cDog's Ultimate Dean Koontz Guide 2nd Ed. Page 4
- Twilight Eyes
Pub: 1985
Publisher: Sagebrush Education Resources (Hardback)
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group (Paper Back)
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Hard Cover Pages:
Paper Back Pages: 451
Slim MacKenzie is both hunter and hunted. Sought by police for murder, Slim also stalks the diabolical Others, genetically engineered "demons" from a prior Earth civilization. * Unknown
"They're out there - Waiting, watching. Unseen by normal eyes, but all too visible to Slim MacKenzie, a young man blessed-or cursed-by Twilight Eyes... They're out there - Lurking in the darkest shadows of an eerie, moonlit carnival. Feeding their twisted needs with human suffering. And fiendishly plotting the downfall of the human race... They're out there - But don't scream. They'll hear you." * Tiscali
- The Servants of Twilight
AKA: Leigh Nichols
Pub: 1984
Publisher: Dark Harvest
Movie: Yes
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 432
ANNOTATION
A strange old woman descends upon Christine and her six-year-old son in an ordinary southern California parking lot and makes violent threats. Suddenly Christine's only son is targeted by a group of religious fanatics. They want to kill him . . . and they are everywhere! Previously published by Pocket under a pseudonym. (Occult/Horror) * BN
FROM THE PUBLISHER
A strange old woman descends upon Christine and her six-year-old son in an ordinary southern California parking lot and makes violent threats. Suddenly Christine's only son is targeted by a group of religious fanatics. They want to kill him . . . and they are everywhere! * BN
- Dark Fall
AKA Darkness Comes
AKA: Owen West
Pub: 1984
Publisher: Penguin Group
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 384
ANNOTATION
At first the police thought they were dealing with a psychopath or a vicious gangland war. Then, they heard the eerie sounds in the ventilation system and saw the silver eyes in the night. In a city paralyzed by a blizzard, something watches--something whose ultimate victims are young and innocent. Reissue.
* BN
- Phantoms
Pub: 1983
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
Movie: Yes
Audio Book: None
Hard Cover Pages:
Paper Back Pages: 448
The lights are on in Snowfield, California, a cozy ski village nestled in the Sierra Madres, but nobody seems to be home. When Dr. Jenny Paige returns to the small town, she finds tables set for dinner, meals being prepared, and music playing in living rooms, but there's no trace of the people who put the water on to boil or set an extra place for company at the dinner table. As she explores the town, Paige finds friends and neighbors felled by a mysterious force--the bodies show no visible signs of violence or disease, and no known plague kills victims before the ice in their dinner drinks has time to melt. But the deep quiet that surrounds her offers few clues about the fate of the town's inhabitants. Dean Koontz's Phantoms strikes fear in readers from the very beginning. The mystery deepens, paving the way for a chilling journey toward the truth. * Tiscali
- The House of Thunder
AKA: Leigh Nichols
Pub: 1982
Publisher: Dark Harvest
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 368
ANNOTATION
Susan Thorton awakens in a hospital, after a near-fatal car crash, to see four men lurking outside her door--men who exactly resemble those who killed her boyfriend years before. Can these be the same men? As she tries to uncover the identities of those stalking her, Susan enters a terrifying nightmare--one from which she may never escape. Previously published by Pocket under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols (1982). (Occult) * BN
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Susan Thorton awakens in a hospital, after a near-fatal car crash, to see four men lurking outside her door--men who exactly resemble those who killed her boyfriend years before. Can these be the same men? As she tries to uncover the identities of those stalking her, Susan enters a terrifying nightmare--one from which she may never escape. Previously published by Pocket under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols (1982). * BN
- Eyes of Darkness
AKA: Leigh Nichols
Pub: 1981
Publisher: Dark Harvest
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 369
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Tonight, Tina Evans dreamed that her son Danny was still alive. And when she awoke, she found a message scrawled on Danny's chalkboard: NOT DEAD. Tomorrow, Tina Evans will search for the truth about what really happened to her son. And learn that there are some things worse than death. * BN
- The Mask
AKA: Owen West
Pub: 1981
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 320
ANNOTATION
From the New York Times best-selling author of The House of Thunder and Hideaway. She appeared out of nowhere. And Paul and Carol were drawn to her immediately--the child they had never had. It was a dream come true--until the young girl's mask fell away to reveal the face of terrifying evil. Reissue. * BN
FROM THE PUBLISHER
A beautiful young girl appears out of nowhere. A teenager with no past, no family--no memories. Carol and Paul were drawn to her. She was the child they'd never had. Most mothers would die for such a darling little angel. And that's what frightened Carol most of all... * BN
- Funhouse
AKA: Owen West
Pub: 1980
Publisher: Sphere Books
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Hard Cover Pages: 333 (Sagebrush)
Paper Back Pages: 333 (Penguin)
ANNOTATION
Once there was a girl who ran away and joined a traveling carnival. She married a man she hated and begat a child she could never love. Now Ellen has a new life, a new husband and two normal children. Memory is drowned in alcohol and prayers--neither of which will save her kids when the carnival comes back to town. A premiere release by the bestselling author of Dragon Tears.
* BN
- Voice of the Night
AKA: Brian Coffey
Pub: 1980
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 339
FROM THE PUBLISHER
No one could understand why Colin and Roy were best friends. They were complete opposites. Colin was fascinated by Roy--and Roy was fascinated by death. Then one day Roy asked: "You ever killed anything?" And from that moment on, the two were bound together in a game to terrifying to imagine.
* BN
- Whispers
Pub: 1980
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
Movie: Yes
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 528
He's back--the terror that stalked Hilary Thomas as a child is back in her life, in her house, at her bedroom door. She killed him once. But he keeps coming back. Again. And again... * Fantastic
Hilary Thomas becomes the target of a deranged psychopath. Amazingly, this psychotic killer continues to stalk Hilary despite having a death certificate with his name on it. Twists and strange events draw Hilary and her detective boyfriend closer to the truth as Hilary finds herself face to face again with this brutal murderer. Will the answers they discovered be enough to save Hilary?
Tracey Ray, Resident Scholar
(http://www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_1925.asp?BSID=49225372)
- The Key to Midnight
AKA: Leigh Nichols
Pub: 1
979
Publisher: Dark Harvest
Paper Back Pages: 419
"Joanna Rand left America almost ten years ago to become a singer in a Japanese nightclub. Still, she could never escape the strange dream that haunted her night after night: a single, disturbing image of a man with steel fingers, reaching for a hypodermic syringe. When she awoke, she felt violated, used-and terrified. Alex Hunter desperately wanted to help this beautiful, fascinating woman. He knew he had seen Joanna before-in news photographs of a senator's daughter who'd disappeared ten years ago. Slowly, tenderly, he helped awaken her to a terrifying fact: that she was not who she thought she was...that her mind, her memories, had been created for her...And there was only one way to unlock the dark secret of her soul..." * Tiscali
- Face of Fear
AKA: Brian Coffey
Pub: 1977
Publisher: Penguin Group - Berkley(1985 Edition)
Movie: Yes
Audio Book: None
Hard Cover Pages:
Paper Back Pages: 306
To stop a brutal killer, the NYPD enlists the help of clairvoyant Graham Harris. He sees the murders in his mind--sometimes at the moment they are happening. Then he sees the most terrifying vision of all--his own murder... * Tiscali
- Vision
Pub: 1977
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Hard Cover Pages:
Paper Back Pages: 368
Koontz provides another great thriller for the reading world. He writes of a clairvoyant named Mary Bergen that helps police officers on murder cases. She is asked to help on a case of a serial killer and after he is caught, he eerily says her name as he dies. Another case falls into her lap as soon as the last one is over, but there is something different about this case. This new case is strangely connected to her in a way that she can not describe. Mary fights her way through attacking animals and frightening, painful visions of upcoming murders as she tries to find the killer and understand what happened to her 24 years ago. The only problem is that she is scared to find out the truth to both of the problems. This book takes unexpected turns and leaves you wanting more after every page. The best part is that the killer isn't revealed until the very end of the book. I recommend this book to all Koontz lovers or anyone looking for a good thriller. * Tiscali
- Time Thieves
Pub: 1972
Publisher: Ace Double
From the back cover of the Italian edition: a man finds himself in his own garage, sitting behind the steering wheel of his car with the engine idling.
He turns it off and gets into his house, where his young wife slaps him in the face. Where's he been for twelve days? What has he done all this time? Why didn't he call?
The man is at a loss, he just can't remember, he's not even aware that he's disappeared for so long.
Even the people who believe him, though, settle on the easy explanation of a temporary amnesia.
As the clues pile up one after the other, though, the man starts to unravel a much more complicated mystery, and he tries to put back together the pieces of those twelve days that have been stolen from him. As he soon finds out, unfortunately, someone is not happy about this investigation.
Who are these manipulators of time and mind, who are they working for?
And who are they working against?
Punishment or prize, does mankind really deserve what they have in mind?
* Tiscali
- Icebound
Also Known as "Prisoner of Ice"
AKA: David Axton
Pub: 1976
Publisher: Headline
Movie: No
Audio Book: Tape (Icebound)
Number of Cassettes: 4
Abridged: Yes
Hard Cover Pages:
Paper Back Pages: 416
FROM THE PUBLISHER (Bantam Books - Reissue)
A stunning and suspenseful thriller, about humanity's continuous and sometimes futile battle against nature from one of the most popular and best-selling authors in America.
Conducting a strange and urgent experiment of the Arctic ice field, a team of scientists has planted sixty powerful explosive charges that will detonate at midnight. Before they can withdraw to the safety of the base camp, a shattering tidal wave breaks loose the ice on which they are working. Now they are hopelessly marooned on an iceberg during a violent winter storm. The bombs beneath them are buried irretrievable deep . . . and ticking. And they discover that one of them is an assassin with mission of his won. This is classic Koontz.
* BN
- Night Chills
Pub: 1976
Publisher: Atheneum
Movie: No
Audio Book: None
Hard Cover Pages:
Paper Back Pages: 367
Reviewer: Theresa M - I live in Michigan, I'm 29 (Amazon.com)
Although this book was written in the 1970's, and during several parts it's obvious (especially when he says, "it's the 70's..."), however the book still stands up fairly well today.
I've read 95% of Koontz's books and have been a huge fan for over 10 years. I tend to enjoy his earlier works more than his later, they're all good, but the earlier books are more of a "fun" read. They're not extremely long and they're really more pure horror. I love it, definitely a guilty pleasure.
Nigh Chills is about a scientist that has discovered a way to brainwash people, to open their minds using subliminal ads and then program them to do what you'd like. The concept is chilling. The story is interesting and you're kept on the edge of your seat most of the time. And the characters are enjoyable. If you're a fan of Koontz's earlier works, you'll enjoy this. * Amazon
- The Long Sleep
AKA: John Hill
Pub: 1975
Publisher: Unknown
No synopsis
- Dragonfly
AKA: K R Dwyer
Pub: 1975
Publisher: Random House
A Novel About a Conspiracy to Murder the World by K.R. Dwyer, which is one of many pen names used by Dean Koontz. * Fantastic
- Nightmare Journey
Pub: 1975
Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
Set one hundred thousand years in the future. After man has been fatally humbled by his exploration of the stars and discovery of far more intelligent beings, civilization is struggling to return to the planet's surface. Tape on front cover but not for repair purposes.
* Fantastic
- After the Last Race
Pub: 1974
Publisher: Atheneum
Well, if you're going to write genre novels, you might
as well cover every genre. This is Koontz' first, and
really only, attempt at a straight hardboiled-style
thriller. A loose-knit gang of would-be thieves have a
plan to hold up a racetrack on a day when there will
be at least two million dollars on the premises.
Simple, easy to understand, with some nice plot twists
and excellent characterization. Koontz takes a
jaundiced look at the excesses of the seventies and
the excesses of thriller writers like Spillane all in
one gulp.
* sotty
- The Haunted Earth
Pub: 1973
Publisher: Lancer
This is a science-fiction fantasy novel set in a near future wracked by tremendous changes, wherein mythical figures like vampires and werewolves and banshees are proven to be real co-inhabitants of our world. It's a comic novel, too, indicating Koontz's early interest in making readers laugh as well as shiver.
* Tiscali
- A Werewolf Among Us
Pub: 1973
Publisher: Paperback Ballantine
"A cyber detective is part man and part computer, meshed as completely as the two can ever be. The highly microminiaturized components of the bio-computer remember and relate things in a perfe
ctly mathematical manner that a human mind could never easily grasp, while the human half of the symbiote gives a perception of emotions and emotional motivations that the bio-computer could never comprehend. Together we make a precise and thorough detective unit."
* Tiscali
- Shattered
AKA: K R Dwyer
Pub: 1973
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group (1985) Original: Unknown
Movie: Yes
It started out as a kid's game to while away the long drive across the country. It ends in a grotesque nightmare of death and destruction. Someone's out to get them. To destroy their dreams of the future. To plunge then into a paranoid world where every sound could be the last thing they hear. * Fantastic
- Demon Seed
Pub: 1973
Publisher: Berkley Pub Group
Movie: Yes
Audio Book: None
Paper Back Pages: 301
Reviewer: Will Culp (Greenville, South Carolina) Amazon.com
Susan Harris, a rich entrepreneur, is holed up in her secluded house, which is protected by an advanced security system, which runs every aspect of the house, from air conditioning to opening the windows. Other than her servants, which come for only a few hours each day, she is in basic seclusion with her security system. Without Susan knowing, a foreign virus, created by her husband's old company, takes over her security system, and it intends for Susan to give birth to the virus's child, an all-knowing and emotional being. As Susan desperately seeks to escape the virus's mindless grip, she must learn to destroy what cannot be killed... * Tiscali