In the late summer of a long ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he b...
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reviews
Apr 17, 2011
Dustin Crazy little brown owl
rated it: 
A Horrible Disappointment :-( Maybe you'll like it, but I didn't. Koontz has told similar tales in different books, but I don't think he's ever told the same story over and over in the same book - in this case in the form of a serial killer who just won't die. Bantam marketing team promotes What The Night Knows as: "...a ghost story like no other you have read" and claims "Of all his acclaimed novels, none exceeds What the Night Knows in power, in chilling suspense, and in sheer
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20 comments
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(7 people liked it)
Jan 19, 2012
Mike (the Paladin)
rated it:
Well, I say here as I have about a couple of other Koontz books of late, I don't know if it's the book or me. Maybe I've just read too many books or too many Koontz books... Whatever the reason, the last several books by Mr. Koontz have left me cold.
I list several of Mr. Koontz' books among my favorites, One Door Away from Heaven,By the Light of the Moon, The Taking, these and many others I like greatly. But the last several, not at all.
Here we went again. I was intereste More...
I list several of Mr. Koontz' books among my favorites, One Door Away from Heaven,By the Light of the Moon, The Taking, these and many others I like greatly. But the last several, not at all.
Here we went again. I was intereste More...
14 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 03, 2011
Maciek
rated it: 
While not as horrible as some of Koontz's latest offerings, What The Night Knows is still pretty bad when compared to his other output, and rather terrible when compared to the output of others.
It actually starts really promising, with an interesting premise and a good opening chapters. I've read them earlier, when they were availible to preview before publication. It turns out after these first four chapters the novel goes downhill and crashes at the end.
There is nothing More...
It actually starts really promising, with an interesting premise and a good opening chapters. I've read them earlier, when they were availible to preview before publication. It turns out after these first four chapters the novel goes downhill and crashes at the end.
There is nothing More...
6 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Jun 22, 2011
Deb
rated it:
I used to love Dean Koontz. Watchers still ranks as my all-time favorite book, and I thought Strangers, along with some of his other earlier works, was fantastic. However, it's been years since I could summon any enthusiasm for his writing. I'm not willing to totally write him off, so I keep reading the new books in the hope that one of them will rekindle the flame. Unfortunately, this offering wasn't able to do that.
There are some good parts to this. About midway through, I b More...
There are some good parts to this. About midway through, I b More...
6 comments
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(7 people liked it)
Mar 26, 2011
Mel
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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(3 people liked it)
Dec 14, 2011
Sean
rated it: 
This one was so so for me. Didn't quite care enough for the characters and the book became the equivalent of a movie I'll leave on the T.V as filler while I'm doing something else.
Started out reasonably well. Ending was weak.
Really hoping and praying for the days of Watchers, Lightning, Strangers ... to come back!
Started out reasonably well. Ending was weak.
Really hoping and praying for the days of Watchers, Lightning, Strangers ... to come back!
4 comments
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Feb 09, 2012
Martip
rated it: 
John Calvino--homicide detective sneaking around on a fresh case that isn't his. Entering a full security prison to talk to Billy, a 14-15 year old kid who just murdered his family and called the cops-meeting them naked on his front porch. Using phrases exactly like the long dead deformed spoon fingered freak Alton Turner Blackwood used years ago--when HE savagely and brutally killed every single one of John's family members, including his two young, beautiful preteen/teen sisters. Personal not
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Oct 28, 2011
Jordan
rated it: 
I’ve given a lot of flack to Dean Koontz over the years (and I’m not the only one). Unfortunately, Koontz has gone the way of Patterson, Cussler, and Cornwell, churning out lackluster and sub-par books, yet knowing they will become bestsellers on name alone. Gone are the dark, depressing plots, the violent and disturbed characters, the engaging, 500 page thrillers. Instead the plots become cheesy and almost laughable, the characters are no longer believable, the villains flat, the dialogue so co
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Oct 28, 2011
Laura
rated it:
It's been a long time since I outright DIDN'T hate a Koontz novel; the guy used to be one of my favorite authors and fell from my good graces a while ago. After the reprehensibly bad Breathless and Darkest Evening of the Year, and not-quite-as-terrible-but-still-bad Your Heart Belongs To Me and Relentless, What The Night Knows is not god-awful, but still a pretty weak novel. SPOILERS HEREIN.
I can air my minor grievances first. It's obvious that Mr. Koontz does not have kids, or understan More...
I can air my minor grievances first. It's obvious that Mr. Koontz does not have kids, or understan More...
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 28, 2011
Hev
rated it:
Ugh, what shall I say? I don't necessarily think this is a BAD book, it's just often quite irritating.
While I was still reading it (I think I was about half way through)I browsed a few reviews and was quite surprised by the number of one- or two-star ratings it had received. It started well - a good premise, some atmospheric writing and a lot of potential seemed to reside within.
Sure there were some parts which were not very believable or did not sit quite right - a policeman More...
While I was still reading it (I think I was about half way through)I browsed a few reviews and was quite surprised by the number of one- or two-star ratings it had received. It started well - a good premise, some atmospheric writing and a lot of potential seemed to reside within.
Sure there were some parts which were not very believable or did not sit quite right - a policeman More...
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 08, 2011
Birgit
rated it:
Frankly, I had almost given up hope that Dean Koontz would ever produce a decent novel again. So obviously I was pleasantly surprised to see he is back on track now.
The main ingredients are a family confronted with a killer of a different (or shall I say, changing) kind who sneaks into their lives through mirrors and familiar (yet changed) faces. The inevitable Golden Retriever will make an appearance too, of course.
Admittedly not one of his best, Koontz sure wrote a good and solid s More...
The main ingredients are a family confronted with a killer of a different (or shall I say, changing) kind who sneaks into their lives through mirrors and familiar (yet changed) faces. The inevitable Golden Retriever will make an appearance too, of course.
Admittedly not one of his best, Koontz sure wrote a good and solid s More...
Jul 31, 2011
Joan
rated it:
By any stretch of the definition, Dean Koontz is a master author. Not simply because he’s been writing for decades. Not simply because he’s produced over 80 literary works or sold over 375 million copies of those books. Certainly not because he’s accumulated such wealth from those sales.
Just the opposite.
His mastery of the writing craft has allowed him to write successfully for decades, produce over 80 books, sell over 375 million copies of those works, and ultimately accumu More...
Just the opposite.
His mastery of the writing craft has allowed him to write successfully for decades, produce over 80 books, sell over 375 million copies of those works, and ultimately accumu More...
Jul 28, 2011
The last several Dean Koontz novels that I have read have been a heavy disappointment so I was not overly excited to start this book. This book moves into the supernatural so it was at least a step into the right direction.
This story focuses around a character named John who is a detective. John is married to a successful painter and has three kids, a boy and two girls. This is significant because twenty years prior, his two sisters along with his parents were brutally murdered by the villain More...
This story focuses around a character named John who is a detective. John is married to a successful painter and has three kids, a boy and two girls. This is significant because twenty years prior, his two sisters along with his parents were brutally murdered by the villain More...
Jul 22, 2011
Books-treasureortrash
rated it:
Book Review: 3 Treasure Boxes
What the Night Knows is more than a ghost story. It is the haunting tale of a psychotic killer (Alton Turner Blackwood) who has returned twenty years after his death. He has returned to torment homicide detective John Calvino who shot and killed Blackwood when John was only fourteen years old and found him standing over the dead bodies of the Calvino family. Now, John is terrified for his wife and kids, knowing there is no way to stop the dead man.
More...
What the Night Knows is more than a ghost story. It is the haunting tale of a psychotic killer (Alton Turner Blackwood) who has returned twenty years after his death. He has returned to torment homicide detective John Calvino who shot and killed Blackwood when John was only fourteen years old and found him standing over the dead bodies of the Calvino family. Now, John is terrified for his wife and kids, knowing there is no way to stop the dead man.
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Jul 14, 2011
Tash
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 25, 2011
Christine
rated it:
Alton Turner Blackwood murdered four families in horrific ways almost twenty years ago. Twenty years later a young man is incarcerated after murdering his own family in a similar manner. The pattern of the crimes is familiar to Detective John Calvino because on that long ago night his was the fourth family murdered and he was the one who killed Alton Turner Blackwood to put an end to the murder spree.
Through a journal shared throughout the book the reader is privy to the workings o More...
Through a journal shared throughout the book the reader is privy to the workings o More...
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 07, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
For the past 6 years, my wife has bought me the newest Dean Koontz book for both my birthday in the middle of the year and Christmas. I've enjoyed reading his books and appreciated him releasing them on my holiday schedule. Unfortunately, over the past several years his books have gone downhill. He might have hit an all-time low with Relentless. It felt like Koontz was often mailing it in. Finally, I asked my wife to stop giving me the books. I would still read them, but didn't think they were w
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Feb 01, 2011
Ellyn
rated it:
I really enjoyed Dean Koontz's early work and read through all of them in a pretty short time frame, but I've struggled with him lately. I haven't liked the plots and language of recent books and I had hoped that this one would change my mind because I read mostly good professional reviews. While I was able to get through it quickly, I found it to be relentlessly dark and depressing. And while I was able to suspend disbelief about the supernatural elements, indeed they were the stuff of night
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 27, 2011
Paul
rated it:
John Calvino is a detective with a wife and three children. They are living what one would call the perfect life. John, however, has a secret from his past that he has tried to keep hidden over the years.
John's father, mother, and two sisters were brutally and horribly murdered by Alton Turner Blackwood. John, coming on the horrible scene, killed Blackwood. He was fourteen years old.
John's family was one of three mass murders that were committed by Blackwood.
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John's father, mother, and two sisters were brutally and horribly murdered by Alton Turner Blackwood. John, coming on the horrible scene, killed Blackwood. He was fourteen years old.
John's family was one of three mass murders that were committed by Blackwood.
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Jan 25, 2011
Amy
rated it:
Dean, Dean, Dean... what am I going to do with you??? I have (had) been a fan since the beginning, and am sorely disappointed in this one. I had even sworn you off years ago, but still find myself coming back hoping that maybe, just maybe, this next one will redeem you. Sadly, and again, this is not the case. Sure, you worked in all of your trademark items: 1) Golden Retriever (I have one of those), 2) child with a disability (I have one of those too), 3) Average Joe fighting the big baddie, etc
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3 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Jan 24, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
Dean Koontz makes it hard not to compare him to Stephen King, because it seems like that's where he gets his ideas. The difference between them is in the depth - of the characters and of the web of evil in which they become entangled. While almost every King book seems epic in these qualities, Koontz's seem like a pale shadow. A lot of reviews hail this book as the return of Koontz at his best - if that's the case, I'm not in any great hurry to catch up on those that I haven't read yet. I'll say
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(1 person liked it)
Nov 30, 2010
Joemmama
rated it:
I am a sucker for Dean Koontz. His books feature dogs (ghostly or living), the good guys usually win, and he takes me for a thrilling ride along the way.
"What the Night Knows" is no exception. Years ago a murderous killer, evil incarnate, Alton Turner Blackwood, brutally killed four families, leaving one survivor. That boy grows up to be a cop, with a loving family of his own. When copy cat murders start happening again, John Calvino, the survivor, see a pattern and realizes More...
"What the Night Knows" is no exception. Years ago a murderous killer, evil incarnate, Alton Turner Blackwood, brutally killed four families, leaving one survivor. That boy grows up to be a cop, with a loving family of his own. When copy cat murders start happening again, John Calvino, the survivor, see a pattern and realizes More...
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Jan 15, 2012
John
rated it:
Koontz is perhaps the best writer I have come across in a long time. The poetics of his writing, his diction, and his ability to write the thoughts so appropriately for each character, is rather astounding. None of it is first-person, but Koontz gets inside the heads of each character extremely well and sometimes quite humorously. The unfolding of the plot is clever, too, but I care more about the style of writing and characterization in books than anything else, and it's all magnificent here
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Nov 14, 2011
There isn't much to say. This is an utter disappointment and, for the most part, I am speechless because I don't know where to begin. I can't talk about being a huge fan of the author because I have read only one other novel by him. I can't spend much time dissecting his faithfulness to his genre style because, although, I didn’t care for this book, there is no doubt that it will appeal to many who regularly read horror. The most confusing thing is all those wonderful blurbs at the beginning of
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Aug 11, 2011
It's been some time since I've picked up a Dean Koontz book. Now I remember why. I was willing to ignore the fact that, once more, children are put in peril and are made victims of ghastly violence. It still is an annoyingly repetitive theme in Koontz books. What bothered me was the portrayal of all the minors in the story. They are alternatively too infantile at one moment, too brooding and adult-like the next. It is made painfully clear that not only does Koontz not have children, he app
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Jul 26, 2011
This book genuinely scared me...this is a return to the less philosophical, full on scary Dean Koontz. What starts like a murder mystery/psychological story, soon turns into something more ominous.
I found many of the villain back story elements very disturbing and I think it could have been handled with less detail, although I can see how this was important to explain the behavior of the character.
I found the scenes with the children tiresome at some point, and the action slows down in the th More...
I found many of the villain back story elements very disturbing and I think it could have been handled with less detail, although I can see how this was important to explain the behavior of the character.
I found the scenes with the children tiresome at some point, and the action slows down in the th More...
Jan 26, 2011
Michael
rated it:
I've always liked Dean Koontz and the extreme way he goes about good vs. evil. To me, this book was somewhat of a return to the Koontz of yesteryear, with supernatural evil coming after a good man and his family. I was even hoping that it would be his first book in a decade or so without a golden retriever in physical or spiritual form, but alas, the iconic pooch does make an appearance or two. Other Koontz tropes, like super-precocious children, evil born of incest, and a few new vocabulary
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Jan 04, 2011
wally
rated it:
intense. ten stars.
incredible story!
john calvino, a 30-something detective, is living the dream, a wife, three kids (two girls and a boy, lucky man), but he is also tormented by his past. he killed a man in self-defense, and he is racked by the guilt he feels from being the lone survivor--the rest of his family was brutally murdered by a madman.
dwelling on the past, worrying that past, there comes a point in the story where he asks himself, "had he, by his obs More...
incredible story!
john calvino, a 30-something detective, is living the dream, a wife, three kids (two girls and a boy, lucky man), but he is also tormented by his past. he killed a man in self-defense, and he is racked by the guilt he feels from being the lone survivor--the rest of his family was brutally murdered by a madman.
dwelling on the past, worrying that past, there comes a point in the story where he asks himself, "had he, by his obs More...
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 25, 2011
Eirene
rated it:
I had great difficulty getting through this book. It did not take me long to read, but I found myself having to take breaks from it. I feel that this book could have been edited. I found much of the interaction between John's family to be irritating and purposefully strung out. I cannot put my finger on it exactly, but their completely lack of communication, which results in the intensifying of the suspense, seems more forced than natural. That frustrates me. Koontz was in true form, however, d
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Jul 25, 2011
David
rated it:
Armed with Amazon's early negative reviews and knowing that this author has been more miss than hit since 2006, I was expecting another flat, unbelievable thriller from Dean Koontz. Maybe it helps to expect the worst, or maybe this is just one of Koontz's two best books in the past five years. The book starts off with a vintage Koontz opening, slows afterward (for quite a while it seems) but then makes a relentless push toward the finale over the second half. One thing that has marred recent
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