more recently The Face???
Sorry to be so negative but this is by far the worst Dean Koontz novel I have ever read.
The Darkest Evening Of The Year - Rated 
I really enjoyed this book, it was fast paced and hard to put down. I did however feel the ending was a little weak and too nice and easy. Also the little downs syndrome girl featured in the story was a little hard to believe, she was too well adjusted to have gone through what she had. Over all I enjoyed it and would buy future books by this author.
Save your money - Rated
I had to write a review for this book as it is a waste of your precious time reading it. The story builds nicely although it is not exactly a page turner. The ending (without giving anything away) is a huge disappointment. It reminded me of school essays where to end things quickly you write, "it had all been a horrible dream and they lived happily ever after". At least I know better now than to waste my time reading any of his other books!
|
