A Darkness in My Soul

by Dean R. Koontz

Although he was the first successful product of the Artificial Creation laboratory - the government workshop for the production of new talents by tampering with the genes of the unborn, Simeon Kelly would work for them only under compulsion. And the compulsion the generals applied to get him to probe the mind of the thing called Child had to be the greatest.

Because Child was anything but that. In that incredibly monstrous infant appeared to be the potential for whole oceans of inventions and an entire cosmos of total creativity. But Child was vicious, insane, and short-lived.

The encounter of Simeon Kelly inside the soul? mind? cosmos? of this final gene-construct is a novel which spans the crises of the present with the whole ultimate mystery of Creation itself -- possibly the most serious novel ever written by the rapidly rising SF talent of Dean R. Koontz.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks, Novels, Suspense

124 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Librarian's Note: This author writes under the name Dean R. Koontz and Dean Koontz. As both names appear on his works, both should be kept.

Acknowledged 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.

Known Pseudonyms:
Leigh Nichols,
Brian Coffey,
David Axton,
Owen West,
Deanna Dwyer
Aaron Wolfe.
K.R. Dwyer
John Hill
Richard Paige
Anthony North

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

DAW collectors book # 12

Cover Art: Jack Gaughan

Legal Name: Koontz, Dean Ray - (born July 9, 1945)

Alternate Names: David Axton, Brian Coffey, Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, John Hill, Dean Koontz, Trixie Koontz, Дин Кунц?, Leigh Nichols, Anthony North, Richard Paige, Owen West, Aaron Wolfe
An Expded version of the short story “A Darkness in My Soul.”

Superman or Supermonster? Although he was the firs successful product of the Artificial Creation laboratory - the government workshop for the production of new talents by tampering with the genes of the unborn, Simeon Kelly would work for them only under compulsion. And the compulsion the generals applied to get him to probe the mind of the thing called Child had to be the greatest.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the nine (!!) novels that first appeared by Koontz in 1972, when he was still primarily a writer of hastily produced genre science fiction. It was an expansion of a short story that was first published in Fantastic magazine in January of 1968, which was edited by Harry Harrison. It's a very slim book, a dark and serious look at artificially created life and the nature of God-hood, set in the far future world of 2004. I can see it as something of a dry run for his Frankenstein books, but it's a theme he explored again and again. It's a fine, quick read, but I believe I preferred the original short version, which was included in his good short story collection, Soft Come the Dragons. The first DAW edition had a fine cover by Jack Gaughan, but this 1976 reprint has a very different, very odd Josh Kirby illustration... it's either an exploding Dalek, or an angry garden gnome on a Porta-Potty, or....

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is one of the author's earliest works. It is so early in his writing career that I believe it is not listed on most of his published book listings within his more famous works. In this one we follow a man who was artificially created and has the ability to read minds. War is breaking out all over the world and he might hold the key to us winning.

When I pick up one of these early works it is to fill my curiosity more than my enjoyment. I want to see how my favorite author started. I realize that it is his beginning and these books are not going to be the best. This one met my expectations. It had an interesting premise and I immediately could tell this was a Koontz work. It had the conspiracy factor with religious themes throughout and it was placed in a sci-fi genre setting. I could get behind that. The problem was that Koontz decided to tackle too many themes for this offering. I mentioned book in my review. This really is not a book but a novelette. It is just over one hundred twenty pages. Not enough time to tackle all the themes that Koontz tried to tackle. It came across as jumbled. I did think when he concentrated on the sci-fi aspect I did like this offering.

This did exactly what thought it would do. It satisfied my curiosity itch. I did chuckle a couple to times as Koontz thought by the year 2004 we would be driving around in hover cars. Yes it was interesting. No it was not really enjoyable but I did not expect it to be. I am glad I read it though as it gives me more insight to the origins of my favorite writer.

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 5 out of 5]

E rieccomi alla corte del primo Koontz, quello fantascientifico, dove l'autore dà il meglio, almeno per come la vedo io!
Siamo in un futuro imprecisato, dove il nostro protagonista, Simeon Kelly un telepatico, passa la sua vita a sondare le menti per lavoro. Ideato dalla CA (Creazione Artificiale), Simeon è un prodotto atto ad individuare le problematiche sociali e politiche che potrebbero portare alla Guerra ed evitarla, ma un bel giorno si trova a sondare la mente di un essere che...
Una lettura che mi ha catturato dalle prime pagine, il ritmo è serrato, ci sono molti colpi di scena, molti spunti di riflessione sia filosofica, che politica, ma anche sociale sull'amore, l'amicizia, il rapporto con gli altri e l'onnipresente tecnologia opprimente, che ormai è parte fondamentale della vita quotidiana di tutti i cittadini della Terra.
Cosa faresti per migliorare la vita sulla Terra? E se mai ci riusciresti, sei sicuro che ciò potrebbe essere la cura, se mai esistesse una cura?

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good early Dean Koontz novel. Highly enjoyable.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read this I had only read one other, much later novel from Dean Koontz, written well after he had become Mr. Bestseller and second only to Stephen King, probably. I remember nothing of that book. This was 25 years ago. I recently saw that Koontz had dabbled in science fiction (as well as pornography) as a young writer and I was curious to see how he handled the genre. This was a major surprise. While obviously the product of a young writer, it still manages to be fiercely original and absolutely "far-out," for lack of a better term. This is Philip K. Dick territory, but much, much darker than anything he wrote. The prose has moments of profundity and Koontz even manages to be surprisingly erudite in some ways. All this in barely over 100 pages. To me, it certainly doesn't seem like the product of someone writing solely for money. And it seems a shame he established himself in the horror genre, which is a stupid genre read by stupid people. Geniuses read science fiction.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dean Koontz is probably my favorite living author. Having said that this book is not as good as most of his writings, but it was 1972 and he was still learning his craft. Having said that, it was still an entertaining book, but not as engrossing to me as others he has written since. I would still recommend it though. There is an especially intriguing page when he discusses elected leaders. Worth the read just for that.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 to 4.0 Stars. There were parts I loved & parts that were written almost like a child. All in all a good to really good read. I do have to say that I love the old Dean Koontz books. This one reminded me a bit of “Midnight”.

[Derek Hansen · Rating 1 out of 5]

All of these old sci-fi era Koontz books are just embarrassingly badly parsed, like Twilight levels of exposition.

[Constance · Rating 2 out of 5]

ehh

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

So weird! Still a good story with so many fascinating premises, but super weird. Ha!

[Craigeria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this novella through a used bookstore. I’m a long time reader of Koontz but I can’t say I’ve read any of his earlier works that have since been de-published. This is the first.

While the writing was overly wordy (a flaw of Koontz that generally has improved over time), the story itself was quite enjoyable. This book was written in the vein of 50s or 60s sci-fi and could have taken place in the same universe of Fahrenheit 451. It is funny to note that the book takes place in the “futuristic” world of 2004. 😂

Needless to say Koontz didn’t get much about the future right. This novel didn’t predict COVID! There are no hover cars or massive indoor complexes where people can live their whole lives.

The main story could really have taken place in contemporary times. Our hero is an artificially-created man with special abilities to read the minds or control others. While he has a conscience he meets a boy (made in a similar way) who appears to have none. Their psychic battle leads to a transcendence that leads our protagonist to find God (literally).

In many ways this story, albeit dark, is more creative than a number of other Koontz books. This is the type of story that could find itself these days the subject of a streaming series. Probably three seasons (30 episodes) would be plenty to tell the whole story.

My guess is Koontz doesn’t want to include this story as part of his contemporary collection for a couple reasons. Most notably because his writing style has improved, but also possibly because he seems to be more of a spiritual man these days and would not be pleased to share with others the story of a man who fights God.

This definitely makes me curious about his other “early” works. Hopefully I will find a few more examples before they disappear forever.

[Joel J. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right down the center. Thankfully, this wasn’t a long book. Less than 150 pages. But in those pages, you get a zigzagging plot that gives you everything and the kitchen sink.

There were pieces of this I really enjoyed, such as the 1984-like military-enforced government, the cold-war setting, the idea of the narrator being genetically created and having a martyr/god complex.

But then there were pieces I rolled my eyes. The idea of god being inside a human being and then being absorbed by the main character was lacking depth, in my opinion.

I think the weakest part was the ending. The narrator and his girlfriend become gods and then start wars and suffering for fun. The theme that humanity, if given ultimate power, would become evil gods is such a repetitive trope that this ending had now shock value or thematic depth. It just had me wishing Koontz had gone in another direction.

It’s a shame because it’s clear he’s a pretty popular writer. It just felt like Koontz didn’t have any good themes/ideas here. Just a few tropes.

[itchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

eponymous sentence:
p3: And then there was a darkness in my soul, darkness unmatched by the depths of space that lay lightless between the galaxies, an ebony ache without parallel.

It's a religious, cultish tome of some sort.

[Landofmidnightrain · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 would recommend if high on cocaine or marijuana

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear) · Rating 2 out of 5]

No, it is not a very good book. But yes, it is a real Dean Koontz and is was only 1972! Everybody has to begin somewhere...

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some wonderful imagination cannot disguise that this is a bad story poorly told.

[Ronald Manema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagination without limits- readily presents a daring answer to the age old question of Life. It may not be a correct one but it certainly is a bold attempt.

[Stuart Lilley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable early Dean Koontz novel.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting short story, hard to believe it was Dean Koontz. I did enjoy the insight into the early workings of a great writer.

[Kathleen Knowles · Rating 2 out of 5]

It certainly is a good thing that Dean Koontz improved his writing from the time he wrote this in 1972. This was ridiculous, boring, and not worth reading. I'm surprised I last till the end of it.

[Emre · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, nothing is written extra nor too short. A great beginning, middle and an even better/satisfactory ending.

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superman – or Supermonster?

That’s the tagline to this book.

In my honest opinion this is not one of his best books, but it is one of his earlier ones.

FYI this is a 2 minute review. Aka it took 2 minutes to write. Anything more would have been a waste.

The main character Simeon Kelly was created artificially in a laboratory as an experiment to aid the military. He mostly manages to live as his own man, but when they call he is obliged to answer, albeit extremely reluctantly. He can telepathically extract information from the minds of others.

Simeon is called in to extract information from the mind of their latest creation, another mutant who Simeon refers to as ‘Child’. ‘Child’ is a vicious and extremely insane genius with the appearance of a shrivelled/ageing child.

Upon entering Child’s mind Simeon discovers it to be vastly different, and more dangerous, than an average individual’s mind. He becomes stuck inside ‘Child’s’ mind.

After that it’s a bit of a surreal trip through Child’s mind.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superman - or Supermonster? Although he was the first successful product of the Artificial Creation laboratory - the government workshop for the production of new talents by tampering with the genes of the unborn - Simeon Kelly would work for them only under compulsion. And the compulsion the generals applied to get him to probe the mind of the thing called Child had to be the greatest. Because Child was anything but that. In that incredibly monstrous infant appeared to be the potential for whole oceans of inventions and an entire cosmos of total creativity. But Child was vicious, insane, and short-lived.

[Jak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having got into Dean R Koontz I was surprised to find this in the local library as I'd never seen it on any shop shelves. It’s one of his much earlier works and is more sci-fi than the thrillers/horror I’d gotten used to. And unfortunately it wasn’t my cup of tea.

From what I can dredge from my limited memory the plot centres on someone trying to find god, which they eventually do, they enter Gods mind only to find that God is truly insane so they switch places. Or something like that, I’ve probably remember it totally wrong but then again I read it well over 20 years ago.

[Lysergius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simeon Kelly is an artificial man, grown in a tank by scientists with the express aim of creating a mutant useful to the military. Kept out of their hands by a combination of luck and law, the reluctant Kelly is however still at their command when it matters. Brought in to telepathically scan the mind of a warped, child-like genius, Kelly discovers that the gaps between man, superman, god and supermonster are not so vast after all ...

[Jewelee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the worst Dean Koontz books I've ever read. First of all, it was boring. It took me a long time to read it, cuz I just couldn't get into it. It seemed there was a lot of rambling off subject for 3 or 4 pages at a time, til I forgot what was going on by the time it got back to the main point. I kept reading, hoping it would make a interesting turn, which it did toward the end...but it was just disappointing.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Early book by Koontz. Good story, characters. Strange mixture of sci-fi, humor, love, war and world politics, spirituality in "future"1994 if I remember correctly. Younger Koontz has only gotten better at honing his craft. Fun to see glimpses of the many kinds of books he has written over the years in this story. As always, Dean Koontz never lets me down.

[Steve Parcell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simeon Kelly is the anti hero of a modern Frankenstein type piece and very entertaining it is too. Child becomes all encompassing evil and what Kelly has to do to stop it smacks a little of classics such as Frankenstein but works very well.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent story and not at all what I expected from the author. I am a fan and that is why I picked it up. Glad I did. It had a good pace and an unusual story line dealing in sci-fi and religion. The insanity line was excellent and food for thought.