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Dragon Tears

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 12,198 ratings · 262 reviews

Harry Lyon was a rational man, a cop who refused to let his job harden his soul. Then one fateful day, he was forced to shoot a man--and a homeless stranger with bloodshot eyes uttered the haunting words that challenged Harry Lyon's sanity:

"Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn..."

Paperback, 432 pages

Published February 7th 2006 by Berkley (first published 1988)

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May 07, 2013 Gary Foss rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is not about what I thought it was going to be about. No sad dragons. ::Sigh::

Sometimes it’s a good thing when a book doesn’t match your expectations. Being caught offguard by a book—when it isn’t the result of a perfidious marketing campaign, or the product of a particularly deceptive cover or dustjacket blurb—can be positive. A book should surprise you. When it’s done well, you get one of the heights of literary accomplishment.

This book does not represent one of those heights. It’s n...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Bethany the Martian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dean Koontz books are weird for me. I enjoy them, they're easy to read and very formulaic, and I really liked them when I was a teenager so it's nostalgic for me.

Stephen King describes his relationship to stories in the context of relationships- married to a books, an affair with a book. He calls short stories a kiss in the dark. To stretch that metaphor to Dean Koontz books, I would liken them to a coffee date with mediocre coffee and a companion who is only pleasant in short doses.

In Dragon...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Gina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense

This is the first Koontz book I ever read. I read it a loooong time ago. Maybe 10 or 20 years ago. From what I read in other reviews, maybe it is like one of those favorite old movies that is not impervious to time...you watch it years later and the jokes are old, the characters are dorky...but I really liked this book.

The first time I tried to read it, it scared me so much I had to put it down. I think it took me 3 tries to get through it. That said, the 3rd time I was like, "what was so scary...more This is the first Koontz book I ever read. I read it a loooong time ago. Maybe 10 or 20 years ago. From what I read in other reviews, maybe it is like one of those favorite old movies that is not impervious to time...you watch it years later and the jokes are old, the characters are dorky...but I really liked this book.

The first time I tried to read it, it scared me so much I had to put it down. I think it took me 3 tries to get through it. That said, the 3rd time I was like, "what was so scary that I couldn't keep reading?" Maybe it was the cruelty.

As others mentioned, he talks from the dog's point of view at times. The dog perceives the world through smells. The first chapter I read from the dog's pov, I thought it was really annoying. but, it really is an interesting and insightful perspective, and I ended up enjoying it when it came in in the remainder of the book.

There are a few different "victims" - hunted would be a better descriptor - and the antagonist terrorizes each of them in a unique way. He completely steals their peace. The key to his identity is found through the discovery of a relative who he is also terrorizing...I thought this was a really surprising twist in the plot.

I think the ending was somewhat anti-climactic as this antagonist seems invincible and is so horrifying...and then they catch up to him...even though you want them to, you are a little unimpressed with who he turns out to be.

Anyway, I thought this was great. Scary, suspenseful...I saw very mixed reviews. Some love it, some hate it. After this, I thought I discovered the best author ever, so I read a number of his books. Aside from False Memory (which I liked, but not as well as Dragon Tears), I do not remember much of their plots or characters. I think this is because I didn't feel most of them measured up, I began to tire of the "darkness" inherent in most of his novels (given the subject) and they started to feel formulaic....I felt I would know what the characters would do and how it would end. I think this is pretty typical with authors who write in one genre. It's human nature. I definitely felt that way about Stephen King. I think I prefer Koontz to King, though King did have some really stand-out books.(less)

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Jul 12, 2011 Giselle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: summer-of-horror_11

Yes, Mr. Koontz. The 90s are a crazy time full of crazy goings on and off the wall capers. Arguable there was no "moral fiber" no "law or justice" and the youth were obviously "revolting" (in every sense of the word). Yeah. I got it. Wait 'till you get to the ots...

While I always enjoy a good paranormal horror (and Mr. Koontz's are usually top-notch) this one just had me rolling my eyes. Creepiness came from the rare moments when TickTock (our antagonist...worst name for a bad guy ever. It's li...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Mimi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of scary stuff

Shelves: fantasy, horror, scary

Knowing Dean Koontz's reputation, I was excited to read this story. It did not fail to deliver. It was one that I, personally, could not read alone 'in the dark'. It was very descriptive in parts I'd rather not know about, but that's what makes it all the more interesting and frightening.

I was a little bit disappointed by the identity of the "being". I have this feeling a lot when I read Stephen King books as well.

....................................................................
SPOILER-

It s...more

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Feb 28, 2011 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Classic Dean Koontz novel with all the weird the man can possibly dish up! This was not one of my favorites, only because it was a bit too outlandish for me. And, way too much SCIENCE in the FICTION! His explanations for the weird events the creature/person would cause - too science-y and over my head. I read to be entertained; dare I must actually have to THINK when reading! :) No, really, learning is always good, but - in this case we're talking the physics of space and time. Need I say more?...more

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Nov 19, 2010 Johnny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A fantastic man-creature with supernatural powers terrorizes the city. Cop duo Harry Lyon and Connie Gulliver hunt it down – or is it the other way around?

On an average shift, surprise action disrupts the lunch break of our cops when a random psycho starts shooting up a burger place (remember a similar event in “Cold Fire”?) Meanwhile, our real villain goes about his business, giving literal deadlines to some choice citizens. Of course Harry and Connie stumble upon him and catch his attention, a...more A fantastic man-creature with supernatural powers terrorizes the city. Cop duo Harry Lyon and Connie Gulliver hunt it down – or is it the other way around?

On an average shift, surprise action disrupts the lunch break of our cops when a random psycho starts shooting up a burger place (remember a similar event in “Cold Fire”?) Meanwhile, our real villain goes about his business, giving literal deadlines to some choice citizens. Of course Harry and Connie stumble upon him and catch his attention, after which the story becomes one long chase sequence.

Koontz does a great job of focalisation, keeping good track of which character’s point of view he’s supposed to be using, by dividing the story in clear chapter sections. This adds lots of inner dialogue, but very close to the brink of becoming longwinded. Of course this might have to do with the level of suspense in the story, which makes you want to move ahead with the action. And sometimes he switches between characters so often, I wonder whether it’s really necessary and not just an excuse to present a particular train of thought.

Opposites attract, and that’s exactly the chemistry that binds our two heroes together. Koontz has used the cop duo before, in “The Bad Place” and “Darkness Comes”, and in several more books at least one half of the partnership was in law enforcement. It’s well known territory for Koontz, and it shows. While he gives his characters those extra unique traits to make them different enough, to me personally they aren’t all that memorable.

But the book is memorable in other ways. The rave scene features the most disturbing act of violence I can remember in all Koontz books. Moreso because it leaves almost everything to the imagination. It’s a totally insignificant character, an extra we’ve never met before and will never see again, yet what happens to her puts me into a deeper contemplative mood than the elaborately described events concerning the main characters.

Another memorable character is actually a dog. Koontz uses one word sentences and descriptions of smells and tastes to enliven the dog’s point of view. Those sections are literally the dog talking to the reader, very similar to what Koontz would do later in giving voice to his own dog Trixie. It’s a bit gimmicky, but the dog plays a very important role plotwise to make it all acceptable.

But the villain must be the most powerful one in all of Koontz’s stories, next to the ancient enemy of “Phantoms”. He’s like a comic book super villain, a nineties suspense novel Sylar. Immediately from the start, he’s an enemy we don’t think can be brought down, ever.
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Mar 07, 2010 Marna rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just love Dean Koontz. His imagination knows absolutely no bounds. He's every bit as weird as I am, which is truly a comfort!

He's a lovely wordsmith, his stories flow so beautifully. I love the supernatural element that frequents his books, mainly because that is a very real part of Life, as far as I'm concerned, and he's not afraid to write about it. This story, in particular, handles the supernatural element beautifully, realistically, and crafts a marvelous story out of some pretty far-out...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Susan by: Group read for the GR Koontz group

Shelves: mystery-horror-thriller, group-reads

Sometimes life can be as bitter as dragon tears....

This book is good, solid, classic Koontz. It starts with separate stories that quickly intertwine, with the common denominator of a bad guy who seems to appear differently to different people. There are two cops, partners who are trying to stop the bad guy: Connie, a woman who would really like any excuse to shoot someone and who likes chaos, and Harry, who prefers the order side of law and order.

And of course, there is a dog, a stray called Pri...more

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Oct 27, 2010 T. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, horror, favourites

After years of reading this I still get scared. Sometimes I just really marvel at what's happening inside Koontz's head. It must be interesting and (maybe) terrifying to live there. I've been accused more than once of being anti-Stephen King because I'm such a fangirl of Dean Koontz. Why can't I enjoy their works at the same time? There's enough evil and horror in the world to go around, yeah? Besides, I've observed that Koontz deals more with the human nature and our capacity to control/unleash...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Kingfan30 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I used to love a good Koontz, but this is another one that really did not do it for me (am I growing out of his books?). This one felt a bit preachy at times, yes the world is a terrible place sometimes and people do horrible things to other people, but you don't need to list various crimes. I did not really connect with any of the characters and am still undecided as to if the perspective of Woofer the dog was a good thing or a bad thing. There was an attempt of suspense at the end, but it fell...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Missy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-horror, magical-realism-and-urban-fantasy, psychic-powers, serial-killers, thriller

The Basics

Harry is a cop who prides himself on order and logic and everything being in its proper place. So how exactly is he supposed to deal when he learns that a dangerous and incredibly powerful psychic has set his sights on Harry with the intention of killing him by dawn?

My Thoughts

I’d forgotten how fun Dean Koontz books can be. Mainly because I have a pretty sordid past with his novels. I managed to get enough poorly written ones in a row that I finally gave up. And yet I could never bring...more The Basics

Harry is a cop who prides himself on order and logic and everything being in its proper place. So how exactly is he supposed to deal when he learns that a dangerous and incredibly powerful psychic has set his sights on Harry with the intention of killing him by dawn?

My Thoughts

I’d forgotten how fun Dean Koontz books can be. Mainly because I have a pretty sordid past with his novels. I managed to get enough poorly written ones in a row that I finally gave up. And yet I could never bring myself to get rid of the ones I hadn’t read. I gave in and picked up Dragon Tears, insisting that if I don’t read these things, then I need to get them out of my life, so then read them and shut up! It was like a big spoonful of medicine you don’t want to take, because you’re afraid of the taste. But then it surprises you by tasting pretty awesome. My analogy is getting out of hand.

What I mean to say is this book was actually good. I wonder how much my low expectations are making me some self-fulfilling prophecy, but I really enjoyed this one. It was suspenseful and page-turning. I wanted to see what happened next, and as a result, I powered through it. I liked the characters. As much as the villain was somewhat evil for the sake of being evil, I liked how he came off as genuinely disturbed. If you want something exciting with a kind of urban fantasy/cop drama vibe, pick this up.

But I have to mention drawbacks. One being it’s rather dated. Not in any quaint or interesting way. In a very stuffy way. Koontz used this book as an author tract more than once, getting on a soapbox and ranting about how evil the 90s were. There was even a passage where he took a break from storytelling altogether to make sure his audience understood how dangerous drugs are in a very lecturing tone. First, breaking the “show don’t tell” rule there. Secondly, there are more effective ways of illustrating a point like that than listing statistics. A room full of drug-addled teens, and he couldn’t think to make one appear to be overdosing? No, he’d rather treat his audience like they need to be spoon fed.

Yes, this was a distraction. “Welcome to the 90s” became the book’s catchphrase indicating that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Until you find yourself saying, “I get it, Dean! I really do. Pull back a tad.” How much was that worth knocking down the score for me? One star. So obviously not a story ruiner. But just enough to make it good, not great.

Final Rating

4/5(less)

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Apr 27, 2012 Angela~twistedmind~ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: re-read

It took me so long to re-read this one (8 days!) that I'm not sure how accurate a review I can give. Maybe it's just because I've been super busy with other things, but I seem to have forgotten big chunks of the story towards the beginning. It seemed to be a case of mindlessly reading then discovering that you have no idea what the last several pages were about because your mind was wondering elsewhere. Don't mistake me, I really enjoyed the story, and even years after reading it for the first t...more It took me so long to re-read this one (8 days!) that I'm not sure how accurate a review I can give. Maybe it's just because I've been super busy with other things, but I seem to have forgotten big chunks of the story towards the beginning. It seemed to be a case of mindlessly reading then discovering that you have no idea what the last several pages were about because your mind was wondering elsewhere. Don't mistake me, I really enjoyed the story, and even years after reading it for the first time I still give it 4 stars.
One thing I did notice and was disappointed in was the lack of Koontz's highly quotable passages. There are quite a bit fewer of those passages in his earlier work. His earlier works were also more along the lines of 'horror'. Dragon Tears seems to have both the horror of years past and the psychological terror of more recent releases.
Koontz pays great attention to the details, from the description of a running stream to the smallest detail of the monsterous golems. You are easily able to imagine every detail of those golems and feel the victims' fear. You clearly visualize the villian's lair. You easily catch a glimpse inside the minds of the heros. You feel their pain, both physically and emotionally. Their terror is more than evident and you share their burning rage at the whole damn situation.
And the dog. Well, I just fell in love with the dog. I found myself looking forward to the parts of the story told from Woofer's point of view. The look into his mind was a look at innocence, a mind that simply knew good from bad........and a mind that was easily distracted. I found myself chuckling more than a few times when something as simple as a dead bumblebee could command his undivided attention.......but only for a moment. Then he was onto something else interesting.
My only complaint is the lack of a real storyline for Janet & Danny and Sammy. While they were all only secondary characters, I still would have liked to see them be a bit more involved as the story came to it's conclusion. Other than that, this book was satisfyingly typical of Koontz......exciting and face paced with an action filled ending.

Tuesday was a fine California day, full of sunshine and promise, until Harry Lyon had to shoot someone at lunch. From that first sentence, Dragon Tears explodes across the page with the excitement, chilling suspense, emotion, and deeply drawn characters that have earned Dean Koontz enormous worldwide popularity.
Police detective Harry Lyon is a perfectionist who likes his condo immaculate, his suits well tailored, and his homicide files typed error free. To Harry's dismay, his partner, Connie Gulliver, embraces chaos, urging him to "get in touch with the rhythms of destruction." But when Harry and Connie have to kill in the line of duty, the ensuing surreal nightmare makes Connie's cynical world view seem all too accurate.
That same afternoon, a hulking street person prophesies that Harry will be dead by dawn, then self-destructs before his eyes. As twilight falls, Harry glimpses strange creatures in the shadows, and finds his rational world transformed into a place of bizarre surprises and unimaginable dangers. As dawn ticks closer, Harry is caught in a whirlwind of terror that threatens to sweep away not only him but Connie and everyone he loves.(less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Haley Lattie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Haley Lattie
Period: 2
AIM English/ Global Humanities
1-30-12

Dragon Tears Book Review

There are those weird case scenarios in life that you can only imagine would never happen to you. You think that there is only a five percent chance that it could ever happen to you and assume the best, that it is most likely going to turn into someone else’s problem. This I not always the case. Especially in the book, Dragon Tears, by Dean Koontz.

There are two unsuspecting cops that are partners just doing thei...more Haley Lattie
Period: 2
AIM English/ Global Humanities
1-30-12

Dragon Tears Book Review

There are those weird case scenarios in life that you can only imagine would never happen to you. You think that there is only a five percent chance that it could ever happen to you and assume the best, that it is most likely going to turn into someone else’s problem. This I not always the case. Especially in the book, Dragon Tears, by Dean Koontz.

There are two unsuspecting cops that are partners just doing their job when strange things start occurring in their presence. Like all of a sudden a guy decides to walk into a mini breakfast restaurant and start shooting people he has never met in his life. Soon, weird events start to turn into unsettling recurring “nightmares”. Dean Koontz plays the cop’s roles well when they go on their quest to kill the guy who is so almighty and just might be turning their life as they know it upside down. This novel is about the strange unrealistic happenings of two people and the people they love in the mix getting wrapped up in affairs that could bring them to death. Dragon Tears demonstrates the fiction side of writing in this way exactly. The theme of this book is actually popular because it kind of is like “the monster coming to kill you in a certain amount of time” type of thing. Throughout the story, the main antagonist always reminds the victims that he is coming back for them in a set amount of time.

Koontz develops the main protagonists so well that you feel like you are in their shoes and you visualize everything they are going through in your mind. Harry Lyon and Connie, his partner for justice, both have the feeling that something wrong is gong on behind the scenes of the real world. Time seems to stop when he is terrorizing them and everything goes dead silent. All they hear is him coming after them. Often times in the book, Connie and Harry are together when the “monster” comes to get them, which strengthens their bond even more. Koontz does this on purpose to get you to feel like you know exactly where they are going next with everything. Harry was the soft spoken follower in the beginning of the book, but in the end, he was telling Connie exactly what was happening and how they were going to do it. I liked this book because you can see the characters change form one scene to the next in a flash. In the beginning of the book I felt like Harry needed to toughen up a bit and be a man, but near the end, his attitude satisfied me. I also liked this book because I felt like the stereotype that men have to be the tough ones, was proved wrong and the gender roles were reversed.

All in all, Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz proved to be an interesting read that kept me going. I couldn’t seem to put the book down, even when I wanted to. Harry Lyon and his partner will never grow old and I will always be able to visualize exactly how they got through their whole dilemma together. This book was great and I would recommend it to anyone who like fiction and fantasy writing.(less)

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May 19, 2011 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. If I could give this 4-1/2 stars I would! This has to be my second-favorite Dean Koontz book, right behind "Watchers." The title comes from a quote from a Vietnamese P.I., who says, "Sometimes life can be as bitter as dragon tears. But whether dragon tears are bitter or sweet depends entirely on how each perceives the taste."

This book has a lot of good stuff, paranormal activities/abilities, a cop and his female partner, both experienced and hard-bitten, and cynical about the millennial society...more If I could give this 4-1/2 stars I would! This has to be my second-favorite Dean Koontz book, right behind "Watchers." The title comes from a quote from a Vietnamese P.I., who says, "Sometimes life can be as bitter as dragon tears. But whether dragon tears are bitter or sweet depends entirely on how each perceives the taste."

This book has a lot of good stuff, paranormal activities/abilities, a cop and his female partner, both experienced and hard-bitten, and cynical about the millennial society rife with sick crime, but with, oh such sweet sexual tension and budding romance (HEY, wouldn't be a Koontz book without it!). We also have the apotheosis of evil, in the person of one who is able to conjure up golems, from the power of his mind. He is referred to as "The Ticktock Man," largely because he gives his victims sort of countdown to the time he'll kill them horribly. This is similar to Stephen King's Ticktock Man from "The Dark Tower," also known as Randall Flagg, the embodiment of evil. Apparently, Mr. Koontz's original title for this work was "Ticktock," but it was altered by the publishers. he published another novel by the same name, (see my review), which he described as "a combination of a horror novel and a screwball comedy," with which I quite agree, but again I digress...

And of course we have the dog-who-knows-more-than-those-silly-humans. His name is Woofer, but was called Prince a long time ago (The dog formerly known as Prince? Weeeell, maybe...) I was very impressed by several long passages from the dog's-eye point of view, which are given in the present tense when the remainder of the novel is given in past tense. And herein I give a short sample:

Bees fly, bees buzz, bees hurt you like a cat can hurt you, but this bee is dead. First dead bee he's ever seen. Interesting, that bees can die. He can't remember ever seeing a dead cat, either, so now he wonders if cats can die like bees.
Funny to think maybe cats can die.
What could kill them?
They can go straight up trees and places nothing else can go, and slash your nose with their sharp claws so fast you don't see it coming, so fi something is out there that kills cats, it can't be good for doge either, not good at all, something quicker than cats and men.
Interesting.

Very fascinating stuff.

The other aspect of this novel that I find appealing (much like "The Stand," "Cell" [oog, not my favorite, but I gotta include it], "The Dark Tower" and "The Mist" by Stephen King, and, on mys "to-read" shelf, "Strangers" by Mr. Koontz), entail the coming-together of a very unlikely band of individuals to fight the evil they have all experienced (including a wayward mother and child, a down-on-his-luck street bum with a much shinier past, and a blind woman whose importance is revealed in a very satisfying surprise late in the novel, plus our intrepid police officers and led, yup, led, by Woofer, no surprise if one reads Mr. Koontz.

Of course, since this was published in 1993, Cell phones are not common, although the presence of a car phone is at times important; such products as Anacin are mentioned, and there is a long, "time-paused" section at a Rave (yeah, they still occur but aren't as much a part of the popular culture as they were back then).

The only complaint about the novel I have is that the ending/denouement is not fleshed out as much as I would have liked, but it's satisfying nonetheless. I STRONGLY recommend this one.

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Jul 09, 2011 Mickey rated it 5 of 5 stars

I realize that I tend to like Koontz's books when he focuses more on his villians. It's not that I like them. They're brutal and callous, but there is something about them that is real as well. Like Richard III. They have a voice and a specific point of view that most villians lack. You can still see the human-ness in them. The villian in Dragon Tears is gifted with extraordinary psychic abilities, but is still a petulant, petty child.

This book is actually a stand-out in its minor characters. I...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Trent rated it 1 of 5 stars

It's a pulp novel and I've seen copies floating around for years. I finally picked one up and made a mistake. I don't mind a mindless thriller that makes me turn every page. What I do mind is sloppy writing that pulls me out of the story. Dean Koontz adds to this fault his supernatural twist. From page one you know things will turn out in the main character's favor. I didn't care about the cardboard characters. I didn't care about anything in this book. It didn't seem like a work done out of pas...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Kristin Intile rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book, horror

does anyone remember the episode of the twilight zone where the little kid has amazing psychic powers but basically terrorizes the town he lives in because he a kid and no sense of self-control or responsibility? if someone annoys him or doesn't do what he wants the kid will just make them disappear forever for be transformed into a jack-in-the-box or something. anyway, this book reminds me a lot of that story except the antagonist is not quite as young. still, very similar theme.

i liked how eve...more

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May 25, 2011 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern-works

Too many times I hear people complain that an author they are reading needs to stop doing the same thing again and again. Then, I will read reviews where someone tried something new, and too many people complain that they should stick with what they are good at.

I have only read one author so far where almost every story is not only similar, but the same basic storyline with different characters. All authors will have similarities between their books, otherwise we would have no way to choose a fa...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Lisa Rathbun rated it 2 of 5 stars

I've just started reading Dean Koontz. I liked the main character whose stiff, regimented, restrained life is about to be turned upside down. The villain is compelling though seemingly too indestructible with supernatural abilities. Getting inside his head is creepy and disturbing.

Interestingly, Koontz sometimes switches to an unexpected point of view - a dog's!! I thought the descriptions of the dog's thoughts were amusing and unique.

The climax of the book was so suspenseful that I wanted to...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Sally Wolf rated it 5 of 5 stars

He is becoming! His power is growing! It is his job to vanquish the evil from this earth, but a hero cop and his partner are getting in his way. Now they have till dawn to die. Time will seem to stop when reading this book; the line between the real world and the imaginary will blur, taking you on a journey of discovery. Some would say it is a classic Dean Koontz, as it includes a man, a woman, a disabled person, a dog, a really bad guy, and Elvis. I feel that this aspect is part of the charm of...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

This is the first Koontz book I've read, and given how popular of an author he is I was a bit let down. The story was merely okay, not bad but it didn't really do anything to distinguish itself either. The characters were pretty predictable, and actually my favorite part of this book was the couple of segments where he wrote from the perspective of a dog... I thought that was really well done and it had me pretty well convinced that really IS how a dog would have thought/acted in the situation....more

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Mar 05, 2010 Patrick Gibson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-of-it

There was a time when I thought Dean Koontz wrote circles around Stephen King. He wasn’t famous. He had a cult following and he made you feel like you just discovered someone cool. He was the anti-King you could keep to yourself or share with a selected few. Koontz, of course, went the way of all flesh and began cranking them out and repeating himself. Fame? Well, if ‘Family Guy’ rips on you, fame has become your enemy. I haven’t read a Koontz novel since Odd Thomas became a regular character. T...more

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Mar 12, 2011 Jim Barton rated it 1 of 5 stars

Don't know what it is with Koontz: some of his books such as Watchers and Twilight Eyes were delightful reads; others are truly horrible. Dragon Tears unfortunately falls under the latter category. This is one of the few books I have completed that I actually regretted reading.

He was really prolific during the 80s-90s, seeming to have something new every time I went into a bookstore (which was quite often for me). Maybe, his apparent reluctance to adjust the flow from the firehose explained the...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Arthur Jendrzejczak rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite book by my favorite author .... I keep it next to my bedside all the time even though i've already read it 3 times. My first time I was in high school and still learning to read hardcover books but i enjoyed this one a lot ... i thought the love between the main actress/character and the dog was beautiful and the guy who plays a positive role is like one of my story heroes. The reason i chose this book as my favorite is because its the first hardcover novel that grasped my at...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Alechia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book for the first time when I was ten years old, and have probably read it twenty times since. I also had it as a book on tape for many years and listened to it over and over. The story is interesting, especially the parts told from Woofer's perspective, and it's well written. This book is now like a comfy old shoe, and has one of the most interesting opening lines I've ever read: "Tuesday was a fine California day, full of sunshine and promise, until Harry Lyon had to shoot someone...more

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Oct 13, 2009 Paul Talbot rated it 2 of 5 stars

Probably the worst of Koontz's books that I've read. The central concept is interesting, and I liked the Tick-Tock character. The problems are that the plot meanders way too much, and Koontz takes some strange time-outs to moralise about subjects he clearly knows nothing about. For example, a rave sequence where he spouts a lot of debunked "facts" about the effects of ecstasy and decries the morality of drugs just before having Tick-Tock brutally mutilate some of the ravers. It seems hypocritica...more

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Oct 27, 2009 Samuel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Between breaks...couldn't wait to get back to this novel to see what happened next. Most engaging. Really enjoyed this one. I did find that I kept having this expectation of the killer doing much worse things than he actually ended up doing...although they were bad enough. Perhaps it was his characterization which was more terrifying...not to mention creeped-out. Only complaint is concerning the dog...there's just no way a canine could be as intelligent as Koontz portrays. (Maybe he should have...more

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Jul 07, 2010 Kechelle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, read-and-reviewed

Dean Koontz introduces the age old theme of chaos verses order in Dragon Tears employing it in his sensible protagonist Harry Lyon a detective for special projects and his chaotic partner Connie Gulliver. Throughout the course of the novel Connie and Harry struggle with each others ways to hunt down a god like madman known to them only as Ticktock.

I’ve read several of Koontz books now and I struggle to be excited by his work. So many of his concepts and plot devices have been used over and over...more

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Mar 19, 2011 Maciek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books, horror, own-in-hardcover, own-in-paperback, read-in-2009

A pair of detectives and three homeless people are stalked by a vargrant, who utters a haunting warning: "Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn..."

Time runs short, and it soon becomes obvious that the vargrant was no ordinary vargrant. Dangers arise everywhere, and the world changes for the five people: they will do anything and try to understand what is going on, a quest which will lead them to the sanctuary of a new, terrible god...

Dr...more

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About Dean Koontz

Acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.

Dean R. Koontz has also published under the na...more

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Quotes from Dragon Tears

“In real life during the last decade of the twentieth century, Rumpelstiltskin would probably get the queen's daughter. He would no doubt addict her to heroin, turn her out as a prostitute, confiscate her earnings, beat her for pleasure, hack her to pieces, and escape justice by claiming that society's intolerance for bad-tempered, evil-minded trolls had driven him temporarily insane.” — 26 people liked it

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