Koontzland - Dean Koontz discussion

I was not too impressed with this DK book, rating it 3/5 stars (2.5-3, to be more accurate). While I enjoyed the dog-heavy theme of the story and the two main characters, the ending was awful--very sudden and unsatisfying. I was also very disappointed with the explanation for the supernatural events of the story, which of course were presented as obvious facts and taken by the characters to be indisputable truth, rather than mere speculation. I know Dean was distraught over Trixie's recent death when he wrote this and the dog theme was a nice way to honor her memory, but this book did not live up to most of his other works, in my opinion. In short: dogs rule, TDEotY drools.

Well, Okay then. I remember enjoying the book and I'll look forward to re-reading it - probably when it's chosen as a group read.

Below is what I wrote in my book journal for The Darkest Evening of the Year. I read this book as soon as it was released back in 2007 and my review/opinion on this book differs slightly from Jason's:

"Enjoyed the book very much. This book was very personal for Koontz as his Golden Retriever Trixie passed away and the novel features a Golden Retriever hero named Nickie. Koontz had his usual disability representative - this time a little girl called Hope who has Downs Syndrome. A great story in Koontz trademark style of Good vs. Evil and profound thoughts on life. Better than The Good Guy - great ending, beginning and everything in between."


The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

The great month has arrived - The Darkest Evening of the Year has been chosen as our November 2012 Group Read :-)

I just ironically picked up a second copy of the book today. I picked up the hardback version at Goodwill. I love hardback books on shelves but I dont much care to read out of them. My other copy is a paperback copy. My little sister is planning on reading it with me once November hits. I do have a question since I never read this book before, do you guys think it is an appropriate book for a 13 year old to read?

Yay a book I have t home and don't have to borrow from the library lol. I have been looking forward to reading this just so many library books I haven't had the chance. now I have a reason to pull it off my shelf and read it.

i've never read this one before- looking forward to it

Josh wrote: "My little sister is planning on reading it with me once November hits. I do have a question since I never read this book before, do you guys think it is an appropriate book for a 13 year old to read? "

:-) A hard question to answer because it depends on the individual. It's been a while since I read The Darkest Evening of the year, but I do remember the book is mainly about a dog being the hero and while perhaps containing some mildly disturbing material (a child being kidnapped if I remember correctly), it is not one of Dean's most disturbing books. I'd definitely say that if your sister read the Hunger Games and can handle that material, then The Darkest Evening of the Year should be just fine :-)

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "Josh wrote: "My little sister is planning on reading it with me once November hits. I do have a question since I never read this book before, do you guys think it is an appropriate book for a 13 ye..."
Doesn't sound too harsh. My sister hasn't read The Hunger Games but she watches Law and Order Special Victims Unit and she did watch two episodes of X-Files with me. It sounds like she could handle reading it and my parents won't get mad at me for letting her read it. She hasn't read anything harsher than The Outsiders to my knowledge.

I read my first Koontz book when I was in 8th grade (14) and turned out fine! Since his books are all over the place, I would read them first before you recommend them to her. At that age, I loved watchers, twilight eyes and lightening.

I just got this book at library today and am very excited to read it. Love the smart doggies!

Josh wrote: "I just ironically picked up a second copy of the book today. I picked up the hardback version at Goodwill. I love hardback books on shelves but I dont much care to read out of them. My other copy i..."

I started read Koontz when I was about 12/13 years old. And look how I've turned out...okay maybe I'm not the best example.

Personally, the books are okay. I thoroughly enjoyed the escape that I got while reading his back catalogue

Has anyone started reading this yet? Well, I have. This will be my third reading of this book. Right now, it feels like the most new-agey book Koontz has written. There's something different about the language than I'm used from him, it's all more atmospheric than concrete.

Sadly I will have to pass on read ing this. I thought I could read and write but it looks like all of my energy will be going to writing for NaNo I'll read it as a great for myself in December once I've finished the challenge.

I read it in 2008, I remember liking it. I just checked, I gave it 4 stars, so I must have really liked it. The only thing I remember about it is the scene on the porch with the coyotes in the rain.

Jackie wrote: "The only thing I remember about it is the scene on the porch with the coyotes in the rain."

That sounds like The Taking.

Huumm, then I don't remember anything about this book. I wonder why it got 4 stars.

Why is it that the good guys drive Ford Explorers and creepy guys drive Chevys? I ride in a Chevy and I don't want to be thought of as creepy. Is this not stereo typing? [Head scratch]

Not many comments during this month's reading. Shall I share my thoughts now?

The idea is nice but I was expecting a lot more. I had a very déjà vu feeling with this book, like it’s a rehash of all Koontz’s previous work put together. Elements borrowed from all over the place, hardly an original idea in the entire piece.

The dog stuff. Way overdone. I grew up with dogs and I like them as much as the next guy, but certainly not as much as the Koontz guy. Yes, I cried when they died, but then life continued and I moved on. I didn’t feel the need to immortalize them, deify them, grant them extraordinary powers beyond the grave.

The reincarnation thing I dig. One of my favorite movies is “Fluke”. The Herbert book I didn’t like so much. The problem with “The Darkest Evening of the Year” is that it’s never questioned, totally accepted without a single frown. A bit presented as hard to believe, yes, but generally shown to be a universal truth. It’s not enough to just tell the reader how it is, you have to convince him and it was a bit lacking in that department. It needed that little extra thing we used to get all the time in Koontz books but which somehow has been missing from this era's work. An idea like this deserves to be worked out like he did with the multiverse theory in “From the Corner of His Eye”. It was just as magical, but much more believably presented.

Johnny wrote: "...The problem with “The Darkest Evening of the Year” is that it’s never questioned, totally accepted without a single frown. A bit presented as hard to believe, yes, but generally shown to be a universal truth. It’s not enough to just tell the reader how it is, you have to convince him and it was a bit lacking in that department. It needed that little extra thing we used to get all the time in Koontz books but which somehow has been missing from this era's work. An idea like this deserves to be worked out like he did with the multiverse theory in “From the Corner of His Eye”. It was just as magical, but much more believably presented."

I very much agree. You'll see from my thoughts on this book (the very first comment in this thread) that I came to a similar conclusion.

Okay so almost done with the book, Not impressed at all. I will finish it to get the ending of it, but I have to say this is not my favorite book- it even took longer for me to read than normal. I'm going to give it 2.5 out of 5.

Ha I thought the plot of this book was essentially, "OMG I LOVE GOLDEN RETRIEVERS!!!!!"

It was entertaining, I guess, but not really great. I finished it a few weeks ago and honestly don't remember anything about it.

so far on re-reading, I am not impressed :-( too much dog worshiping. I really like dogs but this seems a bit over the top. I have had to stop during different periods because I had too much of the dog worship - the rescuing, the painting, the descriptions.

Without any of the usual canine ritual, Nickie squatted to pee...upon completion of her business, the dog went directly to the back porch, up the steps, and to the door. -Chapter 8

Each time Amy dropped the leashes to blue-bag the poop, Nickie respected a sit-and-stay command as reliably as did Fred and Ethel. - Chapter 15



I'm really excited for the next potty time!

I did like this part at the end of chapter 15:

"Maybe I've got a secret admirer."

"Has someone been sending candy and flowers anonymously?"

"Secret admirers don't do that anymore, Renata. These days, they kidnap you, rape you, and kill you with power tools."

:-) Made me smile anyway

I like that part! I've been watching crime stories on ID channel and that's what I see. Kidnapping, Rape, torture and death.

I finished finally. It was a good story. I didn't like the end. Sounded like a fairy tale. "And everyone lived happily ever after"! What?!

The book has gotten better after the half-way mark. I still haven't finished yet.

I finished this book a few days ago...started it late and finished it late for a November read, sadly, due to the reading of another book that took most of the month (a 900-pager).

I enjoyed it as fiction, but it was over-the-top in some places, such as when Brian was drawing Nickie's eyes. I don't think DK needed to tell us of every drawing the way he did. It began to seem like filler after a while. Also, I like Golden Retrievers as dogs, but it just seemed to me like this was a world where they were the only dogs that existed. I can't pinpoint any one paragraph that made me feel that way, but I eventually got the feeling they were being harped on too much and it bugged me.

I was intrigued by Theresa's eeriness, and totally dissatisfied that this was never really explored or defined. And I thought for sure Carl Brockman would turn out to be involved in some way because of some of the way DK wrote about him...and then he never was. What happened to Jimmy and Janet? All in all, I didn't like this element to the story. As a way to introduce Amy as a Golden Retriever rescuer, it could have been shortened up. As it was written, I felt it needed more treatment to conclude this family element, and this treatment wasn't in the book.

I also thought the reincarnation thing should have been introduced either earlier in the story, or maybe at the end as a way to help conclude the story. Putting it in the middle the way it was seemed like it was tacked on. And then the tally of it (Nickie the new dog being both Nickie the first dog and Nickie the daughter) at the end seemed totally tacked on to me. Not satisfying at all.

And lastly, Harrow and Moongirl as villains left quite a bit to be desired. After all that buildup about fire being the preferred method of death-dealing, there was no fire at the climax.

I would have given it 3.5 stars, but since you can't give half-stars in this star system, I gave it just 3 instead of rounding up to 4, as the detraction points for me were just too dissatisfying.

Oh, I really liked the ending to Chapter 15, too. :)

Jen wrote: "Oh, I really liked the ending to Chapter 15, too. :)"

All the awesome people do :-) Thanks for sharing your thoughts - I agree with the points you bring up.

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: Thanks for sharing your thoughts - I agree with the points you bring up."

Thank you, Dustin! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who felt that way. And thanks for counting me among the awesome people. :-)

You're Welcome :-)

I hated this book. HATED it. Honestly, out of all the Koontz books I've read (at least 30) there are only 4 or 5 that I didn't care for. Out if the 4 or 5 this is the only one I actually despised. I felt everything about it was absurd and crudely thought out, and every plot twist came out of nowhere. As if he himself had no idea of what he was writing. Oh, let's throw some reincarnation in here, let's make the villians pyromaniacs so they have something to do even if it has no point to the overall plot, etc. I'm waiting for Koontz to write something to redeem this, something that has nothing to do with intelligent dogs or special needs children. This book takes the word formulaic to a new level.

Matthew wrote: " I'm waiting for Koontz to write something to redeem this, something that has nothing to do with intelligent dogs or special needs children. This book takes the word formulaic to a new level.
"

77 Shadow Street held promise of achieving this - unfortunately Koontz put too many characters in the book but if you haven't read it - it's worth giving it a try. For a while there he was getting very "formulaic" as you say. I do enjoy the Odd Thomas series and the Frankenstein Series but if you are looking for an original stand-alone, Cold Fire is one I highly recommend.