What The Night Knows by Dean Koontz (Book Review)

“In the late summer of a long-ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.

“Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, re-creating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family—his wife and three children—will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.

“As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is no a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.

“Here is a ghost story like no other you have rad. In the Calvinos, Dean Koontz brings to life a family that might be your own, in a war for their survival against an adversary more malevolent that any he has yet created, with their own home the battleground. Of all his acclaimed novels, mpme exceeds What The Night Knows in power, in chilling suspense, and insheer mesmerizing storytelling.”


Dean Koontz has a particular writing style that provides explicit detail with a minimum use of words. He brings the apprehension of a family being stalked by a malevolent spirit to a palpable sensation for the reader. Despite the viewpoint of some people that spirits do not exist nor do they ‘haunt’ the living, take into consideration that this story is fiction. It is a fictional account that takes in the possibility of such an occurrence.

John Calvino is a man carrying a traumatic past that is resurfacing through the recreation of certain details in a homicide he is working on. As his unofficial investigation unfolds, John, undergoes peculiar occurrences: hears bells, or thinks he does, finds family photos on the killer’s computer, and other eerie incidents.

Further fantastical events appear. Each of John’s three children: Zach, wanting to join the Marines; 11-year old Naomi, and 8-year old Minnie, experience supernatural events. A shadowy man is seen in their bedroom mirrors. Despite Naomi’s perceived expertise on Prince Charmings and magic mirrors and nay-saying about the shadow man in the mirror, Minnie proves her matter-of-fact point that the closet mirror is unsafe by dropping a grape through the glass where it disappears. Their mirror is carried up to the attic, and to safe guard Naomi’s possible tampering with it in the future, Minnie paints the reflective surface black. This occurrence is only the beginning.

The children are as well developed as the other characters in this story, carrying the suspense through to the end as the reader gets caught up in their safety and how they manage further weird occurrences of the metaphysical. Mr. Koontz provides perfect examples of why one should not speak to errant spirits whether or not they are visible.

The killer and aspects surrounding the murders are well detailed and particularly graphic. Mr. Koontz goes into the psychological makeup of a malevolent person and a police detective trying to solve a sinister crime while delving into the hunter/stalker aspect.

In typical Dean Koontz style, there is a golden retriever in the story, Willard. Probably reminiscent of his own beloved Trixie, as Willard has passed from this world but makes his appearance to assist the children.

The ending is well done, tying up all the loose ends. An excellent book for suspense fans.


Book format: hardcover, 464 pages
Publisher: Bantam, Imprint of Random House
Author website: Dean Koontz

Now available in paperback.

Available at:


amazon.com


Chapters.Indigo.ca

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz (Book Review)

The book centres itself around Nickie, a Golden Retriever rescued by Amy Redwing from a household where daily abuse occurs. Her shining presence attracts humans and animals alike.

Amy Redwing is a professional dog rescuer. Architect boyfriend is Brian McCarthy. Both have had troubled prior relationships.

Nickie immediately upon arrival at Amy’s bungalow becomes the alpha dog over the two resident dogs: Ethel and Fred. Amy is surprised when there is none of the usual greetings dogs give to a strange dog in their territory. I picked up on the unusualness of this immediately, as I have had long experience with dogs. Rarely is an outside dog submitted to by dogs with an established territory without some kind of scuffle.

Koontz moves the plot around to cover all the aspects of horror by visiting all of the characters. His evil characters fit the bill perfectly, and this is where his horror element comes in. Horror it is: of the most visceral kind. It arrives at different stages with little explanation building the tension with each appearance; while the reader comes to the realization the characters with nefarious intent are truly evil.

Every explanation of dog behaviour, the management of puppy mills, supernatural occurrences, flashbacks and the actions of the characters, both good and bad, is elaborate and well described correctly. He has a different writing style for the chapters containing the villains as if distancing himself from their actions. The other chapters are written in his usual style. Any reader of this book must go with the flow of the story and take each scene as a clue to the whole. As the clues are revealed the true horror unfolds and the reader is left wondering, as I was, what good can come of the desperate situations Amy, Brian, and Hope find themselves in.

Brian’s ex-girl friend, Vanessa, has custody of their daughter Hope who has Down’s Syndrome. Vanessa torments Brian by calling the girl, Piggy, and unknown to Brian abuses Piggy physically and psychologically. It was these latter scenes that were the most difficult to read. Whoever coined the phrase “humans are the meanest animals” hit the nail on the head.

Ultimately, Amy and Brian came to the conclusion they had to face their challenges head-on to make progress in their own relationship.

By the end of the book Koontz tidied up all the loose ends, though I felt most of the last chapter should have been omitted or rewritten a different way as it appeared contrived. There were several laugh-out loud sections throughout, some tender moments, and many horrific psychological moments. With the story woven together by various viewpoints, Koontz revealed how the characters were related to each other by the end of the book.

I did enjoy this book. It supported my faith that there are positive forces at work when you least expect them. The common theme, as in all of Koontz’s books, is that despite the world being a dark and evil place, there is always that spark of light to find necessary answers and solace in.



Author: Dean Koontz
Format: Hardcover, 354 pages.
Publisher: Bantam Dell