The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz

[Greg]

Ah, Dean, the poor man's Stephen King, although he might be more prolific at this stage.

Some of his books are good, some are terrible. His over riding themes seem to be massive government conspiracies bent on destroying the world. I liked the first book in his Odd Thomas series but it petered out after that.

In The Silent Corner, Jane Hawk, an FBI agent thinks the events surrounding her Marine Colonel husband's suicide are suspicious and heads out to find out the truth. Naturally, everyone is against her but she does find a few allies.

There are a lot of good details to Koontz books and some of the characterizations are really good, as if he has a real feel for the characters. But in a lot of cases they seem like they come out of the Koontz cookie cutter. His villains all have a certain over -arching evil sameness to them.

But the book diverted me for a few days, so that was good.

[Greg]

The Whispering Room

I spent the weekend surrounded by the Koontz paranoia in this sequel to the silent corner.

More of the same. The plan to enslave the people of earth through nano-tech brain implants continues apace. Jane continues to run around the country to track down the leaders of the cabal. She gets a few allies, but it's mostly just her.

There is a major subplot or detour in the book but it all works. The best moments in the book are when Jane gets to be tough and talks tough. Yep, the torture scenes are very enjoyable.

It was a fine way to laze through my weekend.

[Greg]

The Crooked Staircase

More of the same. I really want to talk to Koontz to if he is this paranoid. The scope of the books is getting much shorter. This one covered a couple of days. And it ends on a major cliff hanger.

There is also a lengthy sub-plot about two Indian writers that never ties fully into the main timeline. Although the bad guys in that one do go after Jane.

Another lengthy book with no resolution in sight.