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What the Night Knows
by Dean Koontz, Steven Weber
by Dean Koontz, Steven Weber
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 interested. the book opened with an interview of a young man in a mental hospital and sounded promising. Unfortunately it quickly devolved into a sort of rambling tale with a mishmash of plot parts, story components and even characters that are all familiar. I was bored by the time the "protagonist detective" was halfway through the seemingly "haunted" crime scene and completely ready for things to wrap up by the time he got home to his predictably precocious children, beautiful talented artist wife and so on. I've met them all in other Koontz books.
Let me say this. There is a hint of something here, maybe Mr. Koontz has been building these components in his books with an eye to some kind of "epic" tale. I don't know. There were moments here when something started to break through. Dean Koontz is a talented writer and I'm not sure what's been going on.
I saw another reviewer who compared this book to Your Heart Belongs to Me, I can't do that. That was to me one of the worst Mr. Koontz has ever turned out. This one doesn't (in my opinion) fall to that level. It was (to me) disappointing, and the promising moments only made that more frustrating...a sort of "what it could have been". I'm not giving up and I do plan to read his next. As I said, I'm not sure what the situation is here and live in hope that things will "clear up".
As I said, this is my opinion. I feel bound to say that my daughter liked this book so I'm sure others do to. Try it for yourself. I'll be interested in the comments of others.
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 interested. the book opened with an interview of a young man in a mental hospital and sounded promising. Unfortunately it quickly devolved into a sort of rambling tale with a mishmash of plot parts, story components and even characters that are all familiar. I was bored by the time the "protagonist detective" was halfway through the seemingly "haunted" crime scene and completely ready for things to wrap up by the time he got home to his predictably precocious children, beautiful talented artist wife and so on. I've met them all in other Koontz books.
Let me say this. There is a hint of something here, maybe Mr. Koontz has been building these components in his books with an eye to some kind of "epic" tale. I don't know. There were moments here when something started to break through. Dean Koontz is a talented writer and I'm not sure what's been going on.
I saw another reviewer who compared this book to Your Heart Belongs to Me, I can't do that. That was to me one of the worst Mr. Koontz has ever turned out. This one doesn't (in my opinion) fall to that level. It was (to me) disappointing, and the promising moments only made that more frustrating...a sort of "what it could have been". I'm not giving up and I do plan to read his next. As I said, I'm not sure what the situation is here and live in hope that things will "clear up".
As I said, this is my opinion. I feel bound to say that my daughter liked this book so I'm sure others do to. Try it for yourself. I'll be interested in the comments of others.
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No. I'm just trying to be considerate and "point out" that I realize others will have a different opinion about the same book. I am simply emphasizing that I'm not trying to force my opinion on others who like the book, I'm only making my opinion available for those who wish to know it.
I only get bothered when someone says something really nasty and follows up with "IMO" as if that negates the nastiness. Other than that, I get it you're just trying to be respectful of the many Koontz fans on this board who sometimes feel extra protective towards their favorite writer.On to substance, as I mentioned elsewhere, I feel that DK has gone through some kind of "experimental" stage with his books where they were different from his usual work. I think this book begins to get away from that, and the new one, 77 Shadow Street is, to me, up there with his best. I hope you will give it a try and enjoy it more.
The Taking is one of my top favorites too along with Moonlit Mind and By the Light of the Moon. I found YHBTM amazing, read it several times. WtNK was another book where I was CRAVING more interaction among all the characters but didn't get it (like 77 Shadow Street). I think the isolation/alienation between people was part of the theme of the nature of evil for WtNK though if I remember correctly. I've read 54 books by Dean Koontz and do see repeating and familiar themes/characters. Is this not common among other authors? I see it with Orson Scott Card too.
Koontz output is so huge that his books cover a wide spectrum of not only quality but taste (and you'll see that these are even subjective as the books I love may not, are not the books others love). He does have a stable of characters and in some cases they literally are the same characters as sometimes characters in one book make "cameos" in others.He also has a sort of extended story line that overlaps a few books.
By the way, I have reserved 77 Shadow Street: A Novel at the library.
I'm just always scared, as a Koontz fan, of someone checking him out for the first time and picking up the "wrong" book. If YHBtM was the first Koontz book I read, I don't know if there would be another. There are, of course, people who love that one too.
That's what I meant. I REALLY hated that book, but others love it. Dany above mentions how she liked it. It's all a matter of taste and Koontz has books that appeal to a wide range of said tastes.
Masha wrote: "I'm just always scared, as a Koontz fan, of someone checking him out for the first time and picking up the "wrong" book. If YHBtM was the first Koontz book I read, I don't know if there would be an..."I almost hate to ask you this, because I'm sure you have mentioned it somewhere(hopefully not in a conversation between the two of us, that would be just too embarassing!), but what book would you recommend to someone as their "first" Dean Koontz experience? I know this question is also slightly silly because it would depend to some extent on the person asking, but just in general, what do you think? Odd Thomas seems like a good bet, a great read, also short, so a little bit of a teaser leading the person on. I wasn't that crazy about most of the sequels, though, so, potential issue there. The Face is one of my all time favorites - so poetic and dense with imagery and a very haunting feeling. But there's some weird creepy stuff with that awful villain, and it's dauntingly long on first glance, so ... Sometimes I think One Door Away From Heaven would be a good into to DK book. Lots of crazy paranormal elements, tension, funny parts, some thoughtful ethical discussions, and not one, but two utterly adorable female characters. Anyway, curious to hear what you think, as I always am!
I started my husband off with Lightning, then The Face, then Twilight Eyes. Most people name Watchers as their first (myself included) but I can see a new reader being turned off by the smart dog stuff and the violence, so I wouldn't recommend it as a start.
That's funny, Twilight Eyes was the first one I read, long, long ago, before I sort of "identified" him as an author I liked. I bought it in an airport when I was desperate for something to read, and couldn't put it down, even after I got home. Good stand alone, and I really liked it even when I reread it, which doesn't always happen for me. As far as the smart dog issue - maybe it's good to get that out of the way up front, because if you can't handle that, whew, there goes a pretty good chunk of his books, lol.
I love the dog. Watchers Watchers is one of my favorites...but it was back when Koontz was using the great "F" word about every third sentence. That put me off it a bit. I'm glad he got away from that.
He is a big one for going through various phases, that's for sure. He does keep going though - at some point you'd think it would get hard to muster the ole enthusiasm. I have enough trouble with that, and I don't have any laurels to rest on!
Now yes I in no way telling you its bad or you shouldn't do so. And I didn't like English class. (My writing kills by bad grammar, I sure of it.) And besides it's like part of who you are now. I think someone high jacked your account if I didn't see it in there. (You would probably say your very sorry when about to give a person a complement because you don't know how they react. :) )
So I was wondering has someone got mad at you for one of your reviews before or something on thoughs lines???