What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz

The book's synopsis from the author's website:

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 brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.
Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, recreating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family—his wife and three children—will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.
As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.

 This is definitely one of the better Koontz books. Granted, I haven't read all of them yet but I have a fair amount and What the Night Knows belongs to the group that will definitely satisfy the old fans and has a good chance of attracting new ones as well. It's a straight ghost story with demonic possession and even a little bit of exorcism involved. Which is exactly how I like it, even though nothing scares me more than ghosts.

I got into the story right away. The action develops quickly without really much introductory descriptions (which is otherwise quite common for the larger of Koontz's novels). The gruesome murders are the intro so you now you're in for quite a thrill ride. Unfortunately, it all somehow comes to a stop in the middle of the book and we get to learn details about the main character that maybe we should have learned in the beginning. But then again, it's probably a smart strategy because by the time I got to the middle, I was too much into the whole story to quit and to be honest, the slowdown in action wasn't annoying enough to warrant giving up on the whole novel.

Besides, even with all that said, Mr. Koontz still writes extremely well and it's a pleasure to read yet again some important existential questions hidden between the pages of this horror story. What makes people susceptible to evil? Is there evil that sometimes cannot be fought merely with guns, prisons and justice? Or, what is more evil, the supernatural that lurks in the night or the human that may be just around the corner? This is signature Koontz and I've come to expect it, and I wasn't disappointed when I read What the Night Knows. Don't be put off by the slower parts either because they pick up as well and the third part of the book is just smooth sailing. The only thing you need to be aware of is that may need to sleep with your lights on for a night or two.

FTC: I received an ARC of What The Night Knows from a GoodReads First Reads giveaway.

The hardcover copy of What The Night Knows by Dean Koontz will be released on December 28, 2010 by Bantam Dell.

Strangers by Dean Koontz

About the book from the author's website:

THEY WERE STRANGERS A handful of people. From different backgrounds, living in different towns and cities across America, they had nothing in common—except fear.
THEY WERE VICTIMS Cold and stark, an unknown terror gripped their dreams and turned their days into living nightmares.
THEY WERE CHOSEN And they could not escape. Deep in the heart of a sprawling desert, a dark memory called out to them, drawing them to the Tranquility Motel—where the terrifying truth was waiting…

I enjoy Dean Koontz's writing more and more with each book of his I read. Even if there is one or two that I might not appreciate very much, there is always that extra special quality to his writing that makes me come back for more. And so it was with Strangers. Before I even got anywhere near the ending, it got me wondering why I read Mr. Koontz so rarely.

What is it precisely that I like so much? It's the emotional value, there's just something intangible in Strangers (as in almost every other book of his) that puts me in a very thoughtful mood. There's a lot of philosophical and existential issues in there which you'd normally not expect from a writer of horror novels. But that's what's so great about Koontz. No matter how scary and how full of thrilling action his books get, you'll probably be brought to tears and definitely be asking yourself some important questions. While reading Strangers, I did cry and a few things did make me wonder. As far as the subject matter goes, did he make me a believer? Not quite yet but he came closest to convincing me among all the theories I've heard.

Strangers is certainly a big in scope novel that actually isn't really a horror book, so if you are not a fan of horrors but would like to read a Koontz book, Strangers may very well be the one to try. All you need is an open mind and some taste for suspense, thrill and a little bit of paranormal (that's not scary). The only scary part is the evil that some people (not out of this world beings) are capable of. But even that Koontz beats with his strong faith in the goodness of mankind and our capacity to ultimately know good from evil. Even for a cynic like myself, it's refreshing to experience this.

'Dragon Tears' by Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz has been one of my favorite horror authors for quite a few years now. Since I hadn’t discovered him until after he was an accomplished writer, I am excited to know that I still have many books of his to read. The funniest part is I usually wait a few months in between reading his books and after I read them, I wonder why I waited so long. Unfortunately it wasn’t the case with Dragon Tears.

The story starts with five different people being visited by a man, who can’t be real and who appears to each one of them in a form of their biggest fears. Harry Lyon and Connie Gulliver are cop partners, Sammy is a homeless guy who lost his fortune due to his drug addiction, Janet and Danny are a mom and son running away from their horrible lives with Janet’s abusive husband. They all are brought together by a dog that can sense they are threatened by the same person. The man haunting them, dubbed Ticktock, gives these people sixteen hours to live, during which time he plays mercilessly with their fears and their psyche.

The story is, by all means a good one. Once again, Koontz delivers a tale that cannot possibly ever happen and yet somehow, I found myself believing the unbelievable and not once questioning the premise of it. Koontz has the uncanny ability to create the most outrageous characters and turn them into people that might very well be living among us. His writing style is commendable as well. It’s sharp, quick and to the point with some surprisingly profound thoughts and ideas. Dragon Tears has all that. What it doesn’t have, is the usual shocking twist to the story. The evil character was quite predictable, maybe even a little boring at times. Where the storytelling exceeded, the action lacked a few sparks here and there. The book wasn’t altogether bad, just not among Koontz’s best.

It didn’t leave me disappointed or frustrated, however. Dean Koontz is still a master at his craft. Dragon Tears, as any other of Koontz’s books, left me with some deep truths to ponder upon and an appreciation of his writing skills.

Favorite quote:

"Everyone’s a victim these days. No one’s a victimizer. No matter what atrocity you commit, you can stake a claim for sympathy, moan about being a victim of racism, sexism, ageism, classism, prejudice against fat people, ugly people, dumb people, smart people. That’s why you robbed a bank or blew away that cop, because you’re a victim, there’re a million ways to be a victim. Yeah, sure, you devalue the honest complaints of real victims, but what the hell, we only go around once, might as well get your piece of the action, and who cares about those real victims anyway, for God’s sake, they’re losers."

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