|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $0.76
You Save: $26.24 (97%)
New (103) Used (157) Collectible (14) from $0.76
Avg. Customer Rating:  207 reviews
Sales Rank: 11997
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: Former Library book. Book has some water damage, but book is still completely readable. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Simply the Best December 3, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book is for everyone, not just for Koontz fans, not just for horror or suspense junkies, and not just for those blessed enough in this life to love and be loved by Dogs.
This is a single sitting, three hankie, never to be forgotten read.
And don't think you are going to simply dash down to your local library and pick up a copy of The Darkest Evening of the Year, because there is going to be a waiting list a mile long and people will be holding onto it to reread again and again.
Buy one for yourself and buy one for everyone in your life who has ever had difficulties with moving on in life, with love, with hate, with forgiveness, with fear, with purposeful life, or purposeful death. And certainly, everyone who has ever experienced the love of a Dog must have this book.
Now, that should just about cover everyone on your holiday shopping list, shouldn't it?
"The Best Books of 2007" December 3, 2007
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
Was just thinking how great a stocking stuffer this book would be for Koontz fans. With the holidays fast approaching, I'm starting to compile my shopping list. Books have always been my favorite stocking stuffer. Much better than the mindless toys and trinkets most people give.
Searched Amazon.com's bestsellers for each category and here are some stocking stuffer suggestions...
For Baby Boomers: "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty (You)"
For College Students: "How To Ace Your Way Through College and Still Have a Life"
For Young Girls: "The Daring Book for Girls"
For Young Boys: "Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy"
For Moms with Small Children: "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food"
For Working Women: "Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny"
For Men: "Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life"
For Entrepreneurs: "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich"
A pretty good but relatively slight Koontzbook December 2, 2007
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
I've read nearly every book Dean Koontz has written. It does seem to me the quality has gradually tapered off in recent years. There were a lot of things I liked about Darkest Evening - the characters were generally interesting (good and evil ones), and as a fellow dog lover, I enjoyed the canine aspects of the story. (In fact, I was moved enough by the book to make a donation to a local dog rescue organization.) However, not all of the plot twists and turns were reasonable. One major twist about 50 pages from the end was a legitimate surprise - I did not see it coming! But the main "supernatural" element revealed near the very end was just silly as far as I'm concerned, and a major letdown compared to other "reveals" in previous Koontzbooks. You know how his formula works - something is going on, but you don't find out what it is until near the end. Well, when the secrets are revealed and they seem ridiculous, it's a big letdown.
I've always appreciated the fact that Koontzbooks are so quick and easy to read. As much as I've liked his work, I've sometimes had a laugh at his descriptions, such as this one from chapter 15: "The trees spilled a currency of shadows and a few coins of light across the windshield." As many stories and novels as he's written, it must be hard to come up with new ways to describe things. I mean, I certainly couldn't do it myself. But sometimes those descriptions are unintentionally funny, along the lines of the "bad writing" competitions. ...Or IS it intentional? There is an interesting passage in chapter 60 where one of the characters, a fan of popular fiction, thinks the ocean surf "sounds ten thousand people whispering in the distance." He then muses "It wasn't a very good simile, because why would ten thousand people be gathered anywhere to whisper?" Looks like Mr. Koontz is having a laugh at his own expense. Good for him!
Two Separate Stories in This Koontz Effort December 2, 2007
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
This novel is certainly dividing Koontz fans as evidenced by these reviews. I sense some of that might be attributed to the fact that "The Darkest Evening of the Year" seems bifurcated to me into a suspense thriller on the surface where a true morality play between good and evil occurs and a secondary storyline that focuses on educating the reader about the plight of abandoned and endangered dogs and the agencies and people who are dedicated to rescuing them. I suspect Koontz used this story to pay homage to his family's beloved Trixie (his own golden who recently died from cancer)and to assuage the pain of herloss...certainly his touching dedication written to his wife Gerda would lead to that conclusion if nothing else.
Amy Redwing rescues dogs and attempts to develop a relationship with Brian McCarthy while hiding a troubled past. Brian has unresolved baggage of his own and sometimes helps Amy in her rescues and is present when she bravely stands up to an abusive bully and, in the process, extricates the man's wife, children, and golden retriever, Nickie from the home.
Nickie and Amy become inseparable after a seemingly supernatural connection and Nickie becomes a major protagonist for the rest of the story with links to both Amy's and Brian's pasts. Just what or who is Nickie and does she have special powers (as have some dogs in previous Koontz novels)? How is she linked to Amy's past and Brian's future?
The suspense in the novel is keenly felt due mainly to Koontz's extreme characterizations. The good guys are almost one dimenionally good and, of course, are kind to and love dogs. The bad guys are unredeemedly evil and, inexplicably want dogs (especially Nickie) "killed good and hard". There is no middle ground here...and the love of dogs seems to be a clear demarcation between good and evil.
As usual, Koontz mixes some wonderful descriptions and phrases..."Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and for the mistakes we make because of those illusions"...with some over-the-top descriptions that make the reader smile in sophomoric glee.
There are unanswered plot lines in this novel that probably won't matter to the casual reader. Why did Brian get so obsessive about the eye sketches? Why did Vanessa inexplicably want Nickie killed good and hard? Why was Billy Pilgrim suddenly focused on golden retriever symbolism? And again, as usual, there is a need to suspend the reader's disbelief sufficiently to accept the "magic" of the novel.
But I do recommend the book...it is not as off track as some of Koontz's recent novels...and any dog lover will get choked up with some of his passages of homage to dogs. Koontz has immense talent and a love for dogs that comes together in this story.
 Gahhhh!! December 1, 2007
14 out of 44 found this review helpful
Dean Koontz used to be amazing I read his first 20-25 books and then suddenly he found god, or perhaps just started using god in his novels. now, for the past 10 years or so, it seems every book has a character that begins by doubting god and then realizes by the end that blahblahblah you get the picture. Let's not forget that he has to put a lame golden retriever in EVERY BOOK as a central character. He goes on and on about how "noble" and "intelligent" it is until you just want to puke.
We get it, Dean, you're christian and you love golden retrievers, but give it a rest already. Oh, and the books are trite, hackneyed, predictable, yawners now, too. Super.
|
|
|
Web Design, Maintenance, and Hosted by K9Sites.com | |