Koontz: Three Complete Novels

P>The novel in this book is The Bad Place. I had actually read this DK novel before, and liked it again upon the second reading. It is by far the longest novel in the book. In reality it is the only one that I think deserves novel status. It is true DK, suspenseful, thrilling, and loaded with bits of the paranormal. DK is not the finest writer on the planet, but at times he does succeed in coming up with some of the strangest story ideas you'll ever see. If you like different/wierd, you will like The Bad Place. Individually, I would give it four and one half stars (I rarely give anything five stars as I consider a five star rating to mean nearly perfect and must read).<p>The next "novel" in this book is Demon Seed. Demon Seed is one of those books that people read and typically love or hate with very little middle ground. The truth is that Demon Seed is weak from a literary point of view. There is not a whole lot of flesh on the bones. Even DK himself acknowledges that Demon Seen was more a "good idea than a novel". It is about a computer that believes itself to be in love with a woman and uses that as an excuse to do anything it wants to her, which it does. After it proceeds to lock her within her highly automated home, the really scary stuff begins. DK does a good job making the computer sound like an abusive man who had any number of reasons why his abuse was ok, even good for, the woman that he "loves". While thin and disappointing in some areas, this is still a fast and entertaining read with quite a bit of insight into the abusive mind thrown in for salt. I give it four stars.<p>The last book, The Eyes of Darkness, was the most disappointing. The idea for the novel was very good, which is probably what makes it so diappointing. Even what there was of the novel was pretty good, but it wasn't well fleshed out at all. The characters were all very static. Also, it seemed that everything came too easily to the characters as they were going through their struggles. It is not surprising to me that this book was originally released under the name of Leigh Nichols before DK was writing under his own name. It has every bit of the feel of what a DK outline would turn into in the hands of a less expereinced writer. I give it 2 and one half stars.

I bought this book and it took me a little while to get into it. It was a little slow at first, but once things started picking up, I finished it in a week. So many twists and turns, you never know what to expect next. An EXCELLENT read!