What the Night Knows: A Novel

**Non Specific Spoilers Only**

What the Night Knows is a the continuation of Darkness Under the Sun, an enjoyable novella. While the Novella focused on characterization for the antagonist of the 'series,' this book focused on the protagonist and his history with the crimes and criminals of his past and present. This focus allowed character development of the main protagonist over time, while the style of writing kept our focus on the present. A nice touch.

I personally found it pretty suspenseful, but the attention getter of the book centered around the crimes themselves. Most of the crimes followed a pattern, so this flattened some of the suspense, but just the specific way the crimes would unfold or be foiled, and the unpredictable behavior of the protagonist were enough to keep the reader occupied. A possible detractor was the victims of the killer could be anyone, and while that made it impossible to predict, it also made character development of any potential victims rushed at best. This is a common occurence in crime novels, so you can't be too disappointed in that...just a matter of personal taste.

Koontz has always written interesting children characters, and this book is no different. These children are pretty unique, but that is to be expected of home schoolers with private tutors from Russia. The three children, two girls and a boy formed a believable family unit; each showcasing their unique personalities. The boy's fixation on being a marine, and the elder girl's fixation on fantasy novels is something I have come across with kids today as a teacher. The younger girl's supernatural insight is a little trite, but her relationship with her sister is a highlight. Overall, I would rate the children as a plus to this book.

Overall, this book is better than average. The creepiness of the plot, and the buoyancy of the children keep the mind afloat in this interesting tale of innocence and character flaws; beauty and the ugly realities of life. The redemption of the protagonist almost takes a back seat to the solidarity of the children and the family, although it was certainly a nice touch too. Enjoy this book: a chiller with a heart

Recommended.

What the Night Knows: A Novel
I have just finished What the Night Knows and I give it 4 stars out of 5, because like most Koontz novels it is difficult to put down and draws you on through the night to a suspenseful conclusion. Many of Koontz' novels involve by means of his firm grasp on the development of the characters until the reader is fully engaged by them and carried away.
In this case though, it is the children in the novel that capture your interest; specifically Zach and Minnie. They have echoes of the children in a C.S. Lewis novel or the heroic nature of the children in a Madeleine L'Engle book. I found the older girl Naomi and her self-absorbed nature difficult to sympathize with and in contrast to most Koontz novels the protagonist John Calvino remains a less complex portrait, with a character not developed in a manner that fully enthralls the reader.
I happen to be a huge fan of the "Odd" novels and judge any Koontz novel in the light of the strange and wonderful character of Thomas. That is why I give this novel 4 stars. It is still an excellent entertainment to curl up by the fire on a winter's night. But does not uplift the spirit in the way an Odd Thomas novel does.

Twenty years ago a brutal serial killer named Alton Blackwood killed four families including young John Calvino's parents and siblings. John survived. Now, he's a cop with a family of his own and when a young 14 year old boy kills his own family, John recognizes similarities in the murders to those of Blackwood's long ago. Is the spirit of Blackwood back? If so, then John knows his family is in danger. He's about to have to face Blackwood again.

Believe it or not, this is the very first Koontz book I've ever read although Koontz has just about as many books out as Stephen King, if not more. And I can honestly say I'm hooked! This book gave me the chills I wanted from recently read author Michael Koryta. Koryta is good at suspense and mystery with a supernatural thriller, but Koontz goes one step farther. He's just sick and twisted, for lack of better words. He's also a bit more descriptive and brutally honest. He hold's nothing back.

What I really liked about this book is the multiple point of views which were each unique and interesting and really brought the characters to life. And since I cared about each character and good follow them so easily, I didn't get any of them confused. Sure, I had to pause occasionally to remember who a minor character was, but I never had to look back at what I'd already read to figure it out.

For instance, Calvino has three kids: Zach, Minnie, and Naomi. Each kid is very different and Koontz gives them their own chapters where they explore mysteries taking place in their house. Zach, 14, checks out a service mezzanine above his bedroom that can be accessed through his closet. He wants to be a marine so he takes a weapon from the kitchen. He's brave, but being a kid he's still a bit scared at times.

Minnie and Naomi have an odd encounter with the mirror in the bedroom. Naomi, 11, is imaginative and quite the young lady who is obsessed with stories of dragons and princesses. She's convinced the other world in the mirror is a magic kingdom. The spats she has with her sister are well written and quite funny. Koontz really draws these kids out and makes you appreciate them as characters.

The minor characters which Blackwood haunts are also each given their moment to shine as they come alive on the page and downright frighten you. There's an intense scene with a possessed cop in a hospital that really had the pages turning. Calvino later seeks guidance from an excommunicated priest who was an exorcist. As he confesses as to why he can't help Calvino, even he will make you shiver although his appearance only takes up a few pages. I'd love to see Koontz develop him more in a later book.

Koontz is definitely a master and I can easily see why he has such a large following. The book is certainly not without its flaws though which for me became cliche at times. For instance, the repetition of certain words. By the time I noticed them a few times, I would just roll my eyes. One such word was "darkle." Koontz obviously loves that word because he uses it numerous times! He also likes to describe the weather and it seems he does it at the beginning or end of every chapter. There was so much mention of the leaves blowing on trees and the wind that later when those things were important, it was hard to pay attention.

Minus these distractions and a lackluster, and a bit predictable, ending, I enjoyed the book immensely. It's 442 pages and I finished it in 7 days. That's a record for me because I usually frown at 300+ pages and it takes at least 2 weeks if not more for me to get through it. So, it was definitely a page turner for me which I couldn't put down! Its also made me want to seek out some of his other books to read until the next one comes along.

Once more author Dean Koontz delivers with his novel, What The Night Knows. From the opening lines, rich with a mastery of language that borders of narrative prose, the reader is hooked and drawn quickly into the story.

"In the late summer of a long ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.

Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, recreating in detail Blackwood's crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family--his wife and three children--will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.

As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return."

Koontz has elevated the genre to something more than mere simplistic baseline horror found in other books (and some of his earlier works). The multi-layered realities of the novel deliver more than empty formalistic fear. He probes the true roots of evil and pokes at the disintegration in human systems. As a result he delivers true fear and in What the Night Knows he has achieved new heights. His works are often multi-layered social commentary, complex and compelling fiction, and full of charged scenes that find our fears and expose them ruthlessly. Here, he takes the ghost story and makes it frighteningly real, entirely human, entirely possible, and uniquely his own.

Be cautioned though, don't start it unless you can devote time to it. It is hard - very hard - to put down once begun. -- Marilyn A. Hudson, author of "The Bones of Summer: A Chilling Collection of Tales", and webmistress of 'Oklahoma Writers" and "Author Junction."

Reading the other reviews, it seems that some are disappointed that this is not the "original" Koontz of the 80's and 90's. No this is not the taut suspense action story peppered with comedic moments of the earlier novels, rather, something more introspective, moody, with some ambiguities. "Darkness Under the Sun," intrigued me and I anticipated a more dynamic, vicious villain in Alton, but, instead, he died before the beginning of the story, transforming into an aura of evil. The first third of the book revolves around John, the hero-detective, and his family discovering that "something" bad has invaded their home, fleeting through dark spaces, mirrors. The theme of "inviting trouble" appears over and over. Who invited this ghoul into the house? Who will he possess to wreck his evil? Very impactful and creeped me out thinking back to childhood fantasies. Then it picks up. John tries to figure out what triggered the new start of the murders, when will the dead Alton try to replay the murders with his present family, while the wife rationalizes and the kids use their imaginations for good and evil. The characters were likeable, but not memorable as one such as Odd Thomas. The kids are precocious but not unbelievable. There are enough red herrings to keep you guessing and the ending does seem to "logically" resolve the story. Good triumphs, but, maybe not completely. Overall a good read from the author.

Reading the other reviews, it seems that some are disappointed that this is not the "original" Koontz of the 80's and 90's. No this is not the taut suspense action story peppered with comedic moments of the earlier novels, rather, something more introspective, moody, with some ambiguities. "Darkness Under the Sun," intrigued me and I anticipated a more dynamic, vicious villain in Alton, but, instead, he died before the beginning of the story, transforming into an aura of evil. The first third of the book revolves around John, the hero-detective, and his family discovering that "something" bad has invaded their home, fleeting through dark spaces, mirrors. The theme of "inviting trouble" appears over and over. Who invited this ghoul into the house? Who will he possess to wreck his evil? Very impactful and creeped me out thinking back to childhood fantasies. Then it picks up. John tries to figure out what triggered the new start of the murders, when will the dead Alton try to replay the murders with his present family, while the wife rationalizes and the kids use their imaginations for good and evil. The characters were likeable, but not memorable as one such as Odd Thomas. The kids are precocious but not unbelievable. There are enough red herrings to keep you guessing and the ending does seem to "logically" resolve the story. Good triumphs, but, maybe not completely. Overall a good read from the author.

This was an excellent book. It trapped me from the beginning with its style and with the central question of what was happening to the protagonists. There were a few elements in this book that could have been a turnoff (I won't say which particularly - no spoilers), but they were handled deftly enough that I enjoyed the book in spite of them. The conclusion was a tad rushed, but nothing to really squawk about. Easily in the top 10% of DK books.

This was truly one of Mr. Koontz' weird books, but loved it. Will keep you on the edge of your seat or give you horrendous nightmares -- or both. I am a Dean Koontz fan, but this one was unusually gripping, totally off the wall. If you are a fan you will really like this book, and as with most of his books, I plan to re-read it. I don't do that with most books, but almost always re-read his. And I'm glad there was a Golden Retriever -- I only owned Dobermans, but I love his favorite breed. Read it, you'll go bonkers over what is real, imagined, or totally believable.

I am a fan of thrillers, suspense, and mystery novels...it doesn't take too much to please & entertain me. However, I found this novel predictable, hokey, and shallow. The Lego wheel? Seriously? The characters weren't developed enough for me to care whether they lived or died. But since this is a predictable novel, you will already know what is going to happen in the first couple of chapters. Lame. Dean Koontz, I expected better.

Unlike Dean Koontz's previous books, I found this one very disappointing. The plot is convoluted and difficult to follow with too many characters not well defined. I would not recommend this to fans of Koontz.

Years ago, I really enjoyed Dean Koontz novels. I could always tell that he was conservative and that he had a love of guns I didn't share, but so what--the stories were good. In the last few years, however, I've felt that Koontz has become a niche writer. He no longer seems to be writing for a general audience; he's writing for the people who buy Glenn Beck books.

I suspect What the Night Knows will be the last Koontz book I buy. The main characters, the Calvino family, are so unrealistic and uninteresting that I frankly don't care what happens to them. John Calvino is a police officer, but the family lives in a huge mansion because the mother is an acclaimed artist. She also home schools her three children and is never too tired to have spiritually meaningful sex with her husband at the end of the day. She does have two servants who do the household chores and cook and serve meals to the family, but balancing a full time art career which supports the family with full time home schooling for three children at three different ages is a big job. The children never watch television, never play video games, never listen to popular music and do not follow trends or fads. The children also never complain about not being allowed to watch television, play video games, listen to pop music or follow trends. They are perfect self-contained beings with special talents and big vocabularies. The 14 year old son collects books about military history and wants to be a marine to protect his younger sisters, his family, his homeland and his way of life from true believers who fly planes into buildings and evil dictators who want nuclear weapons. That's almost an exact quote from the book. I'm only about 25% of the way through, and I'm already rooting for the ghost of the deformed, psychotic, demon-possessed serial killer. He's much more human than the Calvinos. They are the kind of self-righteous, self-absorbed, humorless people who ruin dinner parties. Actually the Calvinos are so flawless and dull that they appear to have been created by a writer who's never talked to a child and never been part of a family.

I suspect I'll never get all the way through this book, but I'm going to give it a try because I paid so much for it. Then I'm done with Dean Koontz novels although I will always have a soft spot for the fun, gun-toting, imperfect characters of his earlier books.

This novel starts out with a normal story line but as the story continues the reader realizes that it is not so normal. I have never read Dean Koontz before this story. I must say the middle of the story was a little less exciting than the beginning but the end of the story was a non stop 'ride'! I breezed through the last 100 pages in minimal time. I hope the next Koontz book I ordered (Odd Thomas) is as good.

While Mr.Koontz retains his writing style along with his well defined good vs. evil theme and nicely developed characters, this book introduces simply too much description of a depravity that is too deep. It is James Patterson style sexual violence and just doesn't measure up to the Koontz standard. I've read everything he's written and this just fails. Bring back Odd Thomas and lose the garbage.

The author has a wonderful talent for drawing you into the story that I love. It was easy to follow and not completely predictable as with some books I have read.

I look forward to reading more of his books

I have read every book Dean Koontz has written. I love his style of writing and how he uses words to paint pictures which helps me to feel as though I am there, with the characters in the book, sharing their thoughts and experiences. This book was a real barn burner, one of Dean's best books ever, and he is a very prolific writer. Once I began reading this book, I couldn't put it down. It was powerful and gripping; my mind didn't wander. This was definitely one of Dean's best books. I am thrilled I bought it. As soon as I finished it, I started reading it again. I wish I could meet Dean and personally thank him for all the hours of joy he has given me. Keep on writing Dean; I will always be one of your #1 fans!