Gore and More discussion

I read many Koontz books and found after a while that it was too formulated. However Servants was a great one.

I agree with Stacy, I find Koontz to be one of the few writers in this field that is hard to classify.

All the books Stacy mentioned are quites different, then there's the Odd books which are also a different step to some degree for Mr. Koontz.

and a pure horor novel in Phantoms.

I truly dont see anything formulaic in any of the books mentioned.

The only thing I notice about dean Koontz is he likes to have dogs in many of his books. This isnt a bad thing, just something he does.

Isn't that funny? Perhaps I read them all too closely to each other. I read Watchers, Phantoms, and like five more all in a row. I liked them all but can not remember most of them.

I find Koontz's books either hit or miss.I enjoyed Intensity,Watchers,Hideaway and especially Phantoms,a great horror book.I didn't care for Servants,The Taking and really disliked By The Light Of The Moon.I could barely finish it.I also think Koontz can get a little repetitive,not so much the books plot but the characters.

Well, deciding who we enjoy to read is simply a matter of taste. We all will have different favorite writers. I for one enjoy Koontz much more than I do King, and I like Laymon much more than either Koontz or King. But as stated, we all have different taste.

It's all subjective.I couldn't agree more Kevin.It would be a boring old world if we all agreed on everything.

I've been a Koontz fan since I was a teen. I corresponded with him and got an autographed photo of him and his dog.



...are just some of my favorite Koontz novels.

It's all good,Debby...everyone has their own opinion.I think I've read around a dozen of his books and in every one the protagonists have all been exactly the same,they all have near-perfect morals,they're successful,smart and he nearly always throws in some unrealistic romance to boot.I like to read books where the good/bad guys have their flaws and don't always have to do the right thing.

I ain't going down the road of comparing him with King.I really don't think you can,they are completely different.

Hi everyone, I see were back at it again... ;-)

William the only thing I want to comment on is your assumption that Koontz charcaters are almost perfect with no flaws. I feel this statement misses the mark, many of Koontz characters carrry quite a bit of bagage.

Spencer Grant is a perfect example.

But as has been mentioned- to each his own. I for one would never try to argue authors. Just read what you like.

LOL,

Yep, comparing authors would be silly. I will say that King is the KING and he has earned that title over the years. On the other hand, holding that title gives you the perk of becoming the most popular horror writer also, and being the most popular does not equate to the best writer if we take into consideration pure prose. Comparing authors would prove fruitless.

Koontz doesn't write perfect hero types, take a look at the book mentioned here, the boy is possibly the anti-Christ! I would call that a bit of a flaw! LOL His mother is a single parent, another flaw, especially if you the bible thumping type. I could go on, but I wont because as I stated, it's pointless.

As everyone has said, it's a matter of taste. Do I think Kings the best? No, but I wont knock the guy, he has written some great books and as I have already stated this has earned him the title KING OF HORROR. Do I think Koontz is the best? No, but he has also written same great books and plenty of them, to earn my respect.

Now back to regular programming.
Carry on.

Sorry guys i couldn't resist LOL!!!

Dean Koontz Taken from Urban Dictionary

An american author best known for suspense thrillers, often including the supernatural. His prose is excellent, and his plots are often original, however his books are characterized by flat characters and unrealistically neat endings. They often have extremely heavy christian overtones, with static, exaggerated characters, making the books incident driven instead of character driven. Dean Koontz writes about five or six boks a year, and so due to this rapid production speed his books often feature very similar heroes/villains/endings/themes/dogs/settings.
Person1: Guess which Dean Koontz book I am thinking of.
Person2: Give me a clue.
Person1: It has a heroic dog in it.
Person2: That narrows it down to about thirty books.
Person1: Okay, this one has a strong, beautiful, determined female with a gentle, more sensitive male counterpart.
Person2: Forty books.
Person1: This one has an evil, corrupt, sadistic, deviant atheist as the villain, who has a god complex, likes raping people, and has a weird hobby for no reason whatsoever.
Person2: Fifty books.
Person1: Alright, now I'm thinking of one where the hero is a humble, loving, heroic, caring, clean-living christian with high moral standards and a dislike of evolution science and anything psychologically explaining the abstract concept of 'evil'.
Person2: Forty books.
Person1: This one has a too-neat ending where the evil side is totally destroyed and the good guys all live happily ever after with faith and love in some american-apple-pie family situation.
Person2: Fifty books.
Person1: The christian overtones are so heavy that it feels like he is beating me around the head with his bible and shouting in my ear.
Person2: Seventy books.
Person1: It's really really good.
Person2: (looks blank)

William wrote: "Sorry guys i couldn't resist LOL!!!

Dean Koontz Taken from Urban Dictionary

An american author best known for suspense thrillers, often including the supernatural. His prose is excellent, and h..."

We could name a dozen list like this about every author. It means nothing, just an opinion written by a specific person, much as we do here.

The dog theme is a constant but for much different reasons than given in that list.(conversation)

I'm begging everyone not to start adding list and other such commentary by critics or the like. This really would become quite silly.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Stacy,
Sure you can say what you like, I just dont want to see the thread grow out of control. I'm sure we can find tons of things about every author, but I ask everyone to keep in mind that critics are a dime a dozen.

Read what you will and enjoy.