Return to Koontzville

 

So last month I re-read a bunch of Dean R. Koontz novels – or Dean Koontz, as he goes by since I was actively reading him. More like I just read them, minus the “re”, as something like 90-95 percent of the plot, characters, and specific scenes seemed new and fresh to me, since they’ve been long misfiled in my memory. Four novels I burned through, all originally read between 1989 and 1993 – the last over 31 years ago, when I was but a young innocent lad. Since that ’93 Koontz I’ve put away around 980 more books by my reckoning, but who’s counting?

 

It was an experiment in the same spirit as my Tom Clancy re-reads earlier this year. Those nine monstrous doorstops of Jack Ryan took me five months to slog through, but, truth be told, that slog was an extremely enjoyable ride down nostalgia lane. Would the Koontz experiment have the same result?

Yes and no.

 

I put away four novels in 32 days. Each was around 360 pages, so I averaged 45 pages a day, so, yes, they were page-turners. One took about 12 days and the other three took less than a week. As usual, the closer I got to the end of a novel, the faster those pages burned through my hands.

 

Here’re the synopses, in reading order:

(minor spoilers)

 

Midnight (1989) … My first foray into Koontzville. My buddy, the horror aficionado who got me into Stephen King in high school, recommended this to me and I remember reading it while still living at home with my parents – and being floored by it. Couldn’t put it down, and was utterly fascinated with the main twist(s). What appears to be werewolves haunting a quiet, cozy seaside town turns out to be some evil nanotechnology run amok, and Koontz pushes it to its ultimate regression. A sinister and warped genius of a bad guy versus an FBI agent and the sister of the first victim isolated in the town and being hunted. First novel I think I read where computers really come into play.

 

The Bad Place (1990) … Again read at my parents’ house. This was a crazy one about an insanely psychotic family of psychics with teleportation ability versus a husband-and-wife private eye team. Gory, weird and surreal. How do you fight something with godlike powers? (more on that down below). A nasty journey through the past provides a plausible explanation for how the psychos were bred. A lot of colorful side characters, too many of whom meet brutal ends. Great ending. This was my favorite Koontz back then, and after the re-read still remains my favorite.

 

Cold Fire (1992) … This was read in my apartment before I returned to college. Didn’t remember much of it, save for that it was a much occluded mystery. A man seems to be called by God to be here or there at a moment’s notice to save the life of an insignificant person. During one such seemingly random event, a (naturally unattached attractive) female reporter sees this happen and begins hunting around into the man’s past. They meet on an ill-fated plane and fall in love, and fall into the mission of continuing these rescues and trying to find out why they happen. Especially since something evil has entered both their dreams and is slowly making inroads into waking reality. A mystery involving a windmill, a few misdirections, and before we know it we’re questioning whether there are aliens or demons or who-knows-what puppeteering the man for unknown purposes. (Though I guessed the true reason rather quickly – rare for a Koontz novel.)

 

Dragon Tears (1993) … Didn’t remember much of this, including whether or not I liked it – but it turned out to be the gem of this re-read session. Two cops (male and female, naturally, and attracted to each other, check) stop a random shooter at a burger joint and find themselves … ready for it … sit down … they find themselves inexplicably being stalked by a god-like entity who can not only stop time but wants to end the cops lives in the most brutal fashion imaginable, as the male cop finds out when he checks on a friend later that day. The entity is called “Tick Tock”, since he gives an ultimatum to his victims in hours, and the clock begins ticking immediately. This had the best surprise as to the origin of Tick Tock – I literally slapped my forehead and grinned at the sneakiness of Koontz’s writing ability.

 

My grades:

   Midnight – B+

   The Bad Place – A+

   Cold Fire – B

   Dragon Tears – A+

 

Bottom line is I enjoyed the Koontz re-reads, but noticeably less than the Clancy re-reads. Could be ’cuz horror is not really my thing anymore (but, then again, neither are techno thrillers) save once-a-year at Halloween. Could be ’cuz my memory skewed overly positive on the first-time reads, so no re-read could ever match up. I dunno. But, like Clancy, I don’t think I will revisit Koontz again. (Man, the finality of that statement kinda hits me weird, no?)

 

Would I recommend? Yes! If you are into old-school horror and want an alternative to Stephen King, check him out. He can be gross, he can be gory, he can be formulaic, but he is always highly imaginative and always surprising. I think the sweet spot for reading Koontz is the late teens. Maybe a senior in high school. I read him in my early to mid-twenties, and it worked just as well. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about 21st-century Dean R., but just about anything he wrote between 1980 and 1993 is worth your investment in time, especially since they’re all page-turners of varying degree.

 

Remember,

 

Koontz : King :: Beatles : Rolling Stones