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 enlarge | Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $0.74
You Save: $26.26 (97%)
New (102) Collectible (14) from $2.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  207 reviews
Sales Rank: 5749
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0553804820
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553804829
ASIN: 0553804820
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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| Customer Reviews:
Not the best Koontz out there August 13, 2008
Normally, I really like Dean Koontz stories. Some take a few chapters to get into, others just sweep you along from the start.
However, with this book I felt that it was switching between a compelling story, a story that was a little too 'coincidental' to mesh with the rest, and a lecture about the virtues of dogs and the evils of people.
The main characters weren't especially reachable. Whether through their secrecy or their psychosis, they remain too remote to be terribly invested in. And the ending seemed a bit of a cop-out.
It had several really good moments and used foreshadowing extremely well, but isn't something I'd read again.
 Fantastic! August 7, 2008
Every Dean Koontz book is a great Dean Koontz book. I love them all!
 Interesting Critique August 6, 2008
I wont spend much time reviewing this book, because the other 3 and 4 star reviews are more than adequate. I am a huge Koontz fan and love his books and writing style. This book is no different and is a good read, especially for Koontz fans. However it is not his best work, and I would rate it 3 stars if not for the literary critque mixed into his prose.
The most interesting aspect of this book was Koontz's criticisms of other authors. Specifically Kurt Vonnegut. One of the antagonists in the novel was named Billy Pilgrim (the hero of Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse five.) The Koontz character was a sociopath who used the writings of postmodern metafictional authors (such as Vonnegut) to justify his sociopathic behavior.
Excerpt describing the Billy Pilgrim in Koontz's novel: "He had no patience for those few books on the market that sought to find order or hope in life. He liked books steeped in irony. Wry comic novels about the folly of humanity and the meaninglessness of existence were his meat. He didn't care for writers full of brooding nihilism, but rather for those who sweetened their nihilism with giggles, the kind of guys who would be happy operating a weenie stand in Hell."
This character's real name is Philip Marlowe, but he has rejected it for such Vonnegut-inspired aliases as Billy Pilgrim and Eliot Rosewater, not to mention one from Thomas Pynchon. When he grows more deranged, he rants about Kafka, Wallace Stevens and James Joyce. Koontz even borrows some Vonnegut mannerisms, right down to "So it goes" and "Hi-ho."
I really enjoyed the not so veiled criticism of Vonnegut and his ilk. I therefore give it four stars because it is interesting to hear a respected author critique another, and because I agree with Koontz about Vonnegut's style of writing.
This was a great read and Dean Koontz still rocks!!! August 5, 2008
Okay. I am a little surprised at the three star rating that this novel received. I am an avid reader and really enjoyed this novel. Amy Redwing, initially, seemed like a, "fun kook" of a heroine, but as the book unfolds you realize the many layers of this character and why she is the way she is. I loved all of the dogs and feel that when Koontz writes about them he pays them the highest form of tribute and I say, Bravo and keep it coming!! Nickie is one of Koontz's best dogs.
The villainess of the piece is one of Dean Koontz's most monstrous. There are plenty of other villains in this novel who are well realized and suitably bad but "Moon Girl," is a sociopathic monster who really creeped me out. And that is not something easily done. Touche', Mr. Koontz.
The character of Hope is wonderful, I fell in love with her spirit and good heartedness. The character of Brian was also very enjoyable. Good read!!
Nameless Narrator July 27, 2008
I pulled that title from the book, for I felt as if a narrator had shared this story with me one stormy night as we sat on a porch under the safety of a wide eave sipping cocoa. And as desperately as I wanted to escape the lightning sizzling nearby, I couldn't bring myself to put down my cup and go indoors.
I didn't like the story but I couldn't put the book down. Each time I encountered evil, I found purity. Where there was darkness, there was light. Depravity, Hope. Mr. Koontz's storytelling is electrifying no matter what the tale, as are his astute observations, which he masterfully weaves into his prose.
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