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 Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer (Book Review)

From the back cover:

“The creator of a child-swallowing manta ray struggles with office politics: a parasitical collective of co-workers, his (literally) flammable supervisor, and the hazardous whims of the fiftieth floor. A broken-hearted sharpshooter travels to a dusty border town, searching for the elusive floating city where her husband has vanished. A dissolute author – equipped only with two pearl-handled pistols, a rockhopper penguin, and plentiful vodka—is dispatched to Lake Baikal, where he hunts for his metafictional redemption.

“The Third Bear is the much–anticipated first collection of critically-accalimed author Jeff VanderMeer’s surreal and absurdist short fiction. VanderMeer, whose work has been compared by critics to Borges and Kafka, evokes exotic beasts and eccentric scenarios from the uncharted depths of our innermost psyches."

Tthese are stories about the inexplicable, and the reader ought to consider the imagery within each of the stories. Mr. VanderMeer's early exposure to the sea play upon several of the stories: to read those of a sea-faring nature brings the reader right into the story itself. There are many hidden things within the lines of each story. The genre elements of horror are mingled with fantasy and every day realism. Many of the stories have disturbing elements to them.


The Third Bear

A forest village is plagued by brutal killings by a bear. Despite repeated attempts to send hunters, the villagers turn for assistance to the witch in the woods. An intriguing aspect of this story was the door to the witch’s abode.

The Quickening

An orphan living with her Aunt in Florida acquires a white rabbit: who talks. An engaging story of growing up.

Finding Sonoria

A stamp collector hires a PI to find the place “Sonoria” from the name on the stamp. After an unfruitful search, the PI begins thinking he can see the trees moving in the wind on the mountain. Then his dreams begin.

Lost

A man slips into another reality after the death of his wife.

The Situation

Warped victimization of working in a futuristic office where the office manager is flammable.

Predecessor

Utterly creepy story of a scientist in an old mansion with bizarre experiments.

Fixing Hanover

A piece of machinery is washed up on shore which a man names Hanover when he is asked to repair it. An alarming incident occurs when Hanover speaks.

Shark God versus Octopus God
(based on a Fijian myth)

The Shark God, Dakuwaga, rules his portion of the sea by relentless blood lust with his army of 10,000 sharks, considered invincible. One day, Dakuwaga decides to battle the Octopus God for Kadavu Island, learning the aspect of mercy from a powerful opponent. An excellent story.

Errata

The first two sentences in this short set up the reader nicely:”I am writing this sitting in the waterlogged lobby of a rotting, half-finished condominium complex. I am surrounded by cavorting freshwater seals and have two pearl-handled revolvers in my lap, a bottle of vodka in my right hand, ahuman body in the freezer in the kitchen behind me, and a rather large displaced rockhopper penguin staring me in the face.” By the way, the penguin’s name is Juliette. Thus begins a tongue-in-cheek mission to change the future. Good fun.

The Goat Variations

A future America where the separatist evangelists have divided the country with the government fighting them. Deep beneath the Pentagon REM-stage images have been collected from segregated adepts: a collective message of a future event. A time machine is built to convey users to alternate realities.

Three Days in a Border Town

The descriptive images of desert sand and ancient buildings provide an intriguing backdrop for a woman-looking for her missing husband. In each of the border towns she discovers another clue about the illusive City in the desert.

The Secret Life of Shane Hamill

A humourous look at a bookstore employee who builds a Roman galley. There’s a nice twist at the end.

The Surgeon’s Tale

This story is a variation of the Frankenstein theme.

Appoggiatura

(Fragments from the legendary city of Smaragdune’s Green Tablets)
Short stories within a larger one with vivid imagery in the prose along with bits of some of the previous stories in thus anthology.


Despite the sinister undertones in the majority of these stories there is something here for every fantasy reader.

Jeff VanderMeer is the award-winning author of City of Saints and Madmen, Finch, and Veniss Underground. He has recevied two World Fantasy Awards and an NEA-funded fellowship.


The review copy was provided by Matt at Tachyon Publications.

Book format: paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Tachycon Publications
Author website: Jeff VanderMeer

Available: August 2010

Amazon.ca

Chapters-Indigo.ca

Frankenstein: Lost Souls by Dean Koontz (Book Review)

From the inside flap:

“The war against humanity has begun. Victor Leben, once Frankenstein, has not only seen the future—he’s ready to populate it. Using stem cells, “organic” silicon circuitry, and nanotechnology, he will engender a race of superhumans—the perfect melding of flesh and machine. With a powerful, enigmatic backer eager to see his dream come to fruition and a secret location where the enemies of progress can’t find him, Victor is certain that this time, nothing and no one can stop him.

“It is up to five people to prove him wrong. In their hands rests nothing less than the survival of the human race.

“They are drawn together in different ways, by omens sinister and wondrous, to the same shattering conclusion: Two years after they saw him die, the man they knew as Victor Helios lives on. Detectives Carson O’Connor and Michael Maddison; Victor’s engineered wife, Erika 5, and her companion Jocko; and the original Victor’s first creation, the tormented Deucalion, have all arrived at a small Montana town where their old alliance will be renewed and tested—by forces from within and without, and where the dangers they face will eclipse any they have yet encountered. Yet in the midst of their peril, love will blossom, and joy, and they will discover sources of strength and perseverance they could not have imagined.

“They will need all these resources, and more. For a momumental battle is about to commence that will require all their ingenuity and courage, as it defines what we are to be…and if we are to be at all.”


This is a very creepy story with tension and suspense deepening as the story progresses. By the time I got to the end I was hooked into a great story despite it being the fourth in a series and not having read any of the previous books. There was sufficient explanation of the characters’ roles from the previous books to keep me interested. A fault I found was an over explanation of the character, the cloned Victor, near the ending. Though I must say, Victor, is definitely a monster to be avoided. The rather abrupt ending just as the action was well in high gear was a bit of a disappointment; and makes this book not a stand alone.

Although this book is listed in the genre of general fiction it encompasses science fiction, adventure, police procedural, romance, and rather heavy on the horror. All of these components make for excellent fiction. There are also elements of dry humour provided by the PIs and secret FBI agents. The character, Deucalion. 200 years old, has special talents like the ability to move through walls and teleport from location to location.

Throughout there are subliminal messages which the reader can obtain from between the lines. Mr. Koontz has a fine grasp of what makes America tick. All in all, an excellent read and one I recommend. I look forward to the next installment.

The review copy was kindly provided by Cassandra Sadek.


Format: Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Bantam, an imprint of Random House
Author website: DeanKoontz.com
Available: June 15, 2010

Also available in paperback and ebook.

Amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

chapters.indigo.ca

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer (Book Review)

John Finch, detective, is assigned to a double murder that the gray caps are particularly interested in. one human and one gray cap are found dead in an empty apartment in the City of Ambergris. Finch’s superior, a gray cap, Heretic, is pushing him to find immediate answers to the case.

The story is filled with underground mushroom inhabitants in a mysterious setting. The gray caps are mushroom people who have disbanded the government, taken over the country by martial law. They provide the human inhabitants with food laced with drugs, keep them in interment camps and use torture to keep them under control.

This is a hardboiled detective story in a fantasy setting with a multitude of different elements: mystery, crime, political, intrigue, horror and romance.

Initially I had difficulty settling in to read this book due to the clipped writing style, and by mid-point had almost set it down permanently not to continue reading. Perhaps the confusion stems from not reading the first two books in this trilogy. Once I reached halfway into the book the plot became understandable and some of the plot twists made sense. The story became interesting after that and I was able to keep focused once time travel was introduced, although this aspect had a brief explanation where I thought there should have been more. Two-thirds in there is an anti-climax ending which provided too much information and spoiled the ending for me. I did complete the book because I wanted to learn what happened to Finch’s long time partner and friend, Wyte, who suffered a deadly fungal growth, and Finch’s cat, Feral. There are interesting aspects to this story, like the memory bulbs, and Heretic's nasty creature accomplice: the skery.

A special thank you to Matt Staggs for providing the review copy.

Honors:
---San Francisco Chronicle’s best SF/Fantasy list
---Washington Post’s Best Books of the Year
---Barnes & Noble Review’s Best Books of 2009
---An IndieBound Featured Book of January 2010.
---Wall Street Journal’s “literary profiling” 2009 recommended holiday reading list


Book format: paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Underland Press
Author website: Jeff VanderMeer

Available: November 1, 2009

Amazon.com

Chapters Indigo