Book Review: Darkfall by Dean Koontz

Darkfall focuses on two main characters. The first is a man from Jamaica named Baba Lavelle. Lavelle has come to New York City to get revenge on a Mafia family who was responsible for the death of his brother. Lavelle is a bocor, which means that he specializes in voodoo involving the black arts. Four corpses have been found and they are all high ranking officials in the Mafia family. This is where the second character of the story comes in. Jack Dawson is a cop who has been working the case. All four bodies appear to have been bitten to death, and they were all behind locked doors and most of the time under security. Jack and his partner Rebecca cannot figure out what is killing these men, or how it is being done.

As is common with all of Dean Koontz books, the writing in Darkfall pulls the reader in from the first page and keeps the reader involved in the story until the very end. The amount of terror and suspense this book brings is amazing. Jack Dawson is a very likeable hero, and you will find yourself rooting for him from the very beginning. He not only has to deal with Lavelle, but also with his growing feelings for his partner. Koontz does a great job developing the romance between Rebecca and Jack.

Over all this is a very entertaining read. Darkfall has a reputation as not being one of Koontz’s best books, but I do not understand that belief. In my mind, it is a very good book. Few books out there bring that level of terror and suspense that Darkfall does. It packs a scary and suspenseful story with outstanding characters.