Book Review - The Darkest Evening Of The Year by Dean Koontz
Category Book Review Dean Koontz The Darkest Evening Of The Year
I normally like the stuff that Dean Koontz puts out. But his latest, The Darkest Evening Of The Year, seems to be lacking that normal Koontz flair. It's not necessarily a bad read, but it almost seemed like Koontz was trying to do a tribute to a lost pet of his own... Perhaps there's some of that there, but I haven't read any of his background on the book, so I don't know if that's the case or not...
The main character, Amy Redwing, lives for her rescue activities for golden retrievers. She ends up with Nickie, a dog she "purchased" during a family/animal abuse confrontation. Nickie seems to have special meaning, however. There are things from Amy's background that make her think this is an animal sent from her past to help her through some upcoming crisis. Brian McCarthy is her boyfriend, someone who doesn't totally share Amy's commitment to the dogs, but loves them (and her) all the same. Nickie also affects him in a bizarre way, causing dreams to take on a realistic quality. The trouble that both of them are moving towards involve two people from their past who have taken things from them that they held dear. These two mystery people are now lovers, and their plan is to eliminate both Amy and Brian in one climatic event that will erase their pasts and satisfy a bloodlust that they both possess...
So why didn't I find this book up to par? For one, the dog angle is overwhelming. The back cover of the book has a picture of Koontz with his retriever, and the dedication makes me think that this dog recently died. If that's the case, I can understand Koontz writing the book from this angle to pay homage to the pet. Fine, but it seemed to be a bit overkill. The normal writing style that Koontz has with turning a phrase seemed to be absent in large part. I saw brief periods where he was hitting on all cylinders, but most of the book wasn't up to his normal standards. And the plotline with the two people from the past was really confusing at the first, and it took about half of the book before the two very divergent stories started to intersect in any meaningful way. I think I would have cared a bit more had I known earlier on *why* people were digging into Amy's past. As it was, I felt as if I was just waiting for the chapter where I would finally understand why (and care why) these things were happening.
With a different author, I'd probably give this a bit of a higher rating. But knowing what Koontz is capable of, The Darkest Evening wasn't quite what I was expecting from him...
I normally like the stuff that Dean Koontz puts out. But his latest, The Darkest Evening Of The Year, seems to be lacking that normal Koontz flair. It's not necessarily a bad read, but it almost seemed like Koontz was trying to do a tribute to a lost pet of his own... Perhaps there's some of that there, but I haven't read any of his background on the book, so I don't know if that's the case or not...
The main character, Amy Redwing, lives for her rescue activities for golden retrievers. She ends up with Nickie, a dog she "purchased" during a family/animal abuse confrontation. Nickie seems to have special meaning, however. There are things from Amy's background that make her think this is an animal sent from her past to help her through some upcoming crisis. Brian McCarthy is her boyfriend, someone who doesn't totally share Amy's commitment to the dogs, but loves them (and her) all the same. Nickie also affects him in a bizarre way, causing dreams to take on a realistic quality. The trouble that both of them are moving towards involve two people from their past who have taken things from them that they held dear. These two mystery people are now lovers, and their plan is to eliminate both Amy and Brian in one climatic event that will erase their pasts and satisfy a bloodlust that they both possess...
So why didn't I find this book up to par? For one, the dog angle is overwhelming. The back cover of the book has a picture of Koontz with his retriever, and the dedication makes me think that this dog recently died. If that's the case, I can understand Koontz writing the book from this angle to pay homage to the pet. Fine, but it seemed to be a bit overkill. The normal writing style that Koontz has with turning a phrase seemed to be absent in large part. I saw brief periods where he was hitting on all cylinders, but most of the book wasn't up to his normal standards. And the plotline with the two people from the past was really confusing at the first, and it took about half of the book before the two very divergent stories started to intersect in any meaningful way. I think I would have cared a bit more had I known earlier on *why* people were digging into Amy's past. As it was, I felt as if I was just waiting for the chapter where I would finally understand why (and care why) these things were happening.
With a different author, I'd probably give this a bit of a higher rating. But knowing what Koontz is capable of, The Darkest Evening wasn't quite what I was expecting from him...
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Posted by Esther Strom At 11:16:55 On 31/12/2007 | - Website - |