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 enlarge | Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $0.86
You Save: $26.14 (97%)
New (94) Used (161) Collectible (10) from $0.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  203 reviews
Sales Rank: 4648
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
Condition: Ships within 24-hours, Monday-Friday. Your satisfaction guaranteed.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not a Koontz Best May 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book had heart, suspense, and terror, but it lacked a little something. I'm not sure what. I believe, maybe, more convincing characters. Yes, these characters were all very much like Koontz characters, wonderfully wierd, each in their own way, but I didn't buy into all of their personalities, like I have with his other characters. Odd Thomas, for example, is an interesting idea of a somewhat timid anyman going against the evils not only in this world but beyond it. So, one has an easy time relating to the protagonist; it could be him or her fighting against the perils of a great satan. Much easier to digest, and love.
Cop-Out Ending May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have a love-hate relationship with Koontz - I find his work to be quite kitschy a lot of the time, but I can't seem to stop myself from picking up his more interesting sounding books. The Darkest Evening of the Year was given to me as a gift, and it was all well and good up until the last few pages. Koontz copped out of an (for once) unexpected, but interesting nonetheless, ending to opt for some bizarre and impossible twist of fate to make sure any average, casual readers aren't upset. I found it trite, and for me, it ruined the way I felt about the entire book.
If you like suspense novels, go pick up Intensity or another of Koontz' better, less sappy books. If you like Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul, then this one may be more up your alley.
 Will Haunt You and Delight You Both at the Same Time May 12, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Story opens tense and the suspense builds through to the climax. Right from the get go we see Amy Redwing, rescuer of Golden Retrievers, in trouble and she and her beau Brian McCarthy approach the home of mean tequila drunk Carl Brockman. Not only does Brockman treat his dog Nickie like a dormat, but he treats his wife and kids that way as well.
Amy gets right into Brockman's space, but instead of bullying him out of the dog, she buys him for two thousand dollars, then drops a dime on Brockman. At home with Nickie it doesn't take long before Amy, her two Goldens, Fred and Ethel and Brian too, to realize Nickie is special and rather than adopt him out, Amy decides to keep him.
And things start happening. Lights go on and off, Brian can't stop drawing the dog, especially his eyes, someone starts following Amy and someone very bad wants her dead and employs some horrible people to do his bidding. And there is more, both Amy and Brian have troubled pasts and secrets that will be revealed as you pour through this book that you won't be able to stop reading. And just who or what is Nickie? Gotta read it through to find out, but don't worry, every word in this book is worth it.
Jack Priest, author of Ragged Man, Gecko & Night Witch.
 Darkest Evening of the Year May 10, 2008
How can you not love this book? Dean Koontz as the author and a dog as the main character. The first Dean Koontz book I ever read was Watchers - I was forever hooked. This one just brought me full circle. You haven't lost a thing, Dean. In loving memory of Trixie, dog.
Roller coaster ride of emotions? May 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As I begin every review - spoilers ahead.
First of the good, I liked the way all the characters were connected. On more than one occasion I was wondering how it was going to come together, because Koontz always brings things together. There's never one red herring in the bunch. I liked the way it appeared that Vanessa was in charge of the psycho group when all along it had been Harrow. Yeah! Happy!
Yes, I'm an animal lover and if I could save them all I would, but that's not possible Reading a story of someone who saves them is a good thing. Another yeah! Happy!
Now of the bad...
The villains were taken care of way too easily in my opinion. Psycho #1 kills psycho #2, just in time for psycho #3 to take out psycho #2. How many psychos were there anyway? ** rhetorical question ** Not so yeah... not really happy.
Climatic ending? Not so much. It kind of lost steam after Amy followed behind the Expedition in the fog surprising the hitman/psycho and taking him out before he could do any harm. Huh? Boo!
Vanessa was taken out too quickly as well. There was NO interaction between her and Amy or her and Brian. I wanted something! And Michael walks into the room and BAM! He's out of the picture as well. So much for an interaction between him and Amy. Very big boo!
When you build these types of back stories between characters throughout an entire book, more or less, you want payoff when they meet face-to-face. You want dialogue. You want, "I've waited a long time for this moment" or "I should've known you'd be back", but I got nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Very disappointing.
Spiritual is all well and good, and maybe I missed something, but the 'we're-dead-no-we're-not-the-angel-dog-saved-us" left me feeling kind of wanting.
All in all, the ending could have been and should have been a little more exciting. Closure! I need action and closure. Showing and not telling. And an angel dog who flies with a child attached to its collar and then resurrects the dead? Maybe if there were more hints to Nickie's special powers along the way, but I just couldn't buy into it. I'm sorry.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure I could have done without how cruel people can be to animals. And how atrocious puppy mills are. I know this. It pains me, but I don't need that much detail when I'm reading a work of fiction.
Dean Koontz ranks right up there with my favorite authors. Top three and I read a lot! And like everyone else Watchers, and Strangers, are my favorites. I like Odd, too.
Constructive criticism is a good thing, right?
My rating was a three because the overall story did not suck on any level, but the ending kind of did.
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