The Funhouse by Dean Koontz

Rating: 2.5

What it's about:

The Funhouse is a novelization of a screenplay and it shows. Not great writing here at all but the story itself is decent. It's about a teenager named Amy Harper and her little brother Joey. They are the targets of an evil carny and his hideous monster of a son. They are being stalked because of what their mother did nearly twenty years earlier. Now the carny is seeking revenge. This is not one of the better Koontz books I've read. At times the writing was downright terrible. It had some good gore and a few suspenseful parts but it was nothing special. It did make me want to check out the movie though.

Velocity by Dean Koontz

Rating: 4.0

Velocity is a cat-and-mouse type of suspense story. There's really nothing exceptional about it but it definitely kept my interest nonetheless.

Billy Wiles finds the first of several mysterious notes on his windshield after leaving his bar tending job one day. It says 'If you don't take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice is yours.' And so begins a fairly intense story in which Billy has to make some pretty extreme choices. The choices become more difficult as the story progresses. Billy can't go to the police because the killer has planted evidence incriminating him. He has no choice but to play this macabre game in the hopes of turning the tables.

I always enjoy escaping in a Koontz book for a couple of hours. Velocity was no exception. It has a fast paced plot with plenty of room for speculation. I think it could have benefited from a bit more character development, but overall it was a quick, fun read.

Watchers by Dean Koontz

Rating: 5.0

I first read this years ago, when I was a teenager. It was one of my first Koontz books. I loved it then and I still love it today. The dialogue seemed cornier than I remember it being but that's okay. I still loved it.

I really enjoyed this story. Two different animals are caged in the same government laboratory. They have been genetically altered. One is an extraordinary dog who I totally fall in love with.
The other is a monster who was made to be a weapon. They escape and are on the loose when the story begins. The human stars of the story are Travis and Nora. They end up finding the dog and learning it's capabilities. They also learn that this other thing....this monster....is after the dog and is capable of tracking it down and killing it and anything near to it. There are other things going on in the story that I won't go into, but it really keeps you on the edge of your seat as the monster gets closer and closer.

This is the Koontz book that pulls on my heartstrings the most. The dog is amazing, and I of course root for the dog's safety and to be able to stay with his new family. The monster, or the Outsider as it's called in the book, has blood lust in it's genes and makes the reader want to hate it. But it's really sad when we learn more about it. He hates himself for what he is. He's extremely lonely. He didn't ask to be this monster. Everybody loves the adorable dog who is almost human but is disgusted to even look at the hideous thing that the Outsider is. I feel sorry for it and that just makes the book all the more affecting to me. Great story! The Cincinnati Post calls it "A suspenseful page-turner...Koontz gives us characters we can care about...and enough tension to satisfy any thrill-seeker."

The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

Rating: 3.5

This is one of Koontz's first novels, written originally under a pen name. It's definitely not up to par with his latest works but it wasn't bad either.

A mother looses her son to a tragic accident while he's on a scouting trip in the Nevada mountains. A year later and she's coping....until two words show up on her dead sons chalkboard. NOT DEAD. Lots of mysterious paranormal incidents occur that lead the mother and her new flame on a hunt to uncover what has been covered up and to discover why.

The Eyes of Darkness was a good story but it didn't have enough depth. Why the events occurred was explained but the how part was left a mystery. The characters were very cardboard with very little background. If this was written by the Koontz of today I think it would make a great book.

Night Chills by Dean Koontz

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:

THE FEVER IS SPREADING

Seizing the men and women of Black River. Plaguing them with night chills. Driving them to violent acts of Rape and murder.

THE FEVER IS SPREADING

Designed by top scientists and unleashed in a monstrous conspiracy - its deadly spell can unlock the most frightening potential of the human mind.

THE FEVER IS SPREADING

The nightmare is real. And death is the only cure...
-taken from book

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this creepy story. It definitely shows how too much power can corrupt people. The story takes place in a small town where a few scientists use subliminal messaging and mind control to manipulate the population. And the really creepy part is that this small town conspiracy is just a field test. These power hungry men have bigger plans. But they didn't plan for everything and soon things start to fall apart. This is a typical Koontz book and a fast paced read.

Winter Moon by Dean Koontz

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
In Los Angeles, a hot Hollywood director, high on PCP, turns a city street into a fiery apocalypse. Heroic LAPD officer Jack McGarvey is badly wounded and will not walk for months. His wife and his child are left to fend for themselves against both criminals that control an increasingly violent city and the dead director's cult of fanatic fans.
In a lonely corner of Montana, Eduardo Fernandez, the father of McGarvey's murdered partner, witnesses a strange nocturnal sight. The stand of pines outside his house suddenly glows with eerie amber light, and Fernandez senses a watcher in the winter woods. As the seasons change, the very creatures of the forest seem in league with a mysterious presence. Fernandez is caught up in a series of chilling incidents that escalate toward a confronation that could rob him of his sanity or his life--or both.
As events careen out of control, the McGarvey family is drawn to Fernandez's Montana ranch. In that isolated place they discover their destiny in a terrifying and fiercely suspenseful encounter with a hostile, utterly ruthless, and enigmatic enemy, from which neither the living nor the dead are safe.


My thoughts:
If you like a good scare while reading a book, then I suggest reading Winter Moon. I read this book at night and it gave me goosebumps! Jack takes his family and moves to a ranch in rural Montana. When they get there though, they are not alone. There are walking cadavers, glowing lights, messages in the electronic devices, and wild animals acting not so wild. The situation is brought to a climax during the first blizzard of the season. Will the "Giver" win out against humanity or will the imagination of an 8 year old boy be it's downfall?

The only fault I can find in Winter Moon is the divide in the story. The first half and the second half of the book are almost like two separate books. I don't really see how the first half of the story relates much to the rest of the book. The disconnectedness is easily overlooked though. Koontz sure knows how to write a spooky story!

Santa's Twin by Dean Koontz

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:

A contemporary Christmas classic for children
of all ages -- including those who pretend to have grown up!

Charlotte and Emily are determined to save Santa from his mischievous twin -- Bob Claus -- who has not only stolen Santa's sleigh and stuffed his toy bag full of mud pies, cat poop, and broccoli, but has also threatened to turn Donner, Blitzen, and the others into reindeer soup!

How the brave but foolhardy sisters fly to the North Pole and rescue Santa from his "deeply troubled" twin is an utterly charming and unforgettable story sure to add sparkle to your holiday season.

Read it aloud, preferably to someone you love to hear laugh!

This perennial yuletide favorite was written by bestselling novelist Dean Koontz in 1996 at the request of his fans and has been pleasing readers every holiday season since. Winner of an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition while he was just a senior in college, Koontz today is a world-famous author whose books have been published in thirty-eight different languages and have sold more than three hundred million copies.

Lavishly illustrated with spectacular paintings by Phil Parks, this thoroughly modern masterpiece breathes new life and warmth into the world's most beloved legend.
-taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:

This is a very cute Christmas poem along the lines of Twas the Night Before Christmas. The story is about Santa's evil twin stealing Christmas and trying to ruin it. Can two little girls rescue Santa before Christmas is lost? Is Santa's twin really evil or can he be cured of his nastiness?
The illustrations in Santa's Twin are fantastic! There is even a little game of finding the hidden snowman on every page. Dean Koontz does a very nice job straying from his usual genre, horror, and writing a truly charming Christmas tale for the whole family.

Coldfire by Dean Koontz

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
Reporter Holly Thorne is intrigued by Jim Ironheart, who has saved 12 lives in the past three months. Holly wants to know what kind of power drives him, why terrifying visions of a churning windmill haunt his dreams, and just what he means when he whispers in his sleep that an enemy who will kill everyone is coming. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
Throughout the whole novel we are kept guessing as to what drives Jim Ironheart to save certain lives. Jim seems like a very troubled fellow but likable. We root for him when he races across the continent to save some 10 year old boy. We root for him when he's wandering in the desert looking for himself. We root for him when the plane he is on is about to crash. And we root for him when he finally sees his past and his world comes tumbling down.

Coldfire is both a supernatural and psychological thriller. At parts it is downright terrifying! We wait to see what the horrifying nightmares of the windmill suffered by both Holly and Jim mean. There is a twist at the end that I never saw coming. I don't think I'll ever look at a windmill again without remembering this book.