The Darkest Evening of the Year
by Dean Koontz: Koontz books are many things – exciting, amusing, preachy, absurd, creepy, fun – but never boring. This book, alas, is boring. The Koontz staples are there – magical dogs, blameless Catholics, bad people with no motive other than being Pure Evil – but they’re all just a bit too yawn-worthy in this story. The baddies spend too much of their time demonstrating how bad they are, from killing strangers for sport to abusing a child with Down’s Syndrome, and very little time having distinguishable personalities. The only time I felt any emotional connection to the story whatsoever was when a dog died, but I always cry when animals die, so that’s not saying much. I’m starting to think Mr. Koontz and I need to break up. Or maybe I should just stick with his older stuff.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
Some of his more recent stuff is better. “Your Heart Belongs to Me” and “Relentless” were worth the time, I thought, though “Breathless” was closer to the one you just read. Maybe he needs to slow up his pace a bit.
Thanks for the recommendations; I’ll have to look those up.