I place this one in the upper half of Koontz's work. Not as good as Dark Rivers of the Heart One Door Away from Heaven, or the Odd Thomas series, but better than most of his shorter works. One never knows exactly what level of paranormal to expect from Koontz, so those aspects of this novel kept you guessing for at least half the book. The character of Aelfric was compelling, and the bad guy was especially nasty - he'd give Junior from From the Corner of His Eye a run for his money. I started to wonder why I was reading it in the middle of the night... thankfully, as per usual it all turns out well in the end!