What is your favorite Dean Koontz novel, and how many of his books have you read?

I hate to say I have not read one. I am more a romance kinda girl! Are they worth taking a look at?

Intensity is my favorite. We have a large collection of his books, though I’ve only read about six of them. The Taking was my least favorite. I had such high hopes for it in the beginning, but it just got too cheesy. I put off reading the last chapter, then my dog chewed up the book. :(

I read 3 or 4 back when he was Dean R. Koontz. Watchers is the one that sticks out.

Watchers was my favorite.

I read at least two other books by him. One was_Sole Survivor,_ and the other was a novel with the exact same plot as Sole Survivor. I didn’t think those were anything too special.

@mamabeverley His books are very suspenseful and hard to put down. Intensity is a great first read of his.

Watchers is my favorite, Phantom was wild. Seize the Night was good, I loved the characters.

If you’ve never read his poetry, give it a try. He also has written poetry for children, my daughter loved his work when she was in elementary school.

Darkfall and I’ve read them all. He is a total hack but some gems exist. Mr. Murder, Intensity, Watchers, Phantoms, and Lightening come to mind.

@Blondesjon – there is a formula to all of his books – but they are a great beach read or rainy day read. My husband likes them – usually his (hubby’s) reads are heavy subjects or history. Dean Koontz is a good break for him. I had never read a Dean Koontz book before I started dating my husband.

Actually I have read all of his books, including his early science fiction. Odd Thomas was one I enjoyed because it was a bit surprising (I like the ghost of Elvis). The Darkest Evening of the Year was interesting in its combination of Koontz’s love for dogs and his usual suspense. I also liked Twilight Eyes maybe because I like books set in carnivals, and One Door Away from Heaven was another I enjoyed.

The Face is the only one I really haven’t been able to finish, but most of his books are fun to read. I wouldn’t say he writes great literature but he writes generally enjoyable terror/suspense/romance novels. I consider him one of the better drug store authors – you know, the paperbacks sold in Walgreens that border on being romance but have something about them that lets the reader pretend it is real fiction.

@cak…I think a would appreciate him more if I wasn’t such a Stephen King nerd.

@Blondesjon – Stephen King was the first writer I truly followed, I think that is also the reason why I don’t favor Dean Koontz. did you see a radical change in Stephen King after he was so seriously injured in that hit and run? I saw an odd change in his writing.

ODD THOMAS is awesome, all three were good! First was best, 2nd was second best, 3rd was third best, but they were ALL good. That humble, FUNNY, broken hearted fry cook has a special place in muh heart!
At the end of the 2nd story when ODD walks off with the ghost of F.S. (no spoiler here!) and that Ghost dog, I could just hear that song, “Me n you and a dog named Boo, travelin and alivin’ off the land!”
Also the Frankenstein trilogy is a great break from reality. A bit hookey in places, but still fun! And it has some FAB moments when the MONSTER just WREAKS havoc!! I like how Koontz incorporated a mystical aspect to the Monster and then reversed motivational characteristics betweeen the Monster and Frankenstein, making the Monster the good guy!
We are still p-a-t-i-e-n-t-l-y WAITING for the third and presumably the last installment to hit the stands.
In a different Q, I asked people here who would make a good choice to play the various roles of this novels characters.
Jude Law would make a good Dr Frankenstein.
Jessica Alba and James Marsden for the young, brash Louisiana detectives… no CLUE who would be a good Monster though…hm!

I like Dean Koontz but I love Stephen King. My favorite Koontz books include: Lightning, Strangers (“the moon! the moon!”), and the Odd Thomas series. My absolute favorite though, is TICKTOCK. Super quick read, and very funny. Kind of a departure.

@cak I did notice that King became a little more introspective and a little less genre-focused, after the accident. I don’t mind… I still love him.

@augustlan – I could never fully depart from Stephen King!

I liked Stephen King in his earlier books, when he was still being edited. However, once he started to bring in big bucks and the editors backed off I found him to be far too wordy. While I made it through Misery, I was never able to complete It or The Tommyknockers, and I like the original shorter version of The Stand better.

However, I was able to read his most recent books, Cell and Duma Key. The jury is still out on Lisey’s Story. It is an interesting premise but the writing is tough to deal with – an editor would be a big help. As usual, though, I have liked his short stories (even though the dog ate some of my copy of Just After Sunset) and his nonfiction writing about writing and about writing horror.

Dean Koontz’s books are generally a faster read than King’s and so I tend to get through them easily. King’s sometimes takes a bit more concentration.

@Darwin Cell was similar to a Koontz book. I couldn’t put the book down.

It, The Tommyknockers, and The Stand are my least favorite King books. Cell seemed like a return to early King, and I thought Duma Key was fabulous. Lisey’s Story was quite different, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Touching, in it’s way. Like @Darwin, his short stories are my favorites.

@jonsblond – I agree. Cell was in many ways more Koontz-like than most of King’s work. King is often darker than Koontz and has more subtexts, but not in Cell. Coincidentally, I read it the same month I finally broke down and got a cell phone.

@Darwin I broke down and got a cell phone around the same time also!

I held out as long as possible. They are helpful when you have teens in the house.

@jonsblond I got it mostly because I have teens in the house, but also because I act in independent film and a cell phone is expected. I must admit that I had visions of my brain becoming totally unhinged from using it as in the book, but I discovered that with unlimited texting the bill is much less harmful to my mental well-being.

@augustlan…I read Duma Key over a three day period while sick and unable to get my temperature under 101. I’m almost afraid to go back and read it again. It really struck as one of the best things he had done in some time and I’d hate to ruin the surreal feeling I get every time I recall the story. i read the tommyknockers once a year and try to stay as drunk as gard ol gard while i do

Now I’m jonesing for a new King book. Hmph.

@augustlan…Do you ever “Hmph” out loud? I’m racking my brain trying to think of anyone I know who has…

@augustlan – Well, if you haven’t yet, you can always break down and get a Kindle so you can read UR (e-novella available only on Amazon.com’s Kindle). And it looks as if he has finally finished Under the Dome:

“Posted on: March 20th, 2009 1:44:21 pm at http://www.stephenking.com/index.html

We’ve received permission to release the official copy from Simon & Schuster for the plot synopsis for Under the Dome. Here’s your first peek at the story line:

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mills, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away.”

It is due out in November 2009.

@Blondesjon I do! I’m usually being overly dramatic, and kind of kidding when I do it though.

@Darwin I don’t think I could handle reading a book without feeling the paper pages in my hands. Does that make me terribly outdated? If so, I’m ok with that. ;-)

@augustlan I can’t tolerate e-books either. They don’t smell right.

That plot sounds an awful lot like this one.

@Blondesjon – Yes, it does, but this will be King’s version of it. I don’t think it will include “silver claws for hands and razor-blade teeth” but I could be wrong.

He’s been sitting on it since 1995 so who knows what it will actually turn out to be.

Darwin…True. I only remembered the plot to Stinger because I read it back in the day. My favorite of McCammon’s is The Wolf’s Hour. Have you read any?

@Blondesjon – A few. I remember reading Usher’s Passing and They Thirst. In looking at his web site The Queen of Bedlam and Speaks the Nightbird both sound interesting.

I know. I thought he had hung it up a long time ago…

Always more to look forward to!

I have read quite a few of his books, seems like the ones with one word titles were always my favorites but I did like the first Odd Thomas. I am reading the Taking now and it’s good but seems like it is going on forever. I think he and Stephen King were great when they started but then they tried to write them too quickly and they sacrificed quality and originality for quantity and predictable gore, sex etc.. It seems to happen to all writers, the more famous they become, the faster they must produce and then the books suffer.

i actually haven’t read any of his books, but have listened to a few. i LOVED watchers.

I just finished The Taking, that was about the most anti-climatic and disappointing ending ever! I wouldn’t recommend that book to anyone.

@rooeytoo I completely agree! I quit reading it for a while because I was so disappointed in it. The day I went to finish the last chapter, my dog chewed it up. I guess I didn’t miss much.

jeeeez I just hope your dog doesn’t get indigestion!!!

@rooeytoo Naw, his dog’s okay. Just needed a little fiber.

<<<she

@rooeytoo He’s a blue heeler, he eats everything! No indigestion, it just left a bad taste in his mouth.

my avatar has a cousin brother who is a blue heeler, she herself has more dingo than heeler and can consume, without ill effects, almost anything organic and a lot of inorganic objects as well, but The Taking, could be the straw that broke the camel (or the ding0/heeler’s)back (or belly as the case may be) (had to keep it on topic!)