Author Review: Dean Koontz

My favorite author, far and away, is Dean Koontz. I discovered Koontz in the early 90s. I had been writing for some time, but didn’t feel like I had a focus for my writing. When I wrote, I was telling a story, but even I could tell it was bland. Note: when the author is not excited by their own writing, you know it’s not any good. My wife had just finished a book by an author she’d recently found.

The author was Dean Koontz and the book was Lightning. She recommended very strongly that I read it. I did read it and I was hooked.

What I loved about Koontz’s writing was the way he pulled me, the reader, into the story. I was there, not simply reading the story, but I was in the dark hallway, surrounded by the creaky floors and strange whispers that seem to come out of thin air. I had never read a book where such vivid images were painted with prose. I also realized the immediacy of starting the story with a bang, get the reader involved in the first page, if possible, in the first paragraph.

I have been told that my books have Koontzian feel to them. I do not copy his books, but to be told that my books feel like his books, well that’s a real compliment.

I haven’t read all of the Dean Koontz books, but as I was developing my own style, I read as many as I could get. The Koontz books which I read and studied, as I developed my own style are:

• Midnight

• Lightning

• Watchers

• Strangers

• Twilight

• Phantoms

• Whispers

• Night Chills

If you chose to read, or reread, these books, notice how quickly Koontz gets you into the excitement. Almost every time the reader is thrown into the action in the first paragraph, maybe even the first sentence.

By – William K