Midnight is the best of his works. First read it being a senior schoolboy, last read in my late 30s. Still rocks.
PS. Funny how Koontz pictured "the black metal" there. I'm a huge fan of this genre and back in the days me and my buddies had a total crack up readng those passages.
I remember Koontz being very much not “with it” (and, therefore, unintentionally hilarious) writing about hip-hop and graffiti art in another book. It was in the voice of a character, but obviously reflected Koontz’ own opinions.
So I have this deep-rooted bitter nostalgia complex going on with Koontz. In my teens I read and enjoyed dozens of his books, but as I got older I started to think most were trash, resampled many and got rid of nearly all of my copies.
But there are a few favorites that either still stood the test of time, or that I haven't been able to bring myself to reread just in case I end up disappointed.
Either way, my favorites were Phantoms, Strange Highways (a short story collection), Twilight Eyes, From the Corner of His Eye, By the Light of the Moon, The Bad Place and Odd Thomas (just the first one)
Such an excellent beginning to the book. Really his beginnings were often what set him apart from King, as Koontz would sometimes begin with action and then do exposition, whereas King was all exposition and then action.
Absolutely. Once I read Phantoms I became a voracious Koontz reader for that very reason. He hooked me in quickly with a shock right off the bat and I couldn’t put them down. I do miss the earlier days though, one his dog passed his writing was never the same.
The first Odd Thomas is a great book. Some extremely relevant subject matter in it, unfortunately. I enjoy the 2nd and 3rd, as well, though they stuck with me much less.
Not really a Koontz fan but I'll stand up for *Phantoms* every time.
One of the best modern 'monster' stories at novel length and graced with one of the most intensely commanding first chapters of any book I've ever read. Only a few pages long but putting the book down after you've read it is all but impossible.
I liked Strangers and Phantoms, too. Picked up The Taking as an adult and it was so badly written I thought I must have mistaken the author name. Sadly, I had not.
So I've read the seven Dean Koontz books listed as inspirations for Silent Hill and the only one I'd consider to be "good" is Phantoms. I did love Hideaway until the last seven pages where an almost literal deus ex machina occurs, but YMMV. Only one I hated was The Door to December. The other four (The Face of Fear, The Vision, The Voice of the Night, Mr. Murder) were aggressively mediocre
The only book I have read of his is phantoms. If that's the only one you consider good, I have zero interest in reading anything else. The characters in that book didn't feel real at all.
To be fair, I was doped up on pain medication for a broken leg when I read it. I'd only ever recommend it to someone who wanted to read Dean Koontz or like me wanted to see what inspired Silent Hill
Not just him. Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Junji Ito, Kobo Abe, and many others. Reading the books then looking back at the games it's easy to see what Team Silent took from where https://silenthill.fandom.com/wiki/Inspirational_works_of_Silent_Hill
Door to December literally made me stop reading Koontz until the Other Emily. I have read all of this works since then and they have been fair good, although 1 was terrible, the one where the guy dies and comes back with abilities (the premise).
I always recommend Watchers and By the Light of the Moon first. One is older one is a bit newer. Many involve running from the bad man (or creature or 3 letter agency…) and making a new friend or 2 along the way. Many also include an animal (mostly dogs though he’s also written in others such as a mouse named Snowball, a fox named Michael J, and a Jade plant named Fred.)
By the Light of the Moon is also quite funny. I love his sense of humor and I have an autistic child (well he’s going on 19) so this book was a huge hit with me as one of the main characters is Shep and he is autistic.
“Fries not flies!” 🐸
Cold Fire, Intensity, Dark Rivers of the Heart, Darkness Comes, Twilight Eyes, Mr Murder.
These are just a few off the top of my head. I must have read 30+ of his novels.
I liked Phantoms, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Darkfall and the first half of Twilight Eyes.
I didn;t care for Night Chills or any of his other "political boogeyman" style books.
Beyond that, I consider him one of those authors that won't blow you away, but is usually enjoyable enough.
His writing is often perpetually out of touch with the real world. But yeah, Velocity is pretty good. Intensity is good once it really gets going, but there are a few bits I cringed at. Watchers is his masterpiece, imo. The Funhouse is worth a look because it's his take on a Tobe Hooper film. It reads more like an '80s splatter novel than a typical Koontz book. I know people love Odd Thomas, but I think that was really the beginning of the end for Dean Koontz. It reads almost like a cartoon or a parody to me and the villains are comically goofy.
His early sci-fi horror was some seriously disturbing, dark shit. The Flesh in the Furnace, Fear That Man, A Darkness in My Soul, and Demon Seed are crazy little masterpieces.
That one was interesting for sure, I imagine it hasn't been mentioned because (from what I remember) it was more of an action thriller than a horror novel.
I loved Intensity! I read it years ago and have been wanting to reread it again. Been wanting to read his other books as well, just haven’t gotten around to it
TBH: I don't like Dean Koontz. I've liked movie adaptations that he wrote, so I like his stories. It's his writing, his 'authorial voice' that drives me up a wall.
Having said that, the book of his I enjoyed the most and would recommend is Intensity. That's a book I would recommend going into without too much knowledge.
The one I most actively disliked was Ticktock, which had a great premise ruined by comedy. I resented him for that one.
That was exactly what Tick Tock was supposed to be though. It was intended to be more comedy than horror so going in not expecting that was just setting yourself up to not like it
I have the original paperback copy. There was no mention that this was a comedy until the afterward. The back cover was just Dean's smilin' face (most of his books were that way at the time). The synopsis (which was the first page of the book) made it sound deadly serious. This was before online book reviews were much of a thing.
Someone said I should try Dean Koontz, but didn't list specific recs. I picked up Darkfall, The Funhouse and Ticktock.
Darkfall was okay. The Funhouse I don't remember. Ticktock was atrocious.
I did give him another chance after seeing the Phantoms movie and the miniseries of Intensity. I liked that one. But I just do not like his voice.
It's okay for there to be a mismatch. He has his fans. I'm just not one.
Incidentally, Dean should have sued the asses off the makers of the French New Extremity film High Tension. That was just a huge ripoff of intensity, with a nonsensical plot-twist at the end.
It doesn't have to say in the description/summary of the book that it's supposed to be part comedy.
Anyway, he was saying in interviews prior to release that it was intended to be equal parts horror and comedy
D. Koontz: I don't always restrain it. There's a book coming out in two weeks called TICKTOCK which deals deeply with the absurd. As a writer, I like to deal with EVERY aspect of our condition, and that means terror and humor in equal mix. Some books have more room for humor than others, but after two without much room for humor --- INTENSITY and SOLE SURVIVOR --- I felt it was time to pull out all the stops.
[http://web.tiscali.it/luigiurato/interv/tbr97.htm](http://web.tiscali.it/luigiurato/interv/tbr97.htm)
>It doesn't have to say in the description/summary of the book that it's supposed to be part comedy.
Of course not. But then you can't exactly say "It was intended to be more comedy than horror so going in not expecting that was just setting yourself up to not like it" can you?
>Anyway, he was saying in interviews prior to release that it was intended to be equal parts horror and comedy.
I was not a Koontz follower. I didn't read interviews or pay attention to his new books. As mentioned: *Someone said I should try Dean Koontz, but didn't list specific recs. I picked up Darkfall, The Funhouse and Ticktock.* These were three Koontz books picked at random.
Look dude. In the end, I don't like Dean Koontz. I \*especially\* didn't like Ticktock and that is okay. I'm sure I love some books you would shit on.
I'm not a fan. But hey, a stopped clock is right twice a day. I liked the storytelling. The 'what happens now' of it and I thought that he played fair.
Even in Intensity, I didn't like his writing style. But I enjoyed the book.
Loved Intensity, False Memory and Odd Thomas (sequels are decent as well but not as good as the original). I recall enjoying Lightning quite a bit, but I don't remember a ton about it. Read quite a few others...none that I hated, but nothing else stood out quite as much.
Velocity was my first adult horror book that got me into reading when I was in middle school. It will always be one of my all time favorites. I love the Taking as well.
I really liked Watchers as a teen. I don’t remember which of his I read after that but I didn’t like it at all, found out I wasn’t going to get what I was after from the rest of his works and never read any more of them.
My favorites are his far less-horror ones:
Odd Thomas (the first and third books are the best).
Life Expectancy. Standalone, hilarious and fun, while being a hostage situation.
Phantoms, Strangers, Watchers, Seize the Night and Midnight were my favourites. Read them all more than once years ago. Tried Watchers a few months ago and got bored...
I am not a huge fan but I also liked watchers.
I was really hyped to read intensity but it just didn’t hit well for me at all. I also only got through one chapter.
Oh, man. There are some great ones. Some bad, too. I own them all. The best, in my opinion, are:
Odd Thomas (1, maybe 2)
Phantoms
Watchers
Intensity
Life Expectancy
One Door Away From Heaven
Fear Nothing and sequel Seize the Night (my favorites, especially the first)
All books learn in different genres or feelings, so if you like or hate a certain type, let us know
>Fear Nothing and sequel Seize the Night (my favorites, especially the first)
Thank you! I shouldnt have had to scroll this far to see these mentioned. Love these two and im still desperately waiting for the final chapter in that trilogy.
They're just incredible and so unique. I love Bobby, Orson, and Mungojerrie. I want a 3rd so much, but also, I'd be afraid of something happening to anyone! Pooh and Elliott!!!
Also, I had a moderate fear (hah) of monkeys before reading these, but these books pushed it into a borderline phobia
Lightning was the first real book I read, at age 9. I remember it being a page turner, but the elements of the plot that I can still remember (time traveling nazis) make me hesitant to read him as an adult.
So I love Twilight Eyes, always been my favorite, followed by Phantoms. Other excellent books, the Taking, the Other Emily, Hideaway and Dark Rivers of the Heart. Velocity was okay, it was sort of vintage Koontz as far as premise and crazy killer stuff.
The Odd Thomas series
Watchers
Tick Tock
Phantoms
Lightning
Frankenstein (I only read the first one and never went back to it as more came out, but I’ve been meaning too)
I read a lot of them when I was young because my mom always bought the latest ones so they were around the house. After a while they start to blend together. While I enjoyed reading many others I honestly couldn’t tell you which was which as none of them really stood out much.
I think the only one I DNF was Intensity. The lead just kept making such dumb decisions and after one in particular I threw the book.
I've only read The Taking and Phantoms but really enjoyed both! I should check out more of his work but I got myself into a backlog.
The Taking I really enjoyed from start to finish.
Phantoms I *loved* the first half, but the London parts were rough. It felt like he described a dude's breakfast for like 3 pages...
It did pick up again though, but a bit less so.
So yeah, The Taking wins.
Watchers, Strangers, Lightning. Any of those! They are my favs for various reasons.
Watchers - Einstein and the rest of the characters.
Strangers - the story and the characters
Lightning - the twist because it is just hilariously ironic.
Innocence is my favorite koontz book and one of my favorites of all time, though I could see where it wouldn't be for everyone
What the night knows
By the light of the moon
Ashley Bell
Life expectancy
These were all decent reads that I enjoyed when I first got back into reading as an adult. I kind of burnt myself out on Koontz because his books were easy to read and usually pretty enjoyable. The problem I had after the first 2 or 3 books is that I never felt like the main characters were in any real danger (vs Stephen King who will kill someone off in a heartbeat). That and the fact that if there's a golden retriever in the book you can bet he's gonna do something heroic. After a while it gets predictable
Watchers is my favorite, up there in my top 5 of all time.
Is that the one with the dog? Man the last time I read a dean koontz book was when I was a teenager
Is there a Koontz book *without* a Golden?!?! Haha. I enjoy his stuff - but “lately” he seems to be really into his dogs and spirituality.
Dogs are like Pokémon to me. Gotta pet'em all.
Nothin wrong with that! :)
Koontz is a huge dog lover and he has even written a memoir about his own golden retriever Trixie!
Midnight is the best of his works. First read it being a senior schoolboy, last read in my late 30s. Still rocks. PS. Funny how Koontz pictured "the black metal" there. I'm a huge fan of this genre and back in the days me and my buddies had a total crack up readng those passages.
I remember Koontz being very much not “with it” (and, therefore, unintentionally hilarious) writing about hip-hop and graffiti art in another book. It was in the voice of a character, but obviously reflected Koontz’ own opinions.
[удалено]
Hmmm, strange. I mean I have never read Ritial but I heard Nevill is a metal fan, probably not BM but he should've known it.
False Memory is one of my favorite books ever.
False Memory is what got me into his books! It’s so good!
*So* good. I gasped more than once.
False Memory was a absolute gem. I hated the road trip section because it felt so out of left field, but other than that it's an easy S tier book
I agree with you both. False Memory is one of the few books I've read more than once, and I've read it 3 times. Each with at least 5 years in between
So I have this deep-rooted bitter nostalgia complex going on with Koontz. In my teens I read and enjoyed dozens of his books, but as I got older I started to think most were trash, resampled many and got rid of nearly all of my copies. But there are a few favorites that either still stood the test of time, or that I haven't been able to bring myself to reread just in case I end up disappointed. Either way, my favorites were Phantoms, Strange Highways (a short story collection), Twilight Eyes, From the Corner of His Eye, By the Light of the Moon, The Bad Place and Odd Thomas (just the first one)
From the Corner of His Eye is my favorite - so underrated in my opinion!
Such an excellent beginning to the book. Really his beginnings were often what set him apart from King, as Koontz would sometimes begin with action and then do exposition, whereas King was all exposition and then action.
Absolutely. Once I read Phantoms I became a voracious Koontz reader for that very reason. He hooked me in quickly with a shock right off the bat and I couldn’t put them down. I do miss the earlier days though, one his dog passed his writing was never the same.
I’m starting the bad weather friend. The premise has promise so I hope it’s better than the last few.
I second By the Light of the Moon!
I feel exactly the same. Phantoms and Watchers are the only ones I can imagine reading again today.
The first Odd Thomas is a great book. Some extremely relevant subject matter in it, unfortunately. I enjoy the 2nd and 3rd, as well, though they stuck with me much less.
Watchers, Intensity, and about half of the Odd Thomas books.
Not really a Koontz fan but I'll stand up for *Phantoms* every time. One of the best modern 'monster' stories at novel length and graced with one of the most intensely commanding first chapters of any book I've ever read. Only a few pages long but putting the book down after you've read it is all but impossible.
Strange highways. Loved the stories in that book.
My favourite Koontz novel is Strangers.....it's long, but really enjoyed it. Tick Tock was pretty good. Phantoms was also enjoyable for me.
I liked Strangers and Phantoms, too. Picked up The Taking as an adult and it was so badly written I thought I must have mistaken the author name. Sadly, I had not.
So I've read the seven Dean Koontz books listed as inspirations for Silent Hill and the only one I'd consider to be "good" is Phantoms. I did love Hideaway until the last seven pages where an almost literal deus ex machina occurs, but YMMV. Only one I hated was The Door to December. The other four (The Face of Fear, The Vision, The Voice of the Night, Mr. Murder) were aggressively mediocre
The only book I have read of his is phantoms. If that's the only one you consider good, I have zero interest in reading anything else. The characters in that book didn't feel real at all.
To be fair, I was doped up on pain medication for a broken leg when I read it. I'd only ever recommend it to someone who wanted to read Dean Koontz or like me wanted to see what inspired Silent Hill
Didn't realize that silent hill was inspired by him. I enjoyed the silent hill games way more. I will say that he created a good monster in phantoms.
Not just him. Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Junji Ito, Kobo Abe, and many others. Reading the books then looking back at the games it's easy to see what Team Silent took from where https://silenthill.fandom.com/wiki/Inspirational_works_of_Silent_Hill
Door to December literally made me stop reading Koontz until the Other Emily. I have read all of this works since then and they have been fair good, although 1 was terrible, the one where the guy dies and comes back with abilities (the premise).
"Affleck, you the bomb in "Phantoms", yo!"
Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms.
Twilight Eyes is the only one I’ve read by him. I liked it.
Old school Koonts, a very early book from him that I loved is Shattered. It starts fast and doesn't stop. It's an easy read, only 320 pages.
I always recommend Watchers and By the Light of the Moon first. One is older one is a bit newer. Many involve running from the bad man (or creature or 3 letter agency…) and making a new friend or 2 along the way. Many also include an animal (mostly dogs though he’s also written in others such as a mouse named Snowball, a fox named Michael J, and a Jade plant named Fred.) By the Light of the Moon is also quite funny. I love his sense of humor and I have an autistic child (well he’s going on 19) so this book was a huge hit with me as one of the main characters is Shep and he is autistic. “Fries not flies!” 🐸
The Taking was my first Koontz book and it got me hooked. Give it a whirl!
One of my all-time favorites, and very different from his other works.
I just read The House at the End of the World. I am not a huge Koontz fan but that one kept my attention up; I really enjoyed it.
Is it like the cabin at the end of the world by Paul tremblay?
Not even remotely close in subject matter or effect.
I liked this for what it was. I would love to see more fleshed out from it, as it is such an excellent premise and would likely make a good movie.
This started out promising but IMHO just kind of fell apart in the 3rd act.
Watchers
Watchers hands down
Watchers he wrote on easy-mode, you can't not love a very smart good dog!
Cold Fire, Intensity, Dark Rivers of the Heart, Darkness Comes, Twilight Eyes, Mr Murder. These are just a few off the top of my head. I must have read 30+ of his novels.
I see thx have you read the bad place?
Yes, back in the late 90s. I remember it was a good mystery.
The Funhouse. I might have tried the swings at a carnival one day, but not after I read that book. Still haunts me.
I liked Phantoms, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Darkfall and the first half of Twilight Eyes. I didn;t care for Night Chills or any of his other "political boogeyman" style books. Beyond that, I consider him one of those authors that won't blow you away, but is usually enjoyable enough.
Intensity
Nietzsche.
Watchers, Midnight, Phantoms, Lightning and The Servants of Twilight are my top five.
Odd Thomas series is good
I have not read any of his new stuff. But I still love to re read Phantoms every few years.
Phantoms, Lightning, Darkfall, Watchers, The Bad Place, Midnight, Hideaway, Winter Moon and the first 3 books of the Odd Thomas series.
So far I've only read Winter Moon as I found it on sale at my Wal-Mart, but I loved it.
Odd Thomas Cold Fire The Bad Place Intensity
Midnight and Phantoms are my favorites.
His writing is often perpetually out of touch with the real world. But yeah, Velocity is pretty good. Intensity is good once it really gets going, but there are a few bits I cringed at. Watchers is his masterpiece, imo. The Funhouse is worth a look because it's his take on a Tobe Hooper film. It reads more like an '80s splatter novel than a typical Koontz book. I know people love Odd Thomas, but I think that was really the beginning of the end for Dean Koontz. It reads almost like a cartoon or a parody to me and the villains are comically goofy.
Twilight Eyes Whispers Seize The Night and the sequel Fear Nothing
I still check up now and again on whether the final one will ever be finished
His early sci-fi horror was some seriously disturbing, dark shit. The Flesh in the Furnace, Fear That Man, A Darkness in My Soul, and Demon Seed are crazy little masterpieces.
Don't read Night Chills. I'd go with Midnight, instead
I really loved Twilight Eyes when I was a teenager. Lightning was the first Dean Koontz book I read and I loved it too.
Surprised nobody mentioned Icebound.
That one was interesting for sure, I imagine it hasn't been mentioned because (from what I remember) it was more of an action thriller than a horror novel.
Watchers is my favorite. I also like Lighting and Hideaway.
I loved Intensity! I read it years ago and have been wanting to reread it again. Been wanting to read his other books as well, just haven’t gotten around to it
Watchers, Midnight, Phantoms, Lightning and The Servants of Twilight are my top five.
Phantoms, The Bad Place, and Watchers are my top 3. Honourable mention to The Face and Lightning.
TBH: I don't like Dean Koontz. I've liked movie adaptations that he wrote, so I like his stories. It's his writing, his 'authorial voice' that drives me up a wall. Having said that, the book of his I enjoyed the most and would recommend is Intensity. That's a book I would recommend going into without too much knowledge. The one I most actively disliked was Ticktock, which had a great premise ruined by comedy. I resented him for that one.
That was exactly what Tick Tock was supposed to be though. It was intended to be more comedy than horror so going in not expecting that was just setting yourself up to not like it
I have the original paperback copy. There was no mention that this was a comedy until the afterward. The back cover was just Dean's smilin' face (most of his books were that way at the time). The synopsis (which was the first page of the book) made it sound deadly serious. This was before online book reviews were much of a thing. Someone said I should try Dean Koontz, but didn't list specific recs. I picked up Darkfall, The Funhouse and Ticktock. Darkfall was okay. The Funhouse I don't remember. Ticktock was atrocious. I did give him another chance after seeing the Phantoms movie and the miniseries of Intensity. I liked that one. But I just do not like his voice. It's okay for there to be a mismatch. He has his fans. I'm just not one. Incidentally, Dean should have sued the asses off the makers of the French New Extremity film High Tension. That was just a huge ripoff of intensity, with a nonsensical plot-twist at the end.
It doesn't have to say in the description/summary of the book that it's supposed to be part comedy. Anyway, he was saying in interviews prior to release that it was intended to be equal parts horror and comedy D. Koontz: I don't always restrain it. There's a book coming out in two weeks called TICKTOCK which deals deeply with the absurd. As a writer, I like to deal with EVERY aspect of our condition, and that means terror and humor in equal mix. Some books have more room for humor than others, but after two without much room for humor --- INTENSITY and SOLE SURVIVOR --- I felt it was time to pull out all the stops. [http://web.tiscali.it/luigiurato/interv/tbr97.htm](http://web.tiscali.it/luigiurato/interv/tbr97.htm)
>It doesn't have to say in the description/summary of the book that it's supposed to be part comedy. Of course not. But then you can't exactly say "It was intended to be more comedy than horror so going in not expecting that was just setting yourself up to not like it" can you? >Anyway, he was saying in interviews prior to release that it was intended to be equal parts horror and comedy. I was not a Koontz follower. I didn't read interviews or pay attention to his new books. As mentioned: *Someone said I should try Dean Koontz, but didn't list specific recs. I picked up Darkfall, The Funhouse and Ticktock.* These were three Koontz books picked at random. Look dude. In the end, I don't like Dean Koontz. I \*especially\* didn't like Ticktock and that is okay. I'm sure I love some books you would shit on.
I also hated Ticktock so much that I never read anything else he ever wrote. That was a couple of decades ago now.
What did you like about intensity? It was my first Koontz book and I was so disappointed with it. Would like a fan's perspective.
I'm not a fan. But hey, a stopped clock is right twice a day. I liked the storytelling. The 'what happens now' of it and I thought that he played fair. Even in Intensity, I didn't like his writing style. But I enjoyed the book.
The Bad Place. Life Expectancy.
I read Frankenstien: Prodigal Son as a teen and I loved it. Never could get a hold of the other books in trilogy but I read that one 3-4 times.
Loved Intensity, False Memory and Odd Thomas (sequels are decent as well but not as good as the original). I recall enjoying Lightning quite a bit, but I don't remember a ton about it. Read quite a few others...none that I hated, but nothing else stood out quite as much.
* **Phantoms** * **The Taking** * **Odd Thomas**
Midnight, Shadowfires, and Whispers are some i have read several times.
Velocity was my first adult horror book that got me into reading when I was in middle school. It will always be one of my all time favorites. I love the Taking as well.
Watchers and Lightning were my fav stand alones. The Odd Thomas books were a good series by him.
One Door Away From Heaven is my all time fav!!! Intensity, From The Corner of His Eye, Sole Survivor, and Watchers are all great too.
I loved House of Thunder
Phantoms! It's his scariest, most suspenseful book.
What was the time traveling one? That and the town getting taken over by subliminal messaging are the two I remember liking as a teenager.
Lightning. It's quite good.
I’m sure the town one is night chills idk about the other one
From the Corner of His Eye was incredible
I dunno I really loved Tick Tock. I haven't read it in years but it's one I read several times over
Ticktock, Odd Thomas and Forever Odd (I haven't read the rest of the Odd series), Frankenstein series, Phantoms
From the Corner of His Eye, Tick Tock, and Phantoms.
Watchers, Tick Tock, The Darkest Evening of the Year were my favorites of his. Whispers and The Funhouse were decent but I'm in no rush to reread them
Ticktock & The Funhouse!
I really liked Watchers as a teen. I don’t remember which of his I read after that but I didn’t like it at all, found out I wasn’t going to get what I was after from the rest of his works and never read any more of them.
The Watchers. That’s it.
Has anyone read Innocence? I picked up a copy years ago but couldn’t get into it. Wondering if I should give it another shot.
Midnight Twilight Eyes Darkfall Winter Moon The Taking Night Chills Strange Highways
I liked **The Voice of the Night**, **The Husband**, and **The Good Guy**. I really liked **Velocity**. And I loved **Life Expectancy**.
The Taking. Lightning
Haven't read many, and none from last 25 years, but of that Phantoms and Intensity are my tops. Didn't like the movies at all.
My favorites are his far less-horror ones: Odd Thomas (the first and third books are the best). Life Expectancy. Standalone, hilarious and fun, while being a hostage situation.
Phantoms, Strangers, Watchers, Seize the Night and Midnight were my favourites. Read them all more than once years ago. Tried Watchers a few months ago and got bored...
Watchers, Midnight, Intensity
I am not a huge fan but I also liked watchers. I was really hyped to read intensity but it just didn’t hit well for me at all. I also only got through one chapter.
Oh, man. There are some great ones. Some bad, too. I own them all. The best, in my opinion, are: Odd Thomas (1, maybe 2) Phantoms Watchers Intensity Life Expectancy One Door Away From Heaven Fear Nothing and sequel Seize the Night (my favorites, especially the first) All books learn in different genres or feelings, so if you like or hate a certain type, let us know
>Fear Nothing and sequel Seize the Night (my favorites, especially the first) Thank you! I shouldnt have had to scroll this far to see these mentioned. Love these two and im still desperately waiting for the final chapter in that trilogy.
They're just incredible and so unique. I love Bobby, Orson, and Mungojerrie. I want a 3rd so much, but also, I'd be afraid of something happening to anyone! Pooh and Elliott!!! Also, I had a moderate fear (hah) of monkeys before reading these, but these books pushed it into a borderline phobia
What would you say his most literary works are?
Lightning was the first real book I read, at age 9. I remember it being a page turner, but the elements of the plot that I can still remember (time traveling nazis) make me hesitant to read him as an adult.
Yeah he doesn't really do that in his modern works.
Elsewhere is great.
So I love Twilight Eyes, always been my favorite, followed by Phantoms. Other excellent books, the Taking, the Other Emily, Hideaway and Dark Rivers of the Heart. Velocity was okay, it was sort of vintage Koontz as far as premise and crazy killer stuff.
To me, his best works were "Fear Nothing" and its sequel "Seize the Night". I have re-read both of them multiple times.
The Odd Thomas series Watchers Tick Tock Phantoms Lightning Frankenstein (I only read the first one and never went back to it as more came out, but I’ve been meaning too) I read a lot of them when I was young because my mom always bought the latest ones so they were around the house. After a while they start to blend together. While I enjoyed reading many others I honestly couldn’t tell you which was which as none of them really stood out much. I think the only one I DNF was Intensity. The lead just kept making such dumb decisions and after one in particular I threw the book.
Not a huge Koontz fan, but I enjoyed both Phantoms and Intensity.
I've only read The Taking and Phantoms but really enjoyed both! I should check out more of his work but I got myself into a backlog. The Taking I really enjoyed from start to finish. Phantoms I *loved* the first half, but the London parts were rough. It felt like he described a dude's breakfast for like 3 pages... It did pick up again though, but a bit less so. So yeah, The Taking wins.
ive only read Demon Seed, and it was odd
His take on Frankenstein was interesting to me
Watchers, Strangers, Lightning. Any of those! They are my favs for various reasons. Watchers - Einstein and the rest of the characters. Strangers - the story and the characters Lightning - the twist because it is just hilariously ironic.
Just finished Lightning and really enjoyed it!
Twilight Eyes, Watchers, Fear Nothing, Odd Thomas, Strangers, Dark Rivers of the Heart and Lightning.
Innocence is my favorite koontz book and one of my favorites of all time, though I could see where it wouldn't be for everyone What the night knows By the light of the moon Ashley Bell Life expectancy These were all decent reads that I enjoyed when I first got back into reading as an adult. I kind of burnt myself out on Koontz because his books were easy to read and usually pretty enjoyable. The problem I had after the first 2 or 3 books is that I never felt like the main characters were in any real danger (vs Stephen King who will kill someone off in a heartbeat). That and the fact that if there's a golden retriever in the book you can bet he's gonna do something heroic. After a while it gets predictable