I've only read a couple of Dean Koontz books before and I'm honestly having a hard time deciding whether he's a genius, or crazy. He's always kind of struck me as cheap imitation of Stephen King, where he has great story concepts but his characters and dialogue aren't as good as King's. His prose itself is also really fascinating; he goes on these wild tangents that either totally work, or fall completely flat. For example, early in the book, there's this great moment introducing a character:




I mean, that's an objectively awesome character intro. But it's also kind of crazy in its manic energy, and Koontz employs this approach throughout the book, regardless of whether it's appropriate to the pace of the scene or not. It really worked in the above excerpt because he's describing a gangbanger getting his butt handed to him by a real estate agent. It's an active, exciting scene and the description pacing makes it awesome. It's less awesome when Koontz uses it liberally to describe office decor, or a character staring out the window, or the character's backstory.

He sets a lot of his stories, including this one, in Orange County, California (where I live), so it is fun to read his descriptions and inclusion of places that are familiar to me. Ultimately, Dean Koontz is in the same category as Stephen King for me... I've been disappointed as often as I've been thrilled by his work, so I'm a little more discerning about which titles I read. I usually have to really love the premise and/or have it highly recommended by someone whose opinion I trust.

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Created Feb 24, 2024 at 8:03am • Submit your own review...