The Taking by Dean Koontz: Um, wow. This was really terrible. I have no idea why I finished it. Basically, there’s a bunch of sparkling rain and people start seeing weird stuff in mirrors, and everybody immediately assumes that it signals an alien invasion. They’re right, which saves a bunch of time, but I’m still not sure how they knew. The prose is a solid shade of purple, people suspiciously quote T.S. Eliot, and dolls get possessed. And because this is a Koontz novel, there are magical dogs, questionable science, preachy theology, and a serial killer. I saw the “twist” ending a mile away, but thought “No, that would be too silly, even for Koontz” – and was of course completely wrong. Clearly nothing is too silly for Koontz. I’ve liked several of his other books, but this was simply awful.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
This is also on my list of non-faves from Koontz. The only saving grace for me was that I read it in one day while I was sick, so the time investment was redeemable. I loved the eerie happenings in it while I was reading it, but it definitely didn’t pay off in the end.
Oh, and you forgot to mention there was a church in it, too. I always count on magic dogs, churches, architecture, trees, and weird bad guys.
I’ve also really enjoyed some of Koontz’s work (Lightning, Life Expectancy, Relentless), but this one definitely didn’t rank. But I guess when you write two books a year, you’ll have some misses.
You’re so right about the church. I loved Life Expectancy and Lightning too, but I haven’t read Relentless yet. I’ll be sure to pick that one up at some point. Thanks!