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A review by weaselweader
The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
2.0
A perfect storm of psychopaths
No doubt about it! Coming out of the gate, Dean Koontz’s THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR starts strongly and certainly grabs a reader’s interest from the opening paragraph. It’s a domestic violence psychological thriller, it’s an animal abuse narrative, it’s a convincing romance, it’s a placid but nevertheless paranormal ghost story. But, unfortunately, it simply can’t live up to its own early billing. As the novel proceeds, Koontz corrals a whole ranch full of psychopaths operating with a hot mess of motivations under a bewildering variety of aliases that will leave readers, even those open to having their imagination well stretched, confused and wondering just where the novel is headed. Two psychopaths coming together, by coincidence if you will, is probably one too many for most novels. But three (count ‘em!!) is simply over the top and becomes what many readers will characterize as beyond the pale, at best, or perhaps simply ridiculous, at worst.
Dean Koontz has a towering reputation in the horror genre but this has to count as one of his weaker entries. Not recommended except to those who would read it for completeness.
Paul Weiss
No doubt about it! Coming out of the gate, Dean Koontz’s THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR starts strongly and certainly grabs a reader’s interest from the opening paragraph. It’s a domestic violence psychological thriller, it’s an animal abuse narrative, it’s a convincing romance, it’s a placid but nevertheless paranormal ghost story. But, unfortunately, it simply can’t live up to its own early billing. As the novel proceeds, Koontz corrals a whole ranch full of psychopaths operating with a hot mess of motivations under a bewildering variety of aliases that will leave readers, even those open to having their imagination well stretched, confused and wondering just where the novel is headed. Two psychopaths coming together, by coincidence if you will, is probably one too many for most novels. But three (count ‘em!!) is simply over the top and becomes what many readers will characterize as beyond the pale, at best, or perhaps simply ridiculous, at worst.
Dean Koontz has a towering reputation in the horror genre but this has to count as one of his weaker entries. Not recommended except to those who would read it for completeness.
Paul Weiss