Reviews
A few more Ashley Bell reviews
December 21, 2015
Koontz raises the bar with latest thriller, “Ashley Bell” – Fredricksburg.com- Dean Koontz parle de son nouveau thriller Ashley Bell – actusf.com
Ashley Bell reviews
December 14, 2015
Ashley Bell is out and the reviews are coming in quickly so please excuse the link dump.
- Book review: ‘Ashley Bell’ is one of Dean Koontz’s best – TribLive
- Book review: Dean Koontz shows he is still the king of suspense – South China Morning Post
- ‘Ashley Bell’ one of Dean Koontz’s best – Press of Atlantic City
- ‘Ashley Bell’ rises to top of Koontz’s best – Albuquerque Journal / Associated Press (so has been printed elsewhere…)
- Dean Koontz’s ‘Ashley Bell’: A colorful tale that veers toward the otherworldly – Washington Post
- New Dean Koontz Book Ashley Bell Available Now – Dread Central
Early Ashley Bell review
November 29, 2015
From Examiner.com
Bibi Blair never had time for fate or the supernatural. She was a take charge type of person that focused on the things that she could see and conquer. Bibi’s world comes crashing down around her when she finds herself suddenly afflicted by a rare form of cancer that gives her less than a year to live. Bibi at first approaches the disease as just another concrete obstacle for her to overcome but she is forced to accept that there could be something more to it after a visit from a strange man and his dog that leaves her seemingly healed. She may have overcome the cancer but the struggle of her life has just begun…
5 best scary books to read right now
November 1, 2015
#4: Dean Koontz is no stranger to scaring the pants off his readers, and Phantoms, one of his best known works, does just that with its premise alone. An abandoned town. Dead, but warm bodies filled with unmentionable things? Creepy to the max.
Read the full listicle @ Wonem24.
A Short, Fast Ride: Final Hour by Dean Koontz
November 1, 2015
Dean Koontz has written more than 130 books over the course of the last five decades. Many of those books have landed at the top spot of multiple best-seller lists. His next full-length novel, called Ashley Bell, will publish in early December. Koontz has remarked that everyone in his “publishing life thinks it is the best book [he’s] ever written.” To whet the appetites of fans waiting earnestly for that novel, Koontz has written the novella Final Hour, one of two novellas leading up to Ashley Bell. Though shorter in length than his usual, Final Hour is no less than everything that Dean Koontz has come to be known for.
Read the full review @ Everyday Ebook.
Polish review of Innocence (Niewinność)
October 25, 2015
“Zdałem sobie sprawę, że Gwyneth więcej wie o mieszkańcach tego miasta, niż ja się kiedykolwiek dowiem, i rozumie lepiej ode mnie, a przynajmniej tak samo dobrze, jakie zepsucie i bezlitosne okrucieństwo może się kryć za maskami przywdziewanymi przez niektórych ludzi.”
Koontz eksperymentuje. Człowiek, który napisał tyle powieści, koniec końców, chce czegoś nowego. Zmienia styl, jak my zmieniamy nasze przyzwyczajenia. „Niewinności” daleko do horroru, nie jest to również thriller. Czy to źle? Nie mi oceniać, jednak czytelnicy, którzy pokochali autora za sceny grozy i nieprzespane noce, tym razem przykryją się kołdrą jedynie wtedy, gdy w pokoju zrobi się zimno. Mroczny klimat zastąpiło zepsute miasto. Największymi potworami ponownie okazali się ludzie. A obraz stworzony przez Amerykanina nie jest otoczony aurą strachu, a smutku.
Z reguły w recenzji znajdziecie wiele słów o głównym bohaterze. Jeśli, tak jak w tym wypadku, występuje narracja pierwszoosobowa, to mamy już niemalże gotowy materiał na dokładną charakterystykę. Nie tym razem. Addonis jest… no właśnie. Tu pojawia się zasadniczy problem. Nasz kronikarz ukrywa się pod kapturem, ujawnia się jedynie nocami, jego wygląd sprawił, że budził odradzę nawet własnej matki.
Read the full review @ Interia360.
Slovakian review of The City
October 3, 2015
“Dean Koontz: Mesto” via Pravda.
Two Greek reviews of The City
October 3, 2015
«Η πόλη» του Dean Koontz διαβάζεται απολαυστικά (The Athens Voice)- Η πόλη – Dean Koontz (Culture Now)
The Nightrunners by Joe R. Lansdale
August 15, 2015
Dean wrote the Introduction to this classic horror novel…
Everybody remembers their first Joe R. Lansdale story.
Mine was “Night They Missed the Horror Show,” which I read in the anthology Splatterpunks in 1991. To say I was unprepared for this black-hearted tale of racist hillbilly snuff-film purveyors and the high-school hellraisers who inadvertently stumble upon their doings is an understatement. Like a sucker punch to a soft belly or a club to the base of the skull, “Horror Show” leaves you stunned, out of breath, a hurt growing inside you that you know won’t be leaving any time soon. Hasn’t left me this quarter-century later. I know Lansdale would have it no other way.
Funny thing was, I craved that feeling. Sought it out. So within a couple months I’d finally tracked down Lansdale’s 1987 novel The Nightrunners (published in paperback by Tor, March 1989). I recall coming home one afternoon from the bookstore I worked at with my brand-new copy, going into my room, locking the door and then reading it in one white-hot unputdownable session. That had never happened to me before; I usually savored my horror fiction over several late nights. ButThe Nightrunners wouldn’t let go. Lansdale’s skill in doling out suspense and the threat/promise of the horrible things to come is unbeatable. He even tells you flat-out, after quoting a newspaper article about victims of a “Rapist Ripper,” that “no one knew there was a connection between the two savaged bodies and what was going to happen to Montgomery and Becky Jones.” You know you got to keep reading after that!
Read more @ Tor.com.
1977 Review of the Demon Seed film
August 9, 2015
Say hello to the May 1977 issue of Texas Monthly. Click the cover for a link to the Google Books version of the article titled “Bombs Bursting in Air” featuring reviews of Black Sunday and Demon Seed.
DDSCast Book 5: Odd Thomas
June 25, 2015
Starring James Bricknell and Walter Pavlik with Guest Becca Howes
(Duration: 47 minutes 16.3 MB)
Welcome to the Dewey Decibel System, “A social bookclub for the internet age.”
Join Walter, Becca, and James for our review of Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
This episode is the only one for Odd Thomas as the team wanted to talk about the passing of Sir Terry Pratchett and any way, we didn’t get any emails!
Character in 'Odd Thomas' series leads adventure between living, dead
June 25, 2015
During the past eight years, Dean Koontz has kept my interest with his tales about an extraordinary young man named Odd Thomas, who is the focus of a series with the same name. That is a difficult feat considering Odd’s story spans 12 books if you include the graphic novels and short story novellas. But when your main character uses his ability of seeing the dead to save the lives of the living, how can you not look forward to each new adventure.
Read the full review @ Victoria Advocate.
Polish review of Odd Interlude
May 27, 2015
W małej, zapomnianej przez ludzi miejscowości Harmony Corner z pozoru życie toczy się swoim normalnym, spokojnym trybem. Gdyby nie potworne okaleczenia widoczne na twarzach niektórych mieszkańców wydawać by się mogło, że to miejscowość, jakich wiele z sielankową atmosferą i oferującą wszystko, czego pragnie strudzony podróżny.
W swojej wędrówce Odd Thomas, wiedziony dziwnym przeświadczeniem, właśnie to miejsce wybiera na kilkudniowy odpoczynek. Chłopak ma niespełna dwadzieścia dwa lata i bagaż doświadczeń za sobą, których nie powstydziłby się nawet najtwardszy globtroter.
Jednak Odd nie jest zdobywcą ośnieżonych szczytów, czy podmorskich głębin. To, co widzi i czuje mężczyzna jest dalekie od postrzegania rzeczywistości przez innych ludzi, ot chociażby duchy zmarłych ludzi, czy zwierząt, które błąkają się jeszcze po ziemi w drodze do innego bytu. Chłopak ma też niezwykłą intuicję, która zawsze wskaże mu drogę do największych kłopotów i dzięki której Odd pakuje się zazwyczaj w ogromne tarapaty.
Full review @ Inertia360.
A computer tries to impregnate Julie Christie in this creepy thriller
May 25, 2015
Every day, Watch This offers staff recommendations inspired by the week’s new releases or premieres. This week: For The A.V. Club’s Artificial Intelligence Week, we’re focusing on sentient computers and computer programs, a.k.a. our future overlords.
Demon Seed (1977)
“Tonight, I’ll impregnate you. In 28 days you’ll give birth to a child.” These words don’t come until almost an hour into Demon Seed, a 1977 horror film starring Julie Christie, but it’s what the viewer has been waiting for. With a title like that—and design art in which the “o” in Demon is altered to not-so-subtly suggest a vagina—the movie telegraphs where it’s going with the light touch of a Howitzer.
Read the full review @ The AV Club.
Koontz’s ‘Winter Moon’ offers beastly chills
May 25, 2015
Q. I am trying to remember the title of a Dean Koontz book I read sometime before 1995. As I recall, it started with or included a scene in which the occupants of a house looked out at night to find that animals — squirrels, rabbits, etc. — were sitting in the yard and staring toward the house from all sides. Any idea of the title?
— L.J., OF SWANSEA
Read the answer @ the Belleville New-Democrat.
Book Review: Demon Seed by Dean Koontz
March 15, 2015
This isn’t a “professional” review but figured I’d share it if for no other reason than I’ve not previously been aware of the HubPages platform.
This book starts out with a single woman who has a wait staff and a sprawling mansion with manicured grounds. Why is she single? This is revealed early in the book. She has planned on taking some time for herself and these plans are rudely interrupted by an “entity”, that was created by her husband Dr. Harris.
The entity is electrical and lives in the air ways and can attack phone lines, computer programs and the security system of the house. The project was something that was being worked on in the lab by her husband. It’s like a computer became evil and took over this woman’s hi tech mansion and she is being controlled.
Read the full review @ lesliebyars.hubpages.com. She’s also written a review of The Husband.
“Saint Odd” wraps up an intense Koontz series
March 6, 2015
“Saint Odd” picks up where the story left off in the previous novel, “Deeply Odd,” with Thomas returning to his hometown, Pico Mundo. Thomas feels, once again, he is being pulled toward a disastrous event in which it is his duty to prevent. Thomas also feels that his time on earth is limited, and that the event he must stop will ultimately result in his own death.
Read the full review @ The Slate Online.
Denise Drespling reviews Odd Thomas
March 4, 2015
Book review: 'Odd Thomas' faces final challenge
February 23, 2015
“SAINT ODD” is the concluding chapter in Dean Koontz’s “Odd Thomas” series of occult mystery thrillers.
Despite being the last story, “Saint Odd” will appeal to all readers, even if this is the first introduction they have to this unusual character. Those who have read the other six books in sequence will experience the story that much more deeply.Koontz’s masterful storytelling, his clear, spartan prose and his ability to see the world beyond the experience of the five senses combine to create Odd Thomas, a character at once humble, courageous and aware of the true nature of good and evil.
The Unforgettable End Days of Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas
February 8, 2015
As fiction heroes go, Odd Thomas is unique. He has no father; born with one foot in the land of the living and one foot in the land of shades, he can speak to the dead, who often come to him for help. Unlike the many horror-novel characters motivated by hatred or revenge, Odd seeks to serve a higher good. Most unusual of all, from the very beginning he’s told the reader how his saga will end: with his own death. Now, in Saint Odd, the seventh and final book in Dean Koontz’s mesmerizing series, Odd’s moment of truth has arrived. Will he achieve his destiny, the purpose for which he was born?
Read the full post @ B&N Reads.