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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Riveting psychological thriller with a bit of the supernatural thrown in to keep the reader guessing. I read this to study the craft of this master storyteller, otherwise known as Dean Koontz.
A girl is kidnapped by her father at the age of three. She turns up six years later, having been some part of a bizarre experiment inside a gray room. Can her mother bring her back after six years of mistreatment? And why doesn't she want to open the door to December?
Dean Koontz is very much hit and miss for me. When he hits, he knocks it out of the park (Life Expectancy, Odd Thomas) and when he misses, it's a total fail (Darkfall).
The Door to December, like most of Koontz's books, deals with the eternal battle between good and evil. I struggled with this one though, mostly because of the subject matter. As the mother of a 5-year old daughter, the theme of extensive child abuse and torture made me incredibly uncomfortable. But I enjoyed Koontz's writing style, and his characters, as usual, resonated with me. I particularly connected with Laura, and could easily relate to her enormous capacity for loving her daughter. I also thought Detective Haldane had a powerful protective streak that was enormously likeable and made him easy to root for.
I did think the book ended too abruptly, though. I would have liked more closure, and I wanted answers to some of my lingering questions. What happened to Ross Mondale? Did Melanie ever recover? It might have been nice to have an epilogue! (Though having said that, my edition of the book had an utterly hilarious Afterword by the author that almost made up for the unsatisfying ending.)
The Door to December, like most of Koontz's books, deals with the eternal battle between good and evil. I struggled with this one though, mostly because of the subject matter. As the mother of a 5-year old daughter, the theme of extensive child abuse and torture made me incredibly uncomfortable. But I enjoyed Koontz's writing style, and his characters, as usual, resonated with me. I particularly connected with Laura, and could easily relate to her enormous capacity for loving her daughter. I also thought Detective Haldane had a powerful protective streak that was enormously likeable and made him easy to root for.
I did think the book ended too abruptly, though. I would have liked more closure, and I wanted answers to some of my lingering questions. What happened to Ross Mondale? Did Melanie ever recover? It might have been nice to have an epilogue! (Though having said that, my edition of the book had an utterly hilarious Afterword by the author that almost made up for the unsatisfying ending.)
Was almost impossible to get through the first half of the book, but once I did, the story took off and I could not put it down to save my life. I find this is a common occurrence with most of the Dean Koontz books I've read. The difference between this book and the others is this one was roughly 1000 pages, which makes the dragging of the first half of the book a lot longer than it would for a 400 to 600 page book. In summary, I'd give the first half of this book 2 stars and the last half 5 stars, for an average of 4.
OMB...this was utter rubbish. I kept on reading in the hope it would redeem itself and improve, but no, no sigar.
Note for 2020: stick to the 100 pages rule - if the book is not to your liking, put it down and start a new one.
Note for 2020: stick to the 100 pages rule - if the book is not to your liking, put it down and start a new one.
This is the 3rd book that I read on Dean Koontz writing and I shall it was so good. Here it test my will to read a doorstopper book of Koontz but it makes me interested to know how this book will end.
If the way of story will be analyze it is like Stephen Kings Carrie but with astral projection and monster. Melanie McCaffrey was a girl who was abducted by her father and other people involved to make an experiment to her but suddenly the people took those test are being hunted by the so called It. As I read it I consider It as "invisible monster" as I read this book so that I will not be confused.
The downfall only to this story was that there are less focus to the origin of the Door to December and in my own understanding the Door to December was an occult power in a symbol of Ouroboros. It didn't explained clearly so its up to you on how you will understand Dean Koontz but still this is a good book.
If the way of story will be analyze it is like Stephen Kings Carrie but with astral projection and monster. Melanie McCaffrey was a girl who was abducted by her father and other people involved to make an experiment to her but suddenly the people took those test are being hunted by the so called It. As I read it I consider It as "invisible monster" as I read this book so that I will not be confused.
The downfall only to this story was that there are less focus to the origin of the Door to December and in my own understanding the Door to December was an occult power in a symbol of Ouroboros. It didn't explained clearly so its up to you on how you will understand Dean Koontz but still this is a good book.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The ending was a bit of a letdown, but other than that it was an enjoyable story.
This novel needs a major edit - there are pages of dialogue that go around in circles without making a point, right when the story should be hurrying towards a suspenseful conclusion any tension created is broken by pages and pages of Dan looking back to his past, the focus of the story is broken between Dan Haldene and what is happening with Melanie, with neither story drawing me in. The story starts with great promise but by the mid-point of a staggering 500 pages, it was not a question of how will this end but when will this end - and the ending was just pathetic - "Forgetting is the start of healing". That Melanie is autistic because of her experience is another story. Avoid this mess of a novel.
Another great Koontz book, especially the characters. They really shine throughout, although the middle dragged out a bit longer than I was hoping for. Still, the ending is great and it's another world created I wish he'd explore again in the future.
Telekinesis and astral projection. Like an average x-files episode. Not bad, but OK.