Dean Koontz
Author of Odd Thomas
About the Author
Dean Koontz was born on July 9, 1945 in Everett, Pennsylvania. He received a degree in education from Shippensburg State College in 1967. A former high school English teacher as well as a teacher-counselor with the Appalachian Poverty Program, he began writing as a child to escape an ugly home life show more caused by his alcoholic father. A prolific writer at a young age, he had sold a dozen novels by the age of 25. Early in his career, he wrote under numerous pen names including David Axton, Brian Coffey, K. R. Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, Richard Paige, and Owen West. He is best known for the books written under his own name, many of which are bestsellers, including Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, The Husband, Odd Hours, 77 Shadow Street, Innocence, The City, Saint Odd, and The Silent Corner. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Dean Koontz
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son / City of Night / Dead and Alive / Lost Souls / The Dead Town (2010) 51 copies
The Snake Eaters: An Unlikely Band of Brothers and the Battle for the Soul of Iraq (2012) 38 copies, 1 review
The Complete Odd Thomas 8-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas / Forever Odd / Brother Odd / Odd Hours / Odd Apocalypse / Odd Interlude / Deeply Odd / Saint Odd (2016) 33 copies
The Odd Thomas Series 4-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas / Forever Odd / Brother Odd / Odd Hours (2012) 22 copies, 1 review
Ride the Storm 13 copies
Dean Koontz Thriller Novella Collection: Darkness Under the Sun, Demon Seed, The Moonlit Mind (2014) 10 copies
Dean Koontz's Sole survivor. pt. 1 6 copies
The Odd Thomas Series 7-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd (2014) 6 copies
Dean Koontz's Frankenstein 5 copies
The Odd Thomas Series 6-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas / Forever Odd / Brother Odd / Odd Hours / Odd Apocalypse / Odd Interlude (2013) 4 copies
Jumbo-10 il rinnegato 4 copies
Nameless 3 copies
Intrusos 3 copies
Shadow Fires 3 copies
The Manager 3 copies
The Night of The Storm 2 copies
Hogueras Espectrales 2 copies
Nattens Ögon 2 copies
The Psychedelic Children [in] The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1968 (1968) 2 copies
The House of Thunder *Own* 2 copies
Chase / Down in the Darkness 2 copies
Dean Koontz Nevermore #1 2 copies
The Pig Society 2 copies
We Three {short story} 2 copies
Dark Rivers of the Heart / Door to December / Whispers / Eyes of Darkness / False Memory (1900) 2 copies
Shadowfires / By the Light of the Moon / The Door to December / The Face / Fear Nothing / Cold Fire (2017) 2 copies
Frankenstein and Me 2 copies
Dean Koontz Collection: The Good Guy, By the Light of the Moon, Hideaway, Fear Nothing (2011) 2 copies
Frankenstein 3 2 copies
Shadow Street 77. 2 copies
In the heat of the fire #1 2 copies
Entre el amor y el miedo 1 copy
Очи на темнината 1 copy
In The Corner Of His Eye 1 copy
Frankenstein - 01 1 copy
Dean R Koontz 1 copy
Brother Odd 1 copy
Ääniä yössä 1 copy
Kittens 1 copy
Frankenstein - 02 1 copy
Dark of Summer 1 copy
UCIGASI IN NUMELE DOMNULUI 1 copy
O guardião 1 copy
Hideaway / Lightning 1 copy
3 Novel Set 1 copy
Legacy Of Terror 1 copy
Alucinogenia 1 copy
Čuvari 1 copy
Bay Katil 1 copy
Les Passagers 1 copy
Bone Yard 1 copy
The Flesh in the furnace 1 copy
Yanlış Hafıza 1 copy
Anti-Man 1 copy
Nöbet 1 copy
La autopista de la muerte 1 copy
Le temps paralysé 1 copy
Muse 1 copy
Website 1 copy
Dean Koontz omnibus : Dean R 1 copy
Ollie's Hands 1 copy
We Three 1 copy
Kisa Acilan Kapi 1 copy
Parlor Trick 1 copy
The Bad Place, Volume 2 1 copy
Fear of Falling 1 copy
Where the Beast Runs 1 copy
Ο Παράξενος Αδελφός 1 copy
Father's Day 1 copy
Cosmic Sin [short story] 1 copy
The Secret Forest 1 copy
Reader s Digest Auswahlbücher: Der Pferdefllüsterer / Eiszeit / Hochzeitsnacht / Unter Bäumen (1997) 1 copy
Black House 1 copy
Dean Koontz Nevermore #2 1 copy
Koontz's 4-book JANE HAWK Series -- Silent Corner / Whispering Room / Crooked Staircase / Forbidden Door (2017) 1 copy
Red Dog Bait 1 copy
The Pace 1 copy
The Art of Detection 1 copy
The Damned 1 copy
O Marido 1 copy
A Flash of Green 1 copy
Sălașul răului 1 copy
Darness Comes 1 copy
The Sinless Child 1 copy
Hung 1 copy
Aphrodisiac Girl 1 copy
The Black Pumpkin 1 copy
Devoção 1 copy
Twilight Of The Dawn 1 copy
Caught Stealing (2004) 1 copy
Bright Shiny Morning 1 copy
Shock Wave 1 copy
Blood canticle 1 copy
Deadline 1 copy
Odd Thomas 04 1 copy
A Nightmare Journey 1 copy
Il codice 1 copy
Visões 1 copy
A Casa do Mal 1 copy
Fogo Frio 1 copy
Meia-Noite 1 copy
Tensão no Gelo 1 copy
Estranhos 1 copy
Esconderijo 1 copy
ÇATIRTI 1 copy
A Semente do Diabo 1 copy
آشلي بيل 1 copy
Odd Thomas 03 1 copy
Lágrimas de dragão 1 copy
A Third Hand 1 copy
The Twelfth Bed 1 copy
A Season for Freedom 1 copy
Dragon in the Land 1 copy
Odd Interlude Part 1 1 copy
Nascita dell'Anti-uomo 1 copy
Odd Thomas 02 1 copy
The Crooked Starcase 1 copy
Древният враг 1 copy
Shadowfires by Leigh Nichols 1 copy
Miss Attila the Hun 1 copy
Hardshell 1 copy
To Behold the Sun 1 copy
En ond plats 1 copy
Odd Thomas 01 1 copy
Associated Works
The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything (1962) — Introduction, some editions — 513 copies, 12 reviews
Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction, Volume 3: Supermen (1984) — Contributor — 129 copies, 1 review
The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000) — Contributor — 100 copies, 2 reviews
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction July 1970, Vol. 39, No. 1 (1970) — Contributor — 18 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: Under Orders • The Husband • Scared to Live • Orbit (2007) 16 copies, 1 review
Androids, Time Machines and Blue Giraffes: A Panorama of Science Fiction (1973) — Contributor — 13 copies, 1 review
Kauhupokkari 1 — Contributor — 11 copies
Livros Condensados: Sombras Sobre a Babilónia | O Caso do Bébé Brett | À Deriva no Árctico | O Regresso da Águia-Pesqueira (1996) — Author — 6 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: A Place Called Freedom / Icebound / Hidden Riches / The Magic Bullet (1995) — Contributor — 5 copies
Great Mysteries Great Writers: Lucky Day / Trapped / Pastime / Snagged / Dealer's Choice (1994) — Contributor — 4 copies
Libros Selectos ( El Pasado Secreto De Suzanne Reardon, Atrapados En El Hielo, Un Hogar Para Kathy, El Gato Que Atrapò Al Ladròn) (2001) — Contributor — 4 copies
Det Bästas bokval. Volym 190. Mannen som kunde tala med hästar/ Isfällan/ Avslöjandet — Author — 2 copies
Kirjavaliot - Sateentekijä (The rainmaker)/ Jään kahleissa (Icebound) / Hiljaiset sillat (The bridges of Madison County) / Hääyö (Wedding night) (1997) — Author — 1 copy
Readers Digest Select Editions: The Final Judgement | Icebound | That Camden Summer | Wildfire (1997) — Author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Koontz, Dean
- Legal name
- Koontz, Dean Ray
- Other names
- Coffey, Brian
Nichols, Leigh
West, Owen
Wolfe, Aaron
Axton, David
Dwyer, Deanna (show all 11)
Dwyer, K.R.
Hill, John
North, Anthony
Paige, Richard
Koontz, Dean R. - Birthdate
- 1945-07-09
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (BA|1967)
- Occupations
- author
- Organizations
- Canine Companions for Independence
- Awards and honors
- World Horror Convention Grand Master Award (1996)
- Short biography
- Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9, 1945) is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Many of his books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list, with 14 hardcovers and 16 paperbacks reaching the number-one position. Koontz wrote under a number of pen names earlier in his career, including "David Axton", "Deanna Dwyer", "K.R. Dwyer", "Leigh Nichols" and "Brian Coffey". He has published over 105 novels, a number of novellas and collections of short stories, and has sold over 450 million copies of his work.
Koontz was born on July 9, 1945, in Everett, Pennsylvania, the son of Florence (née Logue) and Raymond Koontz. He has said that he was regularly beaten and abused by his alcoholic father, which influenced his later writing, as also did the courage of his physically diminutive mother in standing up to her husband. In his senior year at Shippensburg State College, he won a fiction competition sponsored by Atlantic Monthly magazine. After graduation in 1967, he went to work as an English teacher at Mechanicsburg High School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In the 1960s, Koontz worked for the Appalachian Poverty Program, a federally funded initiative designed to help poor children. In a 1996 interview with Reason magazine, he said that while the program sounded "very noble and wonderful, ... in reality, it was a dumping ground for violent children ... and most of the funding ended up 'disappearing somewhere.'" This experience greatly shaped Koontz's political outlook. In his book, The Dean Koontz Companion, he recalled that he
"... realized that most of these programs are not meant to help anyone, merely to control people and make them dependent. I was forced to reconsider everything I'd once believed. I developed a profound distrust of government regardless of the philosophy of the people in power. I remained a liberal on civil-rights issues, became a conservative on defense, and a semi-libertarian on all other matters." - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Everett, Pennsylvania, USA
- Places of residence
- Newport Beach, California, USA
- Map Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
Members
Discussions
Found: Fluffy creatures with colorful eyes in Name that Book (April 2025)
Auntie Man in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (March 2025)
Found: Action -brother can move “here to there” with special mental power in Name that Book (September 2024)
Found: Disaster/end of the world in Name that Book (February 2024)
Two genetically modified dogs, one good the other bad in Name that Book (July 2016)
Why is Dean Koontz in the Horror Section... in Thing(amabrarian)s That Go Bump in the Night (August 2011)
The Funhouse by Dean Koontz in Thing(amabrarian)s That Go Bump in the Night (January 2011)
Dean Koontz... not too popular with serious horror fans? in Thing(amabrarian)s That Go Bump in the Night (January 2008)
Reviews
I had met 'Watchers' when we were both much younger, way back in the Eighties, I think we'd have had a good time. Now, more than three decades later, we're both showing our age.
I can see the appeal 'Watchers' had when it first hit shelves but I'm distracted by the literary equivalent of Eighties hairstyles and jackets with padded shoulders. I'm also more cranky and harder to impress than I was back then, so 'Watchers' now presses my buttons, both about voyeuristic violence and paper-thin show more characterisations of women. Yeah, I know, grumpy old git talking.
But then there was Einstein, the genetically enhanced Golden Retriever with language skills and a brain bigger than our ex-Delta Force (why are they always ex-Delta Force?) hero. Einstein was wonderful. Einstein justified the whole book. Anyone not liking Einstein needs a personality transplant.
I know that 'Watchers' is a favourite Koontz book for many of his readers and I can see why: Einstein, a scary monster, Einstein, outwitting the NSA, Einstein, triumphing over broken pasts and building a hopeful future, Einstein, defeating bad guys who really deserve it and finding good guys who will help in adversity because of ... well, Einstein.
I tried hard to give myself up to this book and to Einstein and to the long-time-coming confrontations and I mostly made it, except for the times when I got distracted or had my buttons pressed.
At the start of the book, I was sure I was going to have fun. I was one chapter in and I'd already had one murder, one almost-encounter with a menacing something and a meeting with a very bright dog. I was hooked.
Then I started to have doubts.
There was too much relish in the descriptions of how the contract killer does his job. I felt like I was in a Jack Reacher novel only without a good guy to save the day.
I hated the subplot of the TV Repair Man turned stalker. I'm not sure if it just hasn't aged well of if Koontz doesn't write women who seem real but I'm I didn't buy Nora's internal dialogue,
That's not to say the writing was bad. I hated both the assassin and the stalker. In my youth I'd have been glad to hate them and wait for the moment when they got theirs but my older, crankier self kept going, 'This level of detail seems exploitative, don't ya think? I mean, why else is it there?'
'Watchers' is definitely of its time. A lot of the plot has an 'only in the 80s' feel: the Russians are killing people rather than buying the President, the NSA are the good guys and no one has a phone. When our hero explains computers to Nora and tells her that they make everything more fluid and that they'll make it more difficult for governments to control individuals, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. None of this is a criticism of Koontz. I just wish I read this in the Eighties when I'd have seen the same world he did.
By modern standards, the pace is leisurely but I don't think it suffers because of it The pacing reminded me of dancing the flamenco, starting with slow, stylised posturing, leading into fast, hot-blooded action.
The emotional palette in 'Watchers' is limited but effective, like a graphic novel done in black and white with splashes of red à la 'Sin City'. People are either very bad or very good and blood flows often and copiously.
Women don't feature heavily, except for Nora who starts as a broken flower and evolves into someone comfortable with using an Uzzi at close range. I didn't find her convincing in either role. I could see why she like Einstein but I was less clear on why she fell so hard and fast for our ex-Delta Force hero (did I mention I didn't like him much? I was hoping he'd make The Ultimate Sacrifice).
I recommend the audiobook version of 'Watchers'. It's a recent recording with strong narration by Edoardo Ballerini. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
https://soundcloud.com/audiobooksalive/watchers-by-dean-koontz-audiobook-excerpt show less
I can see the appeal 'Watchers' had when it first hit shelves but I'm distracted by the literary equivalent of Eighties hairstyles and jackets with padded shoulders. I'm also more cranky and harder to impress than I was back then, so 'Watchers' now presses my buttons, both about voyeuristic violence and paper-thin show more characterisations of women. Yeah, I know, grumpy old git talking.
But then there was Einstein, the genetically enhanced Golden Retriever with language skills and a brain bigger than our ex-Delta Force (why are they always ex-Delta Force?) hero. Einstein was wonderful. Einstein justified the whole book. Anyone not liking Einstein needs a personality transplant.
I know that 'Watchers' is a favourite Koontz book for many of his readers and I can see why: Einstein, a scary monster, Einstein, outwitting the NSA, Einstein, triumphing over broken pasts and building a hopeful future, Einstein, defeating bad guys who really deserve it and finding good guys who will help in adversity because of ... well, Einstein.
I tried hard to give myself up to this book and to Einstein and to the long-time-coming confrontations and I mostly made it, except for the times when I got distracted or had my buttons pressed.
At the start of the book, I was sure I was going to have fun. I was one chapter in and I'd already had one murder, one almost-encounter with a menacing something and a meeting with a very bright dog. I was hooked.
Then I started to have doubts.
There was too much relish in the descriptions of how the contract killer does his job. I felt like I was in a Jack Reacher novel only without a good guy to save the day.
I hated the subplot of the TV Repair Man turned stalker. I'm not sure if it just hasn't aged well of if Koontz doesn't write women who seem real but I'm I didn't buy Nora's internal dialogue,
That's not to say the writing was bad. I hated both the assassin and the stalker. In my youth I'd have been glad to hate them and wait for the moment when they got theirs but my older, crankier self kept going, 'This level of detail seems exploitative, don't ya think? I mean, why else is it there?'
'Watchers' is definitely of its time. A lot of the plot has an 'only in the 80s' feel: the Russians are killing people rather than buying the President, the NSA are the good guys and no one has a phone. When our hero explains computers to Nora and tells her that they make everything more fluid and that they'll make it more difficult for governments to control individuals, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. None of this is a criticism of Koontz. I just wish I read this in the Eighties when I'd have seen the same world he did.
By modern standards, the pace is leisurely but I don't think it suffers because of it The pacing reminded me of dancing the flamenco, starting with slow, stylised posturing, leading into fast, hot-blooded action.
The emotional palette in 'Watchers' is limited but effective, like a graphic novel done in black and white with splashes of red à la 'Sin City'. People are either very bad or very good and blood flows often and copiously.
Women don't feature heavily, except for Nora who starts as a broken flower and evolves into someone comfortable with using an Uzzi at close range. I didn't find her convincing in either role. I could see why she like Einstein but I was less clear on why she fell so hard and fast for our ex-Delta Force hero (did I mention I didn't like him much? I was hoping he'd make The Ultimate Sacrifice).
I recommend the audiobook version of 'Watchers'. It's a recent recording with strong narration by Edoardo Ballerini. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
https://soundcloud.com/audiobooksalive/watchers-by-dean-koontz-audiobook-excerpt show less
This only just got 4 stars due to Dean Koontz's seemingly uncanny ability to mess up a fantastic story right at the very end. He did this with Phantoms by wimping out and invoking the great god, Science, and now he's gone and done the same thing again here.
It was a truly great ride right up to the last 100 pages(approx.) when he decided to introduce what he clearly thought was a really cool and unexpected twist by letting us know that the house was in fact built on a tear in space-time show more which caused future creatures which from what I could make out are future humans that have been adjusted by some sort of nano-machines that use the human as a host upon orders of some sort of intelligence called the One. This is all very well and good, and is hinted at throughout the novel with various messages being heard by the various characters, but I really do wish Mr Koontz would have the guts to not make it about how great and all powerful science is. Just for once I'd like it to be about how powerful nature, or demons, or some sort of weird and wonderful creature is. Not something enhanced with nano-tech or something being beaten and dispatched because, of course, science is so much more powerful than mere nature.
This novel isn't nearly as bad as I'm making out, but it is very annoying when I'm 90% through the novel wondering what this demonic creature is and where it comes from and why it's here and getting really excited to know whether it turns out to be an ancient god, or a demonic power previously unknown, or some other force of nature that got screwed up somewhere in the dim and distant past, only to find out that it comes down to Koontz's great god Science, ...yet again!
Read this for the first 90%, then stop and make up your own ending. You'll be happier, and it'll be a better novel for it. show less
It was a truly great ride right up to the last 100 pages(approx.) when he decided to introduce what he clearly thought was a really cool and unexpected twist by letting us know that the house was in fact built on a tear in space-time show more which caused future creatures which from what I could make out are future humans that have been adjusted by some sort of nano-machines that use the human as a host upon orders of some sort of intelligence called the One. This is all very well and good, and is hinted at throughout the novel with various messages being heard by the various characters, but I really do wish Mr Koontz would have the guts to not make it about how great and all powerful science is. Just for once I'd like it to be about how powerful nature, or demons, or some sort of weird and wonderful creature is. Not something enhanced with nano-tech or something being beaten and dispatched because, of course, science is so much more powerful than mere nature.
This novel isn't nearly as bad as I'm making out, but it is very annoying when I'm 90% through the novel wondering what this demonic creature is and where it comes from and why it's here and getting really excited to know whether it turns out to be an ancient god, or a demonic power previously unknown, or some other force of nature that got screwed up somewhere in the dim and distant past, only to find out that it comes down to Koontz's great god Science, ...yet again!
Read this for the first 90%, then stop and make up your own ending. You'll be happier, and it'll be a better novel for it. show less
Jane Hawk is back. She's still on the run....a fugitive....a rogue FBI agent. Following the apparent suicide of her husband, Jane discovered a conspiracy, something so evil and diabolical that she immediately knew she had to find those responsible and stop them. A group of powerful, wealthy people have developed technology that can hijack the will of any person...take over their brain. The person can be made to do anything. No resistance. No conscience. They will obey without question. Some show more people are made to kill themselves like Jane's husband. Others are made to commit terrorist acts. And some are just used as mindless sex slaves for the wealthy. They made a mistake when they killed Jane's husband. They made a mistake when they threatened the life of her young son. They made a mistake when they tried to kill her. And, they made the biggest mistake of all when they underestimated her power to bring them down, to exact revenge.
This book is hard hitting from the beginning and doesn't let up until the very end. I loved the first book in this series, The Silent Corner.....and I enjoyed this book just as much. Jane Hawk kicks ass. She is intelligent, resilient, and cunning. As a highly trained FBI agent, she knows how to use surveillance, interrogation and techonology to her best advantage. She also knows how to avoid being seen, unless she chooses to be noticed.
Dean Koontz is hit or miss for me. His horror books recycle plot elements a bit too much -- sentient dogs, groups of people battling supernatural forces, etc. But the Jane Hawk series is something from Koontz that's fresh and wonderfully written. He could even write in a talking dog and nobody would see a single eyeroll from me.....that's how much I like Jane Hawk. A strong, hard-hitting, brutal female main character. The story has great realistic action and excitement. It's not often I sit and read an entire book in one sitting, but this series has had me burning the midnight oil twice now. I'm sure I will be totally into the third book, The Crooked Staircase, when it comes out in June 2018.
**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Random House - Ballentine via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** show less
This book is hard hitting from the beginning and doesn't let up until the very end. I loved the first book in this series, The Silent Corner.....and I enjoyed this book just as much. Jane Hawk kicks ass. She is intelligent, resilient, and cunning. As a highly trained FBI agent, she knows how to use surveillance, interrogation and techonology to her best advantage. She also knows how to avoid being seen, unless she chooses to be noticed.
Dean Koontz is hit or miss for me. His horror books recycle plot elements a bit too much -- sentient dogs, groups of people battling supernatural forces, etc. But the Jane Hawk series is something from Koontz that's fresh and wonderfully written. He could even write in a talking dog and nobody would see a single eyeroll from me.....that's how much I like Jane Hawk. A strong, hard-hitting, brutal female main character. The story has great realistic action and excitement. It's not often I sit and read an entire book in one sitting, but this series has had me burning the midnight oil twice now. I'm sure I will be totally into the third book, The Crooked Staircase, when it comes out in June 2018.
**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Random House - Ballentine via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** show less
'The Bad Weather Friend' has the joyous feel of an author letting himself off the leash and writing something that pleases his heart. It seemed to me that Dean Koontz, who is pushing eights and has more than a hundred novels in print, used this book to vent his detestation of the way being nice is seen as being weak and being a selfish asshole billionaire who looks down on the rest of humanity is seen as strength.
Here's a passage where the supernatural Spike is explaining to nice guy Benny show more what motivates the ultra-rich bad guys to do terrible things. He explains that it's not all about money and power. I think, once you've read this, names of right-wing Billionaires (sorry for the tautology) will come to mind.
"Some know they’re doing evil, but some don’t. In each case, they’re all the same—impatient, shortsighted, reckless fixers. Seeing themselves as fixers gives their lives meaning.”
“Fixers?”
“They’re people who can’t let anything be as it is. No matter how good the thing is, it’s never good enough for them. Everything they look upon seems either not quite right or wrong, and they’re convinced they know how to fix it. Most of the time, they utterly destroy it before rebuilding something less good from the rubble.”
“What sense does that make? If my car has a broken windshield wiper, I don’t blow up the car before starting repairs.
Koontz, Dean. The Bad Weather Friend (p. 286). Thomas & Mercer. Kindle Edition.
Dean Koontz delivers his message passionately but with flair, humour and a playful dash of gothic drama.
His authorial voice addresses the reader directly in the same way that an early nineteenth or even eighteenth-century novelist would have. The author even passes on to the reader messages from Spike, one of the main characters, about how the novel should be read.
The chapter titles are a tongue-in-cheek version of the nineteenth-century way of setting the reader's expectation of what is to come. For example:
WAITING WHILE MS. URNFIELD EATS MORE STEAK TARTARE, BENNY REMEMBERS DR. FERNSEHEN LIEBHABER
The character names also go back to the humour of an earlier time. Ms, Urnfield is a horrible woman who is probably responsible for the deaths of many people so a name that reminds the reader of cemeteries works well. Dr, Fernsehen Leibhaber, whose name roughly translates to 'enthusiastic TV watcher' is a burnt out child psychologist who loses herself in reality TV and game shows.
The story has a quest structure that moves between two timelines. a contemporary one in which twenty-something nice-guy Benny is combating the forces of evil that have blown up his life, and one where Benny is a child surviving abusive parents, being homeschooled by a psychopathic grandmother and being confined in a remote private school under the control of a mad scientist.
In contrast to the early novel trimmings, the story brims with witty references to horror movies and thrillers and satirises the decadence of the compulsive display of vulgar wealth.
The characters in the novel are archetypes rather than people. Not the dull but worthy kind of archetypes beloved of didacts but flamboyant, wow-think-of-the-CGI-you'd-need-to-put-THAT-in-a-movie archetypes worthy of a Marvel movie.
To me, this felt like a novel where pursuing the quest of dealing with the bad guys while remaining a nice person was more important than the destination. This is just as well as the journey was much more exciting than the conclusion, as is often the case with fairytales. I mean, who really wants to read about the day-to-day of Happily Ever After?
I finished this book a few days ago and I'm still not sure what to make of it except that it was weird and fun and made me wish there were more Spikes in the world,
To help you get a feel for the experience of reading the novel, here are the (often bemused) comments that I made as I was reading it.
The notes I made as I read 'The Bad Weather Friend'
19.0%
"This is bizarre. It's unlike any other book by Dean Koontz that I've read. It's a dazzling concoction: a sort of Don Winslow meets Karl Hiaasen with a dash of Mark Twain thrown in. I've no idea where this is going or why it wants to get there but there's no way I'm putting this down now. I'm intrigued.*
47.0%
"This is weird in every way: how the story is told, who is in the story, what the story is about, and the reaction the writer seems to want from the reader. And yet, it works.
I couldn't say what it's working towards or why, but it keeps me turning the pages."
67.0%
"We left reality behind a long time ago and are now travelling through a cartoon landscape, done in primary colours that make the movie 'Barbie' look like Cinema Verité. Think Roald Dahl writing a Road Trip novel with Frank Baum.
Oddly, it's a soothing, mildly amusing experience. I'm wondering if any Minions will appear before the finale and whose side they'd be on. show less
Here's a passage where the supernatural Spike is explaining to nice guy Benny show more what motivates the ultra-rich bad guys to do terrible things. He explains that it's not all about money and power. I think, once you've read this, names of right-wing Billionaires (sorry for the tautology) will come to mind.
"Some know they’re doing evil, but some don’t. In each case, they’re all the same—impatient, shortsighted, reckless fixers. Seeing themselves as fixers gives their lives meaning.”
“Fixers?”
“They’re people who can’t let anything be as it is. No matter how good the thing is, it’s never good enough for them. Everything they look upon seems either not quite right or wrong, and they’re convinced they know how to fix it. Most of the time, they utterly destroy it before rebuilding something less good from the rubble.”
“What sense does that make? If my car has a broken windshield wiper, I don’t blow up the car before starting repairs.
Koontz, Dean. The Bad Weather Friend (p. 286). Thomas & Mercer. Kindle Edition.
Dean Koontz delivers his message passionately but with flair, humour and a playful dash of gothic drama.
His authorial voice addresses the reader directly in the same way that an early nineteenth or even eighteenth-century novelist would have. The author even passes on to the reader messages from Spike, one of the main characters, about how the novel should be read.
The chapter titles are a tongue-in-cheek version of the nineteenth-century way of setting the reader's expectation of what is to come. For example:
WAITING WHILE MS. URNFIELD EATS MORE STEAK TARTARE, BENNY REMEMBERS DR. FERNSEHEN LIEBHABER
The character names also go back to the humour of an earlier time. Ms, Urnfield is a horrible woman who is probably responsible for the deaths of many people so a name that reminds the reader of cemeteries works well. Dr, Fernsehen Leibhaber, whose name roughly translates to 'enthusiastic TV watcher' is a burnt out child psychologist who loses herself in reality TV and game shows.
The story has a quest structure that moves between two timelines. a contemporary one in which twenty-something nice-guy Benny is combating the forces of evil that have blown up his life, and one where Benny is a child surviving abusive parents, being homeschooled by a psychopathic grandmother and being confined in a remote private school under the control of a mad scientist.
In contrast to the early novel trimmings, the story brims with witty references to horror movies and thrillers and satirises the decadence of the compulsive display of vulgar wealth.
The characters in the novel are archetypes rather than people. Not the dull but worthy kind of archetypes beloved of didacts but flamboyant, wow-think-of-the-CGI-you'd-need-to-put-THAT-in-a-movie archetypes worthy of a Marvel movie.
To me, this felt like a novel where pursuing the quest of dealing with the bad guys while remaining a nice person was more important than the destination. This is just as well as the journey was much more exciting than the conclusion, as is often the case with fairytales. I mean, who really wants to read about the day-to-day of Happily Ever After?
I finished this book a few days ago and I'm still not sure what to make of it except that it was weird and fun and made me wish there were more Spikes in the world,
To help you get a feel for the experience of reading the novel, here are the (often bemused) comments that I made as I was reading it.
The notes I made as I read 'The Bad Weather Friend'
19.0%
"This is bizarre. It's unlike any other book by Dean Koontz that I've read. It's a dazzling concoction: a sort of Don Winslow meets Karl Hiaasen with a dash of Mark Twain thrown in. I've no idea where this is going or why it wants to get there but there's no way I'm putting this down now. I'm intrigued.*
47.0%
"This is weird in every way: how the story is told, who is in the story, what the story is about, and the reaction the writer seems to want from the reader. And yet, it works.
I couldn't say what it's working towards or why, but it keeps me turning the pages."
67.0%
"We left reality behind a long time ago and are now travelling through a cartoon landscape, done in primary colours that make the movie 'Barbie' look like Cinema Verité. Think Roald Dahl writing a Road Trip novel with Frank Baum.
Oddly, it's a soothing, mildly amusing experience. I'm wondering if any Minions will appear before the finale and whose side they'd be on. show less
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