Dean Koontz

 

So I decided to end my year re-reading some of the novels of Dean R. Koontz.

 

I had such a great time re-reading Tom Clancy’s books earlier this year, from March to August. I wrote a couple of posts here detailing the experience. The re-reading was filled with nostalgia and the books still packed a punch, be it through shock or can’t-put-it-down suspense. I graded them all A’s, and threw plusses or double-plusses on the ones I really enjoyed. Most importantly, re-reading these books became a little oasis from the daily grind, the never-ending duel with issues and problems and curve-balls that work- and family- and personal-life consistently throw at me.

 

When I finished, I started seeking a new oasis. And I found it.

 

Way way way back in the 20th century I was hooked on Dean R. Koontz. This was even before I heard of Tom Clancy. I wasn’t keeping any records back then, but I think it must have been from 1989 to 1993 that I read through about 15 of his books. I have a hard time remembering which ones I read because a) it was a lifetime ago and b) his books tend to have generic titles.

 

I do remember the first book of his I read, 1989’s Midnight.  I was 22 and still living at home with my parents. A buddy, a fellow-reader, the guy who got me addicted to Stephen King in high school, recommended it to me one summer day. And soon enough I read through something like 15 more Koontz novels, most in the span of a busy four years. Busy because I was working full time, attending night school, managing a girlfriend, renting a house with two other guys then getting my own apartment, all while trying to launch a successful rock band. Yeah, even with all the partying I did back then I had so much energy I still shake my head in wonder. How I found time to read anything at all amazes me, but I did. It was an oasis back then.

 

Fortunately, the local library here stocks about 20 of his novels, all in hardcover. On Halloween I borrowed Midnight and burned through it in a week. (I am still reading the massive One Thousand Days narrative of the JFK presidency and am about 2/3rds done with that.) Later tonight I’ll take Patch out for dinner and stop at the same library for the next Koontz on my list, The Bad Place (1991).

 

Most of the Koontz books yield few specific memories save for a character or two, one or two shocking scenes, and a bare bones outline of the plot. For my re-reading list I’m using how I recall my gut feeling about the book. Midnight and The Bad Place give good vibes. I plan on reading four more to the end of 2024, for similar recollection of good vibes: Cold Fire (1992), Dragon Tears (1993), Twilight Eyes (1985), and Lightning (1988).

 

Two other Koontz’s I read and enjoyed back then, Whispers (1980) and Phantoms (1983) I would put on my re-read list then had I not re-read them in the early 2000s. I’d recommend either one to a reader interested in Koontz for the first time. They even made a movie of Phantoms in 1998 starring Ben Affleck (!) and Peter O’Toole (!!!). It was terrible, please avoid.

 

The last book of his I originally read up until last week was Intensity (1995), and it was the only Koontz I hated. I remember it as standard serial-killer cat-and-mouse humdrum, with a stretch of 40 pages describing a woman trying to free herself while tied in a chair. After reading that I moved on from horror in general, though I’m aware he started writing several series of interconnected novels, including an updated version of the Frankenstein saga.

 

Koontz is a prodigious and prolific writer, publishing something like 145 novels, if my counting of his Wikipedia bibliography is accurate, dating back to the late 1960s, under a variety of pen names. At least two other novels were made into movies, Hideaway (1992) with Jeff Goldblum (I liked the story but the special effects were atrocious) and the very-well received Demon Seed (1973), about a computer which forcibly imprisons and later impregnates a woman. That movie, from 1977, gave me many unsettling nightmares from my youth sneak-watching it in the early days of cable TV.

 

I’ll do a re-evaluation at the end of the year, similar to what I did for Clancy, on how the books held up over 30 years. Or perhaps how my memory held up. Regardless, it will be seven weeks of fun reading, a cool oasis from the hustle-and-bustle of Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, obligations, and work for the remainder of 2024.