The Eyes of Darkness - Dean Koontz

Author's product rating:   

Would you read it again?	Yes
Story	Good
Characters	Outstanding
Readability	Excellent
How does it compare to other works by the same author?	Very good

Advantages:	Chilling and Sppoky with real suspence  -  However, its not goulish or gruesome, just scary !
Disadvantages:	Ends abruptly, making you want to know what happens next

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The Eyes of Darkness another great tale of mystery and suspense by the macabre hand of Dean R Koontz.

This particular tale was penned in 1981, but even now 20 years later, it hasn’t lost any of its bite.

Dean R Koontz, according to the author profile, was born into a very poor family and learned to escape from this harsh reality using fiction. Born in 1945, by the time he wrote this novel he was 36, and had published 16 novels. This was actually first released under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols, although there is no indication as to why.

The Eyes of Darkness all happens in 3 days at New Year, from December 30th to January 2nd. Although we hear little of the celebrations that would be ensuing, particularly as the action centres around the party cites of Las Vegas and Reno.

The story itself starts with a chilling recount of the heroines encounter with a little boy, a boy who reminds of someone she used to know.

The main character is Christina (Tina) Evans, a Las Vegas showgirl and Divorcee, Tina has struggled hard, to become a career woman. Dragging herself from the chorus lines of the shows into the behind the scenes work. First through costume design then up to choreography. Eventually when we meet her 10 years later she is now producing a $3million extravaganza called Magyck! at a top Las Vegas Strip Hotel and casino.

However, work is merely there to block out pain, the adrenaline acting as morphine to her troubled soul. Not long after Tina’s adulterous husband Michael Evans left her, she lost her son too, now she is alone.

Danny aged 10, was camping with the scouts. Their bus was found at the bottom of a ravine, all fourteen boys and their scout masters, dead. There bodies too mangled and charred to be viewed by mourners, Tina never getting closure for Danny’s death.

For the next 8 pages she recounts her life, a life that has brought to the moment where she imagines seeing Danny in a parking lot, miles away from where he was found dead.

Laid in bed she thinks of all the past events and wonders if things will ever be right for her again. Will the pain ever subside? It is whilst she is laid awake that she hears a noise, a definite thud. A woman alone in the house, no one to protect her, but someone is out there, in the darkness.

From this moment on the book picks up with a furious pace, which continues through the book during which a chase ensues. In his interminable style, he manages to keep you gripped throughout, never mincing words, and bringing his characters to life with a few mere strokes of the pen.

Michael – her ex husband is a real character. Full of his own self worth, he constantly blamed her for their sons death, not taking responsibility for the fact that he abandoned their boy in a time a lad needs a dad. She should never have let him go, he told her, Danny was too young. However, Tina had checked and double checked the 2 Scout Masters credentials. In 14 years of taking boys to the mountains, I don’t think any even caught a cold!

Yet this time something happened. They were miles away from where they should have been, involved in a horrific crash and there was no witnesses to recount the story. Tina wanted answers, but no one was listening.

The tension starts when we are revealed that Tina suffers from recurring nightmares about the Grim Reaper trying to kill her son, whilst she watches, powerless to help. Tina obviously puts this down to tiredness, grief, and nervousness about the show. The nightmares continue.

Then messages appear scrawled in Danny’s room. After eliminating obvious suspects she begins to panic, someone is obviously stalking her, but who?

The show must go on though, and Tina is determined for it to be a hit. Opening night of Magyck is a great success and Tina is tipped for the top, but she has other things on her mind. At the party she meets a dashing Lawyer called Elliot Stryker and love is immediately blossoming between Tina and the handsome Widower.

But how do you admit to a man you hardly know that you think you are losing your mind. That you are beginning to think your house and your dreams are being haunted by something resembling Death?

Koontz interweaves the blossoming relationship, with the twisting plot perfectly, and soon Tina and Elliot find that there was much more to Danny’s death then could ever meet the eye. However, someone thinks they know too much, and as such they need to be eliminated.

The chase begins. The cat and mouse game between Tina and Elliot and an unknown “Network” sends them to Reno to search for questions into what happened to Danny.

Elliot becomes the perfect ally for Tina in her time of crisis, after all, he was in Nam, has his own Cessna Light Aircraft, and can disable two goons with his bare hands…plus he makes fantastic pasta. (the perfect man!)

Throughout the book Tina faces some tough questions and as she jumps one hurdle another appears right in front of her…

Will Elliot believe her ridiculous notions?
Will their relationship survive?
Will They survive?
What happened to Danny?
Will they reach their goal in time?
WHY?

All of these are answered in the last 18 pages of the book, but that opens up a range of questions, I the reader wanted answered…

So there you have it. I have only one minor criticism of this book. What happened next? It is so good, it leaves you burning for more…..

What are your characters going to do next?
Where will they go?
Will they be okay?
What will become of them.

This book is well worth a read for any Koontz fan, and read alone it would definitely make you want to rush out and get another of his novels, the suspense and chills are superb and so is the book.

Other books by the same Author

Cold Fire
The Bad Place
Midnight
Twilight Eyes
Strangers

Plus many more……

Kellie ~ July 2001