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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nearly every single resident in the mountain town of Snowfield, Colorado has disappeared. Now it's up to a military Biological Investigations Unit, to find out why.
A creepy book! I really loved it. Koontz knows how to keep an audience enthralled in a premise. Despite the title, this is not a ghost story. Recommended for sci-fi and biological thriller fans.
A creepy book! I really loved it. Koontz knows how to keep an audience enthralled in a premise. Despite the title, this is not a ghost story. Recommended for sci-fi and biological thriller fans.
This was a good story but with a lot of untapped potential. I really enjoyed reading this book but felt the ending was rushed and some of the more interesting characters not given as much face-time as would warrant this becoming a really excellent story. Jenny Paige is a small-town physician living in Snowfield, California, a sleepy Sierra Nevada community. One night Jenny brings her 14-year-old sister, Lisa, home to live with her after their mother died, and discovers every single resident killed or missing by some mysterious means. With all phone lines dead, she eventually is able to contact outside assistance. Once the cops and military arrive, they being searching the town and discover a number of clues as to the nature of the attacker as well as receive frequent, and often deadly, visits by the phantom that plagues the town. Arrogant and willful, the phantom begins making demands and revealing his supernatural/mythological identity. Simultaneously, the stories of two villians - one named Kale who killed his wife and child, and another named Gene who is the leader of a nefarious motorcycle gang - are somewhat detailed. Now, these are the two characters I felt should have been given more prominence in the story. They are so obviously bad, but their stories were ended too easily and abruptly. In my opinion, Koontz would have made a good story excellent by having these guys inflict more terror on behalf of the phantom than the paltry roles given to them. The story was fast-paced and exciting to read in the beginning, however, once you learn what the phantom actually is the excitement beings to dwindle. While not up-to-par with King's superb creepiness, it is nevertheless still a fast-paced and exciting read.
Growing up my Mother had almost every single one of Dean Koontz books and I used to examine them all for their scary cover art. Around 2008 I watched the movie adaptation (on laser disc) of this book at my Pa’s house with my family, and loved it. When recently I remembered the movie, I decided to read the book, however my Mother recently got rid of most of them. Luckily, I found this one at an op shop. I finished it in less than 2 days. Koontz writes in a way that is very atmospheric and chilling, I actually got chills while reading this book multiple times, it’s so much better than the movie. I knew Koontz books must’ve been good, for my mum to have collected and read most of them, so I’m glad that I was able to rediscover this and love it so much. 5 stars! I simply couldn’t put it down
A decent book. Some parts of the explanation felt quite sloppy. Still a good read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this because a ton of people on a Reddit thread said it was the scariest book they'd ever read. Maybe they overhyped it, but I'm not sure if I would go that far. (I don't often read horror, though, so it actually may be.) But it was pretty terrifying, nonetheless! I feel like what the monster turned out to be was somehow less frightening than what was in my head. I think that's often the case with this kind of thing--the not-knowing is scarier than the knowing. For this reason, I'm often okay with books or TV shows not giving all the supernatural stuff away. However, it was still scary enough that it wasn't a total let-down.
I was scared out of my mind, though, so I'll give it major props for that. And I need to read some more books in a similar vein, apparently. I could not put this down.
This is going to stay with me for a long, long time.
I was scared out of my mind, though, so I'll give it major props for that. And I need to read some more books in a similar vein, apparently. I could not put this down.
This is going to stay with me for a long, long time.