Dean Koontz – What the Night Knows (with bonus story Darkness Under the Sun)

Detective John Calvino’s family were brutally murdered by a serial killer when he was a teenager. John survived and managed to kill the killer. Now, twenty years on he has a family of his own and is leading a very happy life. Then a family is murdered in circumstances very similar to those of the killer twenty years ago. John is convinced that his family are in danger but how can he explain it to people when the killer is long dead.

To me this book seemed a little more like classic Koontz compared to his other recent work. I think this is a good thing. I read this book quite slowly but that was more to do with life getting in the way of reading than any fault of the book.

I liked the characters, they were all a little too perfect but I can live with that. The story was entertaining and well paced although it did require a little suspension of disbelief at times (which is not a problem for me, it is fiction after all).

I remain convinced that I would easily be able to detect Dean Koontz’s writing in a “blind” reading, he has a very distinctive style of writing and often incorporates regular themes into his books many of which were present in this book.

The bonus story, Darkness Under the Sun is a prequel to the events of What the Night Knows. I really enjoyed the story and thought it added a lot to the book. If you are going to buy this book then I would strongly recommend finding one of the editions with the story included.

Dean Koontz – Breathless

Grady Adams is out walking his dog when he witnesses two strange creatures running in the meadow. He contacts his vet friend Cammy Rivers to see if she can shed any light on what they might be. She too is amazed by the creatures and emails photos to some contacts for their opinion. Before they know what is happening Homeland Security have sealed off the area and taken the creatures for testing. Grady and Cammy are horrified by this and set about trying to do something about it.

This book is a little slower paced than Dean Koontz’s usual offerings but it is still unmistakeably Koontz. I’m sure that I could identify writing by Dean Koontz in a “blind” reading as he has a very distinctive style. Plus in his more recent novels the main character is pretty much the same person, just repackaged a little. That’s more of an observation than a criticism, I’ve read most of Dean Koontz’s books and enjoy them very much.

Breathless seemed to me to take a while to get going and to be honest, whilst it did pick up the pace a little towards the end it never really took off. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. I just feel that perhaps something was missing. I really liked the ending, I think it was apt and worked well, but the journey to get there could have been better.

There were lots of separate sub-plots that at first seem to have no connection to one another but all linked together cleverly at the end. I particularly enjoyed the stories of the man in the Vegas casinos and Tom Bigger, a homeless man. There was one sub-plot that had almost no bearing on the story whatsoever and could easily have been left out with no detriment to the book at all, although it would have left the book considerably shorter as it was one of the more in depth sub-plots, but to me it didn’t add anything to the story and was the one I enjoyed the least.

I did quite enjoy this book but it’s certainly not one of my favourite Den Koontz offerings. If you like Dean Koontz then you should like this book. However, if you have never read anything by Dean Koontz I would suggest starting elsewhere in order to see what he is truly capable of.