Strange happenings draw a group of strangers into a mystery beyond imagining.
Welcome!
Anyone else happy that it’s finally October?
Now we can blame all of our dark, weird, or spooky reads on the season.
Today I get to share with you the latest from one of my favorite authors since I was a teen, Dean Koontz.
I’ve always loved his ability to pull you into a story so entirely that the creepiness often follows you off the page.. and the fact that he can still do it impresses the heck out of me.
Consistency: Not something every author can achieve.
Whether your a long time fan, a newcomer to Koontz’s work, or simply another of thriller/sci-fi/and wtf mysteries..
This will be one to check out.
Enjoy!
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The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz
Publication date: July 19, 2022
Pages: 380
Genre: Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction, Psychological Thriller
Standalone
First line: In every life, there are strange coincidences, occurrences that we find inexplicable, and even moments that seem supernatural.
When Jojo was nine she lost her parents, but before she’s sent away to live with her aunt, her mother’s voice reaches out to her from beyond.
One day, she says, Jojo will be called upon to return home.. and the young, grieving girl promises to do so.
Twenty four years later Jojo begins to experience strange happenings.
Now thirty three and a bestselling writer, Joanna remembers little of her childhood, and less of her promise.
Still.. each night she’s haunted by vivid dreams of her younger self, her mother, and glimpses of a life she can’t recall.
It’s time go home. Back to the ranch where it all began. Back to Rustling Willows.
Four Stars!
Characters: Real. Interesting.
Storyline: Mysterious. Many facetted. Absorbing.
Pace: Appropriate in all the right places.
Writing: Intelligent. Detailed. Engrossing.
Cover: 4/5
Multiple POVs
Intelligent. Unusual. Complex. Compelling.
Where do writers like this—like Stephen King, John Saul, and James Patterson—pull these incredible and disturbing stories from?
Do we all have a secret cache of shadowy worlds and creeping monsters buried somewhere inside.. waiting for those with the skill to give them life?
Now that would be interesting.
Here we have a girl haunted by her dead mother.. sort of. Murder. A psycho on a mission to end the world. Creepy phone calls. Repressed memories. Nightmares of bears and bucks and does. An investigator in over his head. A mysterious boy with a disfigured face. Seemingly possessed vehicles. A kidnapped woman searching for meaning in her twin’s death. Fireflies. A plethora of unexplained phenomenon.
And laced through it all is this unsettling atmosphere that practically seeps from the page.
Time and again Dean Koontz’s stories promise dark, fascinating adventures into the unknown and I have to give him credit.. he delivers.
This book is Koontz in his element, a nightmare disguised as a dream, he expertly combines science fiction, fantasy, and a healthy dose of mystery/wtf in a way that consumes the reader. Nothing is what it seems.. but you somehow grow accustomed to the lack of certainty and begin to revel in the unpredictable nature of it all.
The almost effortless way he weaves these characters, their storylines, the crazy twists and turns, into such a deeply engrossing creation.. Is beyond impressive. You’re held captive. You hang onto the endless possibilities and the eerie atmosphere, so saturated with potential that you find yourself wanting, needing, searching each page for the answers. It’s an experience that never gets old.
Short chapters and multiple POVs keep the pace going at a good clip, giving it the feeling as though you’re careening towards an astonishing, yet anticlimactic, conclusion.. Which was and wasn’t a good thing. The speed? Great. It suited a lot of the storyline. That ending though? It was definitely a bit of a letdown. Not a cliffhanger, thank goodness, but it was rather abrupt.
And while the hodge-podge of unusual characters are all the best (and worst) of humanity—brave, intelligent, kind, resolute—I did feel like they lacked a depth that more backstory could have provided. That’s not to say they weren’t fantastically done, they were, but it almost felt like this should have been book two in a short series.
Would I recommend this to anyone? Hell yes.
Koontz begs you to question and dares you to believe.
But I do encourage potential readers to look into trigger warnings beforehand.. There are dark themes and situations some readers may find unpleasant.
Quotes:
Intelligence is dangerous without common sense, but common sense can never be learned by those who have been educated into arrogance, who lack the humility to believe in and trust their intuition.
In the wind, the willows tossed their tresses as if the were mourners capable of anguish and bedeviled by the grim history of the ranch.
Those long-ago days had not been bright with magic, but dark with sorcery inexplicable. This was a place of murder and deception, of unknown forces that, if known, might reveal horrors yet undreamed.
I know this wasn’t my best review and I apologize for that.. I seem to be experiencing an extremely unhelpful inability to concentrate..
Anyway! Thank you so much for checking out this review, I hope it was helpful!
What’s the strangest book you’ve ever read?
I hope, where ever you are in the world, that you and your family are safe and well.
Happy Reading!
I am reading Koonz’s Intensity now…I tried 3 other times but it was just so… intense! I appreciate your review on this book. Perhaps it will be my next read!
Ooh.. I haven’t read that one yet but, yes, Dean Koontz seems to have a certain level of intensity in all of his books (at least the ones I’ve read).. It’s one of my favorite things about his writing.
I hope you enjoy Intensity and, if you get the chance, The Big Dark Sky as well. Happy reading!