I never read any of his books. (I know sad right?)
I am always at Barnes and Noble. Can you suggest some books for me to buy?
I saw a whole section devoted to him today.
I never read any of his books. (I know sad right?)
I am always at Barnes and Noble. Can you suggest some books for me to buy?
I saw a whole section devoted to him today.
"You've had your whole F***ing life to think things over, what good's a few minutes minutes more gonna do you now?"
I like all the books I have read by him so far. My suggestions are;
ODD THOMAS SERIES:
Odd Thomas
Forever Odd
Brother Odd
Odd hours
In Odd We Trust
(not sure on the order)
CHRISTOPHER SNOW NOVELS:
Fear Nothing
Seize The Night
Ride the Storm
These are the ones I enjoyed most
I'd add Phantoms to the list. It has one of the spookiest beginnings I've ever read.
John
and the bad Place and Lightening. all good books on their own if you don't want to start off with a series
My favorite was Servants of Twilight.
Sloth Love Chunk
I have a hard back of The Good Guy but it has no page with the copyright or publisher info. Is this normal?
Sounds like a misprint.
John
What's the verdict with 77 Shadow St.?
"Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known." - Nick Carraway
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
This will be the year I'll go back to reading Koontz. I have six of his books in the TBR pile. I'll have to go through this thread for some suggestions.
I just finished "77 Shadow Street" ...should have read the Amazon reviews first. I quit the book mid-way through, absolutely awful. I enjoy Koontz but his verbose, meaningless passages and aimless plot left me extremely disheartened. Total letdown.
"Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known." - Nick Carraway
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
re-reading Dark Rivers of the Heart now; it is a book incredibly well written. Loved it when first read, and adore it now.
Within one page:
"If the numbers had been descending, Roy might have thought that he was watching a countdown toward a detonation. A bomb. Of course, no cosmic law required that a time bomb had to be triggered at the end of a countdown. Why not a countup?"
"He loomed at Roy's side - abnormally tall, armored, and armed, as if he were a basketball player from some future society in which the game had evolved into a form of mortal combat."
The whole book is fantastically quotable, which isn't something I ever saw in any other Koontz book. Moreover, it is witty, intelligent, moving, - altogether awesome. Here is an excerpt:
His face felt hot. He glanced at Rocky.
He had just lied to the dog.
Long ago he had sworn never to lie to himself. He kept that oath only somewhat more faithfully than the average drunkard kept his New Year’s Eve resolution never to allow demon rum to touch his lips again. In fact, he probably indulged in less self-delusion and self-deception than most people did, but he could not claim, with a straight face, that he invariably told himself the truth. Or even that he invariably wanted to hear it. What it came down to was that he tried always to be truthful with himself, but he often accepted a half-truth, and a wink instead of the real thing—and he could live comfortably with whatever omission the wink implied.
But he never lied to the dog.
Never.
Theirs was the only entirely honest relationship that Spencer had ever known; therefore, it was special to him. No. More than merely special. Sacred.
Rocky, with his hugely expressive eyes and guileless heart, with his body language and his soul-revealing tail, was incapable of deceit. If he’d been able to talk, he would have been perfectly ingenuous because he was a perfect innocent. Lying to the dog was worse than lying to a small child. Hell, he wouldn’t have felt as bad if he had lied to God, because God unquestionably expected less of him than did poor Rocky.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't hate it overall, but I know what you mean. It was entertaining, but didn't really rise to the level it should have after what I thought was a really well done set up in the first half of the novel. There was one "meaningless" passage in particular that I was disappointed with, especially as I thought that Koontz might be trying to do a nod to Stephen King and The Dark Tower with it when I read it:
SPOILER
Matt
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I have Dark Rivers of the Heart, but I havent read it yet.
Sloth Love Chunk
I have just realized there are 5-6 Odd Thomas books I haven't read yet. I guess WalMart doesn't get everything that is done in the publishing world <sarcastically thoughtful>
1.99 each on my Kindle for the 3 Odd Interludes and I guess the Odd Apocalypse just came out or something.
The kindness of close friends is like a warm blanket
I've been on a Koontz kick lately. I try to read one of his books a month.
What the Night Knows gets 8/10. Solid. Yes, there is a dog in it. Koontz loves dogs. Smooth writting.
77 Shadow Street. 7/10. Creepy at parts but what the "villain" actually was was a bit of a let down.
Tick Tock. 6.5/10. Dialogue was almost too quirky/forced. There is a scene where the monster is looking at them from across the street that sent chills down my spine.
The Darkest Evening of the Year. 8/10. Again, there is a dog. I think Trixie died shortly before he wrote this. He's very emotional about dog and child abuse in this book. Moon Girl is a disgusting/despicable villain. Koontz made me hate a fictional character.
Darkfall - 8.5/10. No dog. Voodoo. Monsters. Awesome. No lasting impression but a fun ride.
The Mask - I'm still reading it. So far it's 10/10. I hope it stays this way.
Shattered - 6.5/10. Too fast a read. That might have been the point though. Almost entire book is a car chase.
And there you have it. Nothing mind-blowing but overall he's solid, competent, at times really scary and at other times funny.
wow, I haven't read any of them!
: rubs paws in anticipation :
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have around 15 hardcovers so far. They're all in minty conditions and cost no more than $4 each. I heard good things about Dragon Tears so that's up next.
I heard (on a different forum) that he writes 8 hours a day. He personally responds to letters to. The PO Box address he puts in his books is legit. I'm thinking of writting him a note and asking if he'll publish another short story collection. I've read two stories from Secret Highways and they're both absolutely phenomenal.
That no lasting impression comment is interesting because I just started re-reading this book today. I know I've read it at least one other time because I found one of my bookmarks in the back of it but I have almost no recollection of it.
Honestly, I've found that to be the case with many of his books. I have many of them in paperback and everytime I pick one up I can never remember what the story is about or if I've read it or not.
Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right . . . but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?
So far I've read Tick Tock, Phantoms, Darkfall, and I just finished Lightning. Out of those, Phantoms is my favorite. I really enjoyed it.
A NEW GAME BEGINS