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Down in the Darkness
Short story from Horror Show magazine (Summer/Jul 1986), anthologized in The Architecture of Fear (1987) and collected in Strange Highways (1995)
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 1987
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397 people want to read
About the author
Dean Koontz
906 books39.6k followersAcknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 26, 2024
A great scary short story! I do not suggest reading it on Christmas Eve like I did! Lol
April 18, 2024
Really good short story.
March 28, 2023
rating - 3.5- 3.75
- atmospheric lovecraftian tale by koontz
- started well and was gripping but took a slight dip in the middle for establishing character/backstory
- liked the concept and execution(in the first half more so)
- the antagonist force was unique and creepy but slightly one-dimensional as the danger it created was limited.
- nice ending except the last line which didn't fit into place.
recommended
- atmospheric lovecraftian tale by koontz
- started well and was gripping but took a slight dip in the middle for establishing character/backstory
- liked the concept and execution(in the first half more so)
- the antagonist force was unique and creepy but slightly one-dimensional as the danger it created was limited.
- nice ending except the last line which didn't fit into place.
recommended
May 28, 2022
I liked it up until chapter 4. It was all over the place and it kept dragging itself.
September 1, 2023
Good short story/novella from Koontz's collection "Strange Highways".
October 25, 2024
There were several short stories here. The most interesting ones that I gave three stars to were Down in the Darkness, Trapped, Hardshell, Chase, Kittens and Twilight of the Dawn
August 23, 2016
Actual Rating - 2 and 3/4 stars.
This was a random pick from Dean Koontz’s back catalogue. I like to occasionally choose something from a favourite author without knowing anything about the title and flying by the seat of my pants. ‘Down in the Darkness’ was the perfect choice; I had an afternoon to kill and this novella filled the time perfectly.
It reminded me of Ronald Dahl, something dark, something with a twisted sense of righteousness. And sufficiently spooky. An old fashioned campfire tale about a supernatural cellar door.
Mexican couple, Carmen and Jesus “Jeff” Gonzalez with their three children (Stacy Heather and Joe) buy a new house. But Jeff is the only one to see the mysterious door to the basement, neither the real estate agent nor his family catch the apparition when it appears.
Upon investigation, Jeff feels a foreboding, flashing back to his two year internment at a prison camp. In the almost tactile shadows down many flights of stairs behind the door he senses an entity that knows all. That would punish all it consumes for eternity.
Jeff is faced with a number of choices: dish out justice for the corrupt and greedy landlord of his family restaurant; and his prison camp torture master returned from the past… was the door bringing about these opportunities?
Would you embrace the darkness? Just merely acknowledging its existence leaves its hooks in your soul and it wields you like a tool, collecting the souls of those it wants. Which journey will Jeff take when he knows his soul is in the balance?
A great moralistic tale in the style of Koontz I’ve come to know and love. Fantastic diverse characters, interesting backstories… even though this is one of his earlier works, it has all the creepiness and sophistication that I enjoy in his writing.
I believe it is now only available in a bind-up called ‘Strange Highways’ and guess you can expect many bite sized Koontz goodness, so if you are new to this author or this genre, it might be a good place to start before you jump into some of his lengthier works.
Even with the amount of fun I had reading ‘Down it the Darkness,’ having been exposed to many other titles of Dean’s, I found it a little simplistic; and, even though I was sufficiently wigged out, I’ve been scared much worse in other titles.
This was a random pick from Dean Koontz’s back catalogue. I like to occasionally choose something from a favourite author without knowing anything about the title and flying by the seat of my pants. ‘Down in the Darkness’ was the perfect choice; I had an afternoon to kill and this novella filled the time perfectly.
It reminded me of Ronald Dahl, something dark, something with a twisted sense of righteousness. And sufficiently spooky. An old fashioned campfire tale about a supernatural cellar door.
Mexican couple, Carmen and Jesus “Jeff” Gonzalez with their three children (Stacy Heather and Joe) buy a new house. But Jeff is the only one to see the mysterious door to the basement, neither the real estate agent nor his family catch the apparition when it appears.
Upon investigation, Jeff feels a foreboding, flashing back to his two year internment at a prison camp. In the almost tactile shadows down many flights of stairs behind the door he senses an entity that knows all. That would punish all it consumes for eternity.
Jeff is faced with a number of choices: dish out justice for the corrupt and greedy landlord of his family restaurant; and his prison camp torture master returned from the past… was the door bringing about these opportunities?
Would you embrace the darkness? Just merely acknowledging its existence leaves its hooks in your soul and it wields you like a tool, collecting the souls of those it wants. Which journey will Jeff take when he knows his soul is in the balance?
A great moralistic tale in the style of Koontz I’ve come to know and love. Fantastic diverse characters, interesting backstories… even though this is one of his earlier works, it has all the creepiness and sophistication that I enjoy in his writing.
I believe it is now only available in a bind-up called ‘Strange Highways’ and guess you can expect many bite sized Koontz goodness, so if you are new to this author or this genre, it might be a good place to start before you jump into some of his lengthier works.
Even with the amount of fun I had reading ‘Down it the Darkness,’ having been exposed to many other titles of Dean’s, I found it a little simplistic; and, even though I was sufficiently wigged out, I’ve been scared much worse in other titles.
May 16, 2023
This is the first Dean Koontz story that i have ever read.....and i liked it alot! As a constant reader of Stephen King stories, i can easily say that Koontz has the "Master of Suspense/Horror" touch.
Spoiler alert...
His vivid, easy-to-picture description of the fearful trip down the "cellar" stairs made me see & feel what Mr. Gonzalez was seeing & experiencing. And his later fear for his soul & morals about having the "cellar" available for...future use...adds to the character, humanizing him.
Spoiler alert...
His vivid, easy-to-picture description of the fearful trip down the "cellar" stairs made me see & feel what Mr. Gonzalez was seeing & experiencing. And his later fear for his soul & morals about having the "cellar" available for...future use...adds to the character, humanizing him.
April 7, 2016
This is the best thing we've read in English this year so yay. I really love horror, and where this was not horror it did have some spook factor which I still appreciate.
It was pretty predictable in which way the story was going, but it was still an interesting read.
It was pretty predictable in which way the story was going, but it was still an interesting read.
December 12, 2024
included in Strange Highways and Other Stories as audio file :-)
July 6, 2012
Simply great! Koontz has studied the human mind. He tells us the ethics. Most probably many of us would not have even thought about the topic Koontz has on display!!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews