# Dean Koontz, anyone?



## LoneWolf (May 29, 2005)

I have found another world of wonder and scariness. Though he's not as twisted as Stephen King, his books are a combo of the supernatural, real life drama, action, and mystery. I absolutely love him. My friend gave me a book of his to read---House of Thunder---and ever since I've been a Dean Koontz junkie!


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## hollyoake (May 30, 2005)

i absalutly loved 'sole survivor', and i would recomend 'ticktock' and 'the mask' too!


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## LoneWolf (May 30, 2005)

I just finished The Mask a few days ago. It was great...he's brillant for thinking up all these different story plots!


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## Talia_Brie (May 30, 2005)

I got right into Dean Koontz a few years ago. I inhaled Strangers, Lightning, Whispers, Icebound, Twilight Eyes, Cold Fire, Watchers, and a heap of others.

I even read a Dean Koontz Companion :shock: In accordance with Australian Privacy legislation, that's bordering on stalking.

I haven't read him for a while, but I read The Taking a few months ago. It was brilliant for the first 95%, then the ending was really, really disappointing. I think that typified my problems with him. I think he ends poorly.


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## Kelhanion (May 31, 2005)

I've read only one of his books, The Taking, and I must say I was very positively surprised. The book had a very nice atmosphere from the very beginning, when the luminous, silvery rain began.

I must disagree with Talia Brie, I liked the ending a lot. It was something I didn't see coming (then again I know that it wasn't the ending everyone would've liked to see).

Highlight for the huge spoiler:


Especially this passage was brilliant:

_An extraterrestial species, hundreds or thousands of years more advanced than we are, would possess technology that would appear to us to be not the result of applied science but entirely supernatural, pure magic._
With the stick, Molly began to print words in the sand, calling them from memory.
New thought: _A supernatural event of world-shaking proportions, occuring in a faithless time when only science is believed to have the power to work miracles, might appear to be the work of an extraterrestial species hundreds or even thousands of years more advanced than we are._

Spoiler ends.

I will definately pick up some other of his books later.


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## aliceedelweiss (Jun 13, 2005)

Dean koontz writes so good. He scares the heck out of me too, which I like and don't like. It scares me so much I don't want to even finish the story(i'm reading his book "flase memories") but he writes so good I wish i would just finish it! my mom bought me like 9 of his books at a used book sell, so I'll be reading a lot of Koontz whether it scares me or not, hee hee
alice


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## Craiglet (Jun 15, 2005)

I'm madly in love with  Dean Koontz's books!!!!!!!!

I've read:

Watchers - brilliant, absoloutely loved it

Phantoms - i was obsessed with this book. could have used less satanic stuff but it was super good

Tick Tock - funny and wildly entertaining

The Face of Fear - didn't quite finish it, but it held your attention

Midnight - cool idea, scary, the regressive are terrifying monsters

From the Corner of His Eye - 

By the Light of the Moon - i read it in like two days. loved it. awesome.

Life Expectancy - currently reading, very good.


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## LoneWolf (Jun 16, 2005)

awesome!! More Dean Koontz people!

I'm currently reading Mr. Murder, which is starting to get really good. Some of the lines he writes too...it makes me hope to be a great writer  like him one day.


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## hollyoake (Jun 18, 2005)

The Face of Fear was fantasic!


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## Talia_Brie (Jun 19, 2005)

LoneWolf said:
			
		

> awesome!! More Dean Koontz people!
> 
> I'm currently reading Mr. Murder, which is starting to get really good. Some of the lines he writes too...it makes me hope to be a great writer  like him one day.



I found Mr Murder predictable, though the Face of Fear was good.


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## BookLover (Jun 20, 2005)

I think I will make a few enemies here! 

I read 'By the light of the moon' and was utterly disappointed. Horror is not one of my favourite genres and Dean is not one of my favourite authors.

The book started off with a great note! But, the ending was so bollywoodish (Almost all Indian movies have a bad climax!) that I decided not to read any other Dean book. 

May be I chose a wrong book as my first Dean book.


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## 1DarkMind (Jun 20, 2005)

I discovered Dean Koontz with *Hideaway*, and ever since I've been reading and collecting his books. I agree that Mr. Murder was probably the weakest book written.
In a way he's better than King, you get to know each character as you read through the story, unlike King who, from the books I've read, tends to drone on a little, but I'm knocking King at all, I just like a story that has a little more pace to it.


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## PsychoticallySaneWriter (Jul 5, 2005)

Dean Koontz is annother author I enjoy reading. I'm currently reading "The Face". A decent novel so far. I've got another I'm borrowing, and am looking into purchasing some of my own.


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## LoneWolf (Jul 5, 2005)

Finished Mr. Murder...good, but not one of my faves from him. He has a new book out and I wanna read that soon. 

Has anyone noticed that he uses the word 'loath' a lot?


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## Talia_Brie (Jul 6, 2005)

1DarkMind said:
			
		

> In a way he's better than King, you get to know each character as you read through the story, unlike King who, from the books I've read, tends to drone on a little. . .



I will hold my tongue

I will hold my tongue

I will hold my tongue

I will hold my tongue. . .


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## LoneWolf (Jul 6, 2005)

Let it go, you'll feel better  :lol:


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## mistress_batty (Jul 23, 2005)

I haven't read much by him...but my favorite book by him is "The Door to December"
   ^v^


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## donjose444 (Jul 25, 2005)

I enjoy his books and have read many of them.  I highly recommend: 
Fear Nothing
Seize the Night
Dark Rivers of the Heart
From the Corner of His Eye


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## discipleofWORD (Aug 1, 2005)

Even though I never read Dean Koontz before, may I offer a Family Guy moment? (got this from someone's signature)

Peter: Oh my gosh, I ran over Stephen King!
Dean: I'm Dean Koontz.
Peter: Oh.
*Peter gets back in his car and runs over Dean Koontz some more*

DOW


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## Lobe (Aug 7, 2005)

I've not yet been able to get into Koontz, I am however very fond of his good friend the late Richard Laymon - who wrote some incredibly nasty (but oh so readable) books.


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## Kikster (Aug 10, 2005)

I just bought his new book, "VELOCITY". it's the first one I read, and I'm loving it so much that I've read almost half of it today... it's absolutely creepy and so entertaining!!!! so far I like his style better than king's, probably because he's not as far fetched in his stories... at least in the one that I'm reading.
has anyone read velocity yet??? I higly reccomend it!


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## LoneWolf (Aug 11, 2005)

I haven't read Velocity yet; I'll have to pick it up soon! I've read Odd Thomas (great book, and sad) and The Bad Place (a really good book, but also very sad). I'm addicted to Koontz!


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## Kikster (Aug 12, 2005)

yeah, velocity isn't a happy funny book either, but it's absolutely great. I'm almost finished with it, I  can't put it down, unless I'm asleep or in the shower. very very addictive book.


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## LoneWolf (Aug 13, 2005)

Harsh.


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## IJS (Jan 3, 2006)

I love Dean Koontz now after reading "Intensity". That book was "awesomeness" personified. 

I've become a Koontz junkie now after reading Life Expectancy. I love the dark humor and wittiness of it. Fun, fun read. 

Next up: Watchers by Dean Koontz. Or Velocity if I can find it.


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## blademasterzzz (Jan 3, 2006)

> yeah, velocity isn't a happy funny book either, but it's absolutely great. I'm almost finished with it, I can't put it down, unless I'm asleep or in the shower. very very addictive book.




You don't read in the shower?! Tsk tsk...


Anyway, for Koontz: I'm reading his "Taking" now, which is alright, but his writing style is somewhat annoying, and he has a tendency to make bad metaphors. Constantly. I can't see what's so great about him...


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## IJS (Jan 3, 2006)

blademasterzzz said:
			
		

> You don't read in the shower?! Tsk tsk...
> 
> 
> Anyway, for Koontz: I'm reading his "Taking" now, which is alright, but his writing style is somewhat annoying, and he has a tendency to make bad metaphors. Constantly. I can't see what's so great about him...



Almost everyone I know who has read "Taking" didn't like it. You should've started off with something like "Intensity" or "The Face". 

Unless of course you've read those or others and still didn't like him...


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## blademasterzzz (Jan 3, 2006)

Ah, good then. I'll read some more.


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## IJS (Jan 4, 2006)

blademasterzzz said:
			
		

> Ah, good then. I'll read some more.



Good.  

Also, Life Expectancy is a bit rubbish but very, very entertaining.


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## Stewart (Jan 4, 2006)

I used to read Koontz (and King, and Laymon, etc.) in my mid-teens. At the time they were great but as an adult, and looking back at them - but I'll focus on Koontz - I can't see what is so special about him. I remember liking _Phantoms_, it may have been the first Koontz I read, but from there it was a real decline through many of his books (mostly those from the 70s and 80s, some originally under other names) - _The Voice of the Night_, _The Funhouse_, _Strangers_, _Lightning_, _Mr Murder_, and so on until I came to _The Bad Place_, a novel featuring a man with four testicles who could teleport to different places (because of his testosterone!) and who had incestuous lesbian sisters. There were even some alien crabs that defecated diamonds. What manner of crap (no pun intended!) was _that_ book all about it? It turns out _The Bad Place_ was actually a good place to leave Koontz to his tiring imagination. I think I was getting tired, too, of regular dog appearances, constant mentions of twilight, and every streetlight in his books was described as _sodium vapor_. Tiring!

Of course, as a writer on a writing forum, I'm reading books for the enjoyment of the words on the paper and how they communicate the whole. Koontz doesnt't do that for me.



			
				Lobe said:
			
		

> I've not yet been able to get into Koontz, I am however very fond of his good friend the late Richard Laymon - who wrote some incredibly nasty (but oh so readable) books.


 
Laymon, whose only good book I deem to be _Savage_, was even worse than Koontz. I got the impression reading his books he was just a dirty old misogynist. His books usually involve naked girls running around getting murdered; _Blood Games_ being the definitive novel.


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## salukis32 (Jan 19, 2006)

Koontz is good but I found some of his works to be kind of repetitive.  I do love how he gets right into the story.


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