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A review by gordonk
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
3.0
I can only give this story a three star review. Before I go on I must l clarify that three stars to me means it wasn’t a bad story but it wasn’t amazing either. Firstly let me start by saying that this story fooled me in a big way. 100 Pages in and I was convinced that I knew what this story was about, I was wrong. Rarely have I experienced such a surprising case of misdirection. Very impressive Mr Koontz. It must also be said that some people call Dean Koontz a poor man’s Stephen King and it’s easy to see why. The early chapters of this book are very reminiscent of The Shining, Salem’s Lot and IT. Was Koontz inspired by King or is this just a big coincidence?
Forgive the pun but I wondered if I was actually on Shadow Street because I did find myself in the dark for most of this book. It is a confusing story and sadly uninteresting at times. I found that most of the characters just didn’t engage me, and the story skipped from character to character so often that I couldn’t remember who was who. There were two characters in this story who make it a whole lot more interesting; Iris and Winny. Their relationship in this book really did fascinate me. The story itself uses a lot of scientific jargon that is non relatable to me, this was the main reason for my confusion that I mentioned earlier. I do like the story, and it is like nothing I have ever read but I just don’t think it’s up there with the best horror novels of all time. Will I read Koontz novels in the future? I don’t see why not!
Forgive the pun but I wondered if I was actually on Shadow Street because I did find myself in the dark for most of this book. It is a confusing story and sadly uninteresting at times. I found that most of the characters just didn’t engage me, and the story skipped from character to character so often that I couldn’t remember who was who. There were two characters in this story who make it a whole lot more interesting; Iris and Winny. Their relationship in this book really did fascinate me. The story itself uses a lot of scientific jargon that is non relatable to me, this was the main reason for my confusion that I mentioned earlier. I do like the story, and it is like nothing I have ever read but I just don’t think it’s up there with the best horror novels of all time. Will I read Koontz novels in the future? I don’t see why not!