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Mata Kegelapan
Satu tahun sudah berlalu sejak kematian Danny---satu tahun sejak ibunya mulai menerima kenyataan yang menyakitkan itu. Namun, Tina Evans berani bersumpah ia baru saja melihat Danny di dalam mobil orang yang tak dikenalnya... lalu ia bermimpi bahwa Danny masih hidup. Dan ketika terbangun, ia menemukan pesan di kamar tidur anaknya---dua patah kata yang membuatnya sangat terguncang: BELUM MATI.
Apakah seseorang mempermainkannya? Atau dirinya sendiri yang menulis pesan tersebut tanpa sadar?
Bagi Tina Evans, misteri itu menjadi sebuah obsesi. Obsesi yang menuntunnya dari lampu-lampu terang di Las Vegas ke bayang-bayang dingin Pegunungan High Sierra, tempat ia menguak rahasia mengerikan pihak-pihak yang terdorong menempatkan kekuasaan di atas moral kemanusiaan.
Apakah seseorang mempermainkannya? Atau dirinya sendiri yang menulis pesan tersebut tanpa sadar?
Bagi Tina Evans, misteri itu menjadi sebuah obsesi. Obsesi yang menuntunnya dari lampu-lampu terang di Las Vegas ke bayang-bayang dingin Pegunungan High Sierra, tempat ia menguak rahasia mengerikan pihak-pihak yang terdorong menempatkan kekuasaan di atas moral kemanusiaan.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
5847 people are currently reading
44867 people want to read
About the author
Leigh Nichols
25 books192 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Leigh Nichols is a pen name of Dean R. Koontz / Dean Koontz.
Leigh Nichols is a pen name of Dean R. Koontz / Dean Koontz.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,939 reviews
March 19, 2020
Ive just finished the book, I actually read it because nowadays world is dealing with coronavirus and i heard there is some evidence and forecast about coronavirus , well yes there was something and if you want to read those parts just read the 7 last page of the book and don’t waste your time reading the rest of it
April 6, 2012
Dean Koontz is one of the world’s best paid author’s (bringing in more than twenty five million annually!), which means everybody who’s interested in books has probably read him–which is why I didn’t choose to review one of his more popular works like Watchers.
Eyes of Darkness isn’t my favorite Dean Koontz book, but it was one of his early ones, which I think is a good place to start with Koontz. If you don’t know, DK fist began writing sci-fi, and was sometimes publishing up to eight books a year under pseudonyms such as Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Aaron Wolfe, David Axton, Brian Coffey, John Hill, Leigh Nichols, Owen West, Richard Paige, and Anthony North. His first big breakthrough novel was Whispers in 1980. Eyes of Darkness was the next one, published in 1981. The book focuses on a mother, Christina Evans, who sets out on a quest to find out if her son truly did die one year ago, or if he was still alive–somewhere. It’s pretty typical Koontz, with a lot of suspense, strong good vrs. evil themes, and an interesting plot. If you haven’t read it, I’d say pick it up and give it a go. You won’t be wowed, but you won’t be disappointed either.
What I really want to say about DK, however, is how his writing has changed. In Eyes and other early and mid work–I’d say up to the mid-nineties–he focused on the story, which is why I liked him. But when you become as big as he is, you have a lot more freedom with what you do. This can be good or bad. In Koontz’s case I think it is bad. I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me, but I find a lot of his recent writing too preachy and too focused on the language at the expense of the story. Koontz can get away with it because he is simply a good storyteller, but every time I read a sentence along the lines of “His blue eyes were seas where sorrow sailed” I’m convinced a little book fairy somewhere falls down dead.
Eyes of Darkness isn’t my favorite Dean Koontz book, but it was one of his early ones, which I think is a good place to start with Koontz. If you don’t know, DK fist began writing sci-fi, and was sometimes publishing up to eight books a year under pseudonyms such as Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Aaron Wolfe, David Axton, Brian Coffey, John Hill, Leigh Nichols, Owen West, Richard Paige, and Anthony North. His first big breakthrough novel was Whispers in 1980. Eyes of Darkness was the next one, published in 1981. The book focuses on a mother, Christina Evans, who sets out on a quest to find out if her son truly did die one year ago, or if he was still alive–somewhere. It’s pretty typical Koontz, with a lot of suspense, strong good vrs. evil themes, and an interesting plot. If you haven’t read it, I’d say pick it up and give it a go. You won’t be wowed, but you won’t be disappointed either.
What I really want to say about DK, however, is how his writing has changed. In Eyes and other early and mid work–I’d say up to the mid-nineties–he focused on the story, which is why I liked him. But when you become as big as he is, you have a lot more freedom with what you do. This can be good or bad. In Koontz’s case I think it is bad. I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me, but I find a lot of his recent writing too preachy and too focused on the language at the expense of the story. Koontz can get away with it because he is simply a good storyteller, but every time I read a sentence along the lines of “His blue eyes were seas where sorrow sailed” I’m convinced a little book fairy somewhere falls down dead.
May 13, 2020
After the media caught hold of the presumed origins of the COVID-19 virus, out came the conspiracy theorists with their tinfoil hats. One rumour that began circulating was that Dean Koontz (writing as Leigh Nichols) penned a 1981 book that predicted the virus decades before. While Koontz denies that Wuhan-400 was a prophetic notion in his piece of fiction, those with too much isolation time seem to be holding firm. Always liking to dive into a controversy, I decided to read this book to decide for myself. Tina Evans has been struggling for a year since her son, Danny’s, death. Having perished in a bus accident while on a Scouts trip, Tina allowed her marriage to fall apart and has barely been able to function. She thinks that she can see him passing on the street and went so far as to almost break into a vehicle when she saw a boy who bore a striking resemblance. While working on a Las Vegas production, Tina uses her down time to finally box up Danny’s things. She has an eerie feeling and notices odd things happening, occurrences that lead her to wonder if Danny might not be dead after all. In a panic, Tina begins to wonder if her son is communicating to her in some telekinetic manner and she engages the services of a local lawyer, Elliot Stryker, to help her get to the bottom of it. They devise a plan to exhume Danny’s coffin to get some answers, hoping that this will put everything to rest. However, once Elliot seeks to have the order signed by a judge, both he and Tina find themselves visited by men who threaten them. Elliot is forced to kill a man to save his own life and barely helps Tina escape her house before it explodes. Surely, someone is trying to block any discoveries about the accident or Danny’s body, but why. Following what little they can, Elliot and Tina make their way out of Las Vegas, hoping to get to the root of the issue and determine if Danny is still alive, as well as what might have happened to him. Could the accident and the death of all these Scouts be a cover-up for something bigger? Meanwhile, a covert agency is working off the grid to keep Tina from learning the truth about Danny. Away in a mountain laboratory, answers await, as well as work surrounding a horrible virus, Wuhan-400. A well-developed piece but surely not as scandalous as some in the social media world tried to make it seem. Recommended to those who love a good thriller, as well as the writer who enjoys some government intrigue alongside their medical thrills.
I’ve never read Dean Koontz to the best of my knowledge, though this was an interesting way to introduce myself to the bestselling author. His work is both well-written and held my attention throughout. It’s sometimes hard to read books where the female lead is less than cutthroat, seeking a man to help her, as this was surely the case with Tina Evans. Her trying to come to terms with the loss of a child goes through some of the same sad events as occur in other novels I have encountered, with the same reliance on a man to help love her and pick up the pieces. The reader learns much about Tina throughout this piece, as she shares the details of her divorce and the love she has for Danny, even if she cannot let go of him. Other characters fill the book and help complement the plot, adding interesting flavours where they are needed. The story was decent, if a little supernatural at times. Nichols/Koontz is able to keep the reader interested and connected to the plot without too much trouble, though there is something a tad ‘light’ that does not challenge the brain as much as one might hope. The narrative keeps the story moving along and most of the plot points are quite strong. The Wuhan-400 angle was a decent addition to the story, though the COVID-19 conspiracists are surely grasping at straws here. I will allow anyone wishing to read the book to draw their own parallels, but for me, Nichols/Koontz does not appear to be any prophet here, as the differences between COVID-19 and Wuhan-400 are vast. Then again, some people are happy to call a red ball turquoise in order to keep their lives interesting. To those people, I offer a pat on the head a slice of pity pie!
Kudos, Mr. Koontz (Nichols), for delivering a decent novel as my first foray into your work. I will likely come back for more, one day.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
I’ve never read Dean Koontz to the best of my knowledge, though this was an interesting way to introduce myself to the bestselling author. His work is both well-written and held my attention throughout. It’s sometimes hard to read books where the female lead is less than cutthroat, seeking a man to help her, as this was surely the case with Tina Evans. Her trying to come to terms with the loss of a child goes through some of the same sad events as occur in other novels I have encountered, with the same reliance on a man to help love her and pick up the pieces. The reader learns much about Tina throughout this piece, as she shares the details of her divorce and the love she has for Danny, even if she cannot let go of him. Other characters fill the book and help complement the plot, adding interesting flavours where they are needed. The story was decent, if a little supernatural at times. Nichols/Koontz is able to keep the reader interested and connected to the plot without too much trouble, though there is something a tad ‘light’ that does not challenge the brain as much as one might hope. The narrative keeps the story moving along and most of the plot points are quite strong. The Wuhan-400 angle was a decent addition to the story, though the COVID-19 conspiracists are surely grasping at straws here. I will allow anyone wishing to read the book to draw their own parallels, but for me, Nichols/Koontz does not appear to be any prophet here, as the differences between COVID-19 and Wuhan-400 are vast. Then again, some people are happy to call a red ball turquoise in order to keep their lives interesting. To those people, I offer a pat on the head a slice of pity pie!
Kudos, Mr. Koontz (Nichols), for delivering a decent novel as my first foray into your work. I will likely come back for more, one day.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
dnf-not-my-cup-of-coffee
August 28, 2020Abandoned at 16%. This was my first Koontz and reading it felt like seing a B movie from the 80s: stereotype characters, hilarious horror scenes, cheesy romance in between. Can anyone recommend a better book of his? This one did not convince me...
May 1, 2023
Thematically, this book is about a mother who is trying to survive the death of her son, Danny. Pausing for a second, I have three boys, and I cannot even imagine how crippling that would be for me, and I do not imagine that I am unique in that regard. End pause; her son died in a horrible bus accident, and a year later she believes she sees her son’s specter in her house. She enlists the assistance of a lawyer to have the body exhumed, in order to help her find some closure, but when the lawyer gets death threats, they soon begin to believe that there is a government conspiracy involving Danny, and that he may be alive.
Good characters are typical of Koontz. The story is not quite as strong as one would expect. Certainly entertaining. This novel was a book read as part of my Koontzland reading group selection for earlier this year, but I hadn’t gotten to it until now. I have read Koontz since the early 80s, and I still am in awe at how prolific he has always been writing several books a year, but one of the hazards is that when you write so much, sometimes the stories suffer. I don’t recall ever reading this one before, and yes, this book is still quite lyrical, but maybe not as pretentious as some of his later works. I thought the story was OK. I didn’t LOVE it, but it is still a middle of the road read, for me.
Good characters are typical of Koontz. The story is not quite as strong as one would expect. Certainly entertaining. This novel was a book read as part of my Koontzland reading group selection for earlier this year, but I hadn’t gotten to it until now. I have read Koontz since the early 80s, and I still am in awe at how prolific he has always been writing several books a year, but one of the hazards is that when you write so much, sometimes the stories suffer. I don’t recall ever reading this one before, and yes, this book is still quite lyrical, but maybe not as pretentious as some of his later works. I thought the story was OK. I didn’t LOVE it, but it is still a middle of the road read, for me.
October 25, 2020
Koontz 1981 thriller written under the pseudonym of Leigh Nichols has recently received a lot of attention as it apparently predicted the Coronavirus outbreak, being curious I wanted to know for myself...
So does it?
Spoilers - Yes and No.
It's true that the big reveal at the end is China creating a virus that will wipe out the population and has a 100% success rate and only effects humans, but the fact that this 'Wuhan-400' has different symptoms.
It felt more akin to the conspiracy theorists than a eerie prediction.
Aside from the media spoiling the ending, is it worth a read?
Definitely.
I've not read much Koontz (I find him hit or miss) but the fact that this was written under a pen name means that it's certainly different.
The story focuses on grieving Christina Evans whose son died on a camping trip the previous year.
Slowly coming to terms as she never got the chance to see his 'mutilated' body, Christina starts to receive strange messages that his still alive.
This supernatural element of the plot was very effective particularly a jukebox being stuck on the lyrics:
'not dead-
not dead-
not dead-'
Christina alongside friend Elliot embark on the search for the truth that has somehow filled conspiracy theories in 2020!
Enjoyable if a little dated, this generic thriller has become one of the most unlikely bestsellers of the year.
So does it?
Spoilers - Yes and No.
It's true that the big reveal at the end is China creating a virus that will wipe out the population and has a 100% success rate and only effects humans, but the fact that this 'Wuhan-400' has different symptoms.
It felt more akin to the conspiracy theorists than a eerie prediction.
Aside from the media spoiling the ending, is it worth a read?
Definitely.
I've not read much Koontz (I find him hit or miss) but the fact that this was written under a pen name means that it's certainly different.
The story focuses on grieving Christina Evans whose son died on a camping trip the previous year.
Slowly coming to terms as she never got the chance to see his 'mutilated' body, Christina starts to receive strange messages that his still alive.
This supernatural element of the plot was very effective particularly a jukebox being stuck on the lyrics:
'not dead-
not dead-
not dead-'
Christina alongside friend Elliot embark on the search for the truth that has somehow filled conspiracy theories in 2020!
Enjoyable if a little dated, this generic thriller has become one of the most unlikely bestsellers of the year.
March 16, 2019
Pivots sharply from supernatural horror to spy-like science fiction. No good dialogue, average narrative. Whole thing was pretty meh.
November 14, 2025
The cover of the reprint of Dean Koontz’s 1981 novel “The Eyes of Darkness” askes the question: Did this thriller predict the coronavirus virus? In some ways it did, but that revelation doesn’t come until towards the end of the book. Most of the novel is a thriller, and like a lot of Dean Koontz novels, it’s a chase novel. The book starts with a showgirl named Tina Evans, who is divorced after her son died in a bus crash on a field trip. However, that notion that her son is dead starts to come into question when random messages that he’s not dead starts to come to her through various supernatural means. She starts to see on a chalk board in her deceased son’s room that he isn’t dead, a comic book that eerily matches her dreams and a song that plays in a diner that starts to skip to the same lyrics repeatedly. Tina starts to think maybe her son isn’t dead after all.
She meets a lawyer named Elliot, who at first thinks she’s just a grieving mother who is losing her mind, but he becomes convinced that maybe she is onto something when two mysterious men show up at his house, trying to drug him with a shot in his arm. Maybe Tina’s son is alive, and the government is trying to cover this up for some reason. The two men who show up in his house are creepy and had me wondering what exactly they were doing there.
They end up going on a trip up to the mountains where the field trip took place and find there’s a conspiracy surrounding Tina’s son. I got some Stranger Things type vibes from this book, though the government conspiracy and romance between Tina and Elliot came off a bit cheesy. There’s also some crazy stuff about government funds being misdirected towards secret projects instead of the intended use. There are also some dated references, as reasoning that the period this book took place was strange enough to cover up children being used as experiments. What doesn’t date the book is the prediction of the COVID virus which comes off well.
However, Koontz is still good at pacing his books, and while this book does come off a bit dated, it’s still a solid page turner.
She meets a lawyer named Elliot, who at first thinks she’s just a grieving mother who is losing her mind, but he becomes convinced that maybe she is onto something when two mysterious men show up at his house, trying to drug him with a shot in his arm. Maybe Tina’s son is alive, and the government is trying to cover this up for some reason. The two men who show up in his house are creepy and had me wondering what exactly they were doing there.
They end up going on a trip up to the mountains where the field trip took place and find there’s a conspiracy surrounding Tina’s son. I got some Stranger Things type vibes from this book, though the government conspiracy and romance between Tina and Elliot came off a bit cheesy. There’s also some crazy stuff about government funds being misdirected towards secret projects instead of the intended use. There are also some dated references, as reasoning that the period this book took place was strange enough to cover up children being used as experiments. What doesn’t date the book is the prediction of the COVID virus which comes off well.
However, Koontz is still good at pacing his books, and while this book does come off a bit dated, it’s still a solid page turner.
April 7, 2025
3.5 stars. An early Dean Koontz when he wrote under the pen name of Leigh Nichols. The bones of the book is too reminiscent of many others of the same ilk by a myriad of authors. Yet I was still taken in. Koontz wrote a humorous afterword in this edition but also acknowledged that it lacked a lot of qualities that he honed in later novels such as depth of characters, complexity of the plot and intensity. I will say that I thought the pacing was good as the suspense ratcheted up until the final denouement.
Here's an example of some simplistic dialogue, yet sufficiently creepy.
They stared into the shadows, At length she said, "Do you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"I've got this.....prickly feeling." He didn't say anything. "You do feel it don't you?" she asked
"Yes." "As if we are not alone." "It's crazy" he said, "but I feel eyes on me."
She shivered, "But no one's really there"
.....Tina cleared her throat, "It's as if...the night itself is watching us....the night, the shadows, the eyes of darkness."
Here's an example of some simplistic dialogue, yet sufficiently creepy.
They stared into the shadows, At length she said, "Do you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"I've got this.....prickly feeling." He didn't say anything. "You do feel it don't you?" she asked
"Yes." "As if we are not alone." "It's crazy" he said, "but I feel eyes on me."
She shivered, "But no one's really there"
.....Tina cleared her throat, "It's as if...the night itself is watching us....the night, the shadows, the eyes of darkness."
November 26, 2007
If the kid in this book can crash helicopters and make guns not work with his mind, I submit he could escape from his captors without his mom's help. Also, he could write something less cryptic than just "not dead" on the chalkboard of his room.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2022
Koontzland - Group Read - May 2019
The book is fast & a great Koontz book.
Danny Evans(son) appears to be killed in Nevada sliding down a mountain in his Boy Scout Troop bus. The NewsReports says the entire Boy Scout troop crashed & died in the mountain.
Successful Las Vegas Tina Evan (mom) meets Elliott Stryker (lawyer) & their love grows.
And after 1 year she believes she sees Danny & messages appear, “NOT DEAD”, “DANNY ALIVE”, etc. She wants to “exhume” his body to prove misconceptions, it is him & he did die! Tina becomes obsessive with no one willing to help.
Elliot is attacked by others asking him for the answer to this question- “Why does she want the grave read & exhumed?” Elliot escapes with his x-Army experience & saves Tina from her exploding house. They go to the funeral home used for Danny & the coroner is dead? Further leads must be followed...
They determine it’s a government experiment after many escapes, Elliot says, “we’re not running anymore. We’re going on the offensive. And foolhardy as that might be, it does a lot for a person’s self-respect.”
Danny’s new “psychic gifts/powers guide them to the well guarded & the secure facility”. A facility member escaping meets them outside, he could no longer stand working at the facility & tells them experiments made on people. He tells Tina & Elliot facility detail, security & ways to enter....
Reread - thanks to Koontzland group for picking
this as our monthly read - I had no review from 2013 during my first read
The book is fast & a great Koontz book.
Danny Evans(son) appears to be killed in Nevada sliding down a mountain in his Boy Scout Troop bus. The NewsReports says the entire Boy Scout troop crashed & died in the mountain.
Successful Las Vegas Tina Evan (mom) meets Elliott Stryker (lawyer) & their love grows.
And after 1 year she believes she sees Danny & messages appear, “NOT DEAD”, “DANNY ALIVE”, etc. She wants to “exhume” his body to prove misconceptions, it is him & he did die! Tina becomes obsessive with no one willing to help.
Elliot is attacked by others asking him for the answer to this question- “Why does she want the grave read & exhumed?” Elliot escapes with his x-Army experience & saves Tina from her exploding house. They go to the funeral home used for Danny & the coroner is dead? Further leads must be followed...
They determine it’s a government experiment after many escapes, Elliot says, “we’re not running anymore. We’re going on the offensive. And foolhardy as that might be, it does a lot for a person’s self-respect.”
Danny’s new “psychic gifts/powers guide them to the well guarded & the secure facility”. A facility member escaping meets them outside, he could no longer stand working at the facility & tells them experiments made on people. He tells Tina & Elliot facility detail, security & ways to enter....
Reread - thanks to Koontzland group for picking
this as our monthly read - I had no review from 2013 during my first read
April 12, 2023
This is a novel by Dean Koontz that was published in 1981 under his pseudonym Leigh Nichols. It's a good, fast-paced story of intrigue and suspense that has some of his more familiar tropes, such as an evil government agency that's holding a bright young boy, whose mother is determined to rescue him from the agency. He's been reported as deceased, but she refuses to accept that due to paranormal telepathic signals she receives. She's joined on her quest by a former military intelligence officer turned lawyer, with whom she's been having an affair; the romance is a bit more steamily pronounced than normal for a Koontz novel... perhaps because of the female pseudonym in 1981? (It's ironic that there was no new Dean Koontz published that year, but Brian Coffey and Owen West had books on the stands along with Nichols.) Koontz revised the book in 1989 for publication under his own name, and at that time he changed the name of a bioweapon to Wuhan-400, which brought the book back into the spotlight at the beginning of the covid pandemic. I've not read the revision, so can't compare the two versions, but I enjoyed this original way back when.
March 20, 2023
Disengage brain. Actually, once disengaged then drop kick it to the next planet in the solar system. You are not going to need it. If you want to enjoy this book do just that. The book is damn right silly but is it fun? This is the trick, right? Sometimes you need escapism from the utter crap that is...life.
An American secret agency called the ‘Network’ does not really exist (yes, one of them). Well, they do exist, but they don’t’. Know what I mean? A complex built into the mountain that goes three storeys underground with science labs and big guns. You have disengaged that brain haven’t you?
Anyway, the ‘Network’. 12-year-old Danny Evans has been killed in a terrible bus accident in the Sierra mountains with a group of scouts and their leaders. Is he dead? His mother Tina never saw the mangled and mutilated body. Strange occurrences begin to happen. Tina strikes up a love interest as you do in these situations, right? The invincible duo rush off to find out the truth about the not dead Danny. Bits of this reminded me of the Michael Douglas film called Coma which was based on a Robin Cook book. I really liked his books when I was younger. I actually want to watch that film again now.
You know what. I did enjoy it for all its damn right silliness. I also see why this has book has re-surfaced. You’ll need to wait until the end of the book to find out though. I’ll give you a few clues. China. Biological weapons. Wuhan. I’ve got to say that the ending is a bit spooky as this book is originally from 1981.
An American secret agency called the ‘Network’ does not really exist (yes, one of them). Well, they do exist, but they don’t’. Know what I mean? A complex built into the mountain that goes three storeys underground with science labs and big guns. You have disengaged that brain haven’t you?
Anyway, the ‘Network’. 12-year-old Danny Evans has been killed in a terrible bus accident in the Sierra mountains with a group of scouts and their leaders. Is he dead? His mother Tina never saw the mangled and mutilated body. Strange occurrences begin to happen. Tina strikes up a love interest as you do in these situations, right? The invincible duo rush off to find out the truth about the not dead Danny. Bits of this reminded me of the Michael Douglas film called Coma which was based on a Robin Cook book. I really liked his books when I was younger. I actually want to watch that film again now.
You know what. I did enjoy it for all its damn right silliness. I also see why this has book has re-surfaced. You’ll need to wait until the end of the book to find out though. I’ll give you a few clues. China. Biological weapons. Wuhan. I’ve got to say that the ending is a bit spooky as this book is originally from 1981.
maybe
February 14, 2020
A virus called Wuhan-400 makes people terribly ill … in a Dean Koontz thriller from 1981. How is it that some books appear to prophesy events?
The Eyes of Darkness features a Chinese military lab in Wuhan that creates a virus as a bioweapon; civilians soon become sick after accidentally contracting it
In fact, the one lab in China able to handle the deadliest viruses is in Wuhan and helped sequence the novel coronavirus the world is currently battling
November 17, 2020
Dean Koontz wrote six novels under the pseudonym Leigh Nicholas. Originally published in 1981 it was the second of the six but it is the sixth and final in the series to be re issued in paperback under hi real name in 1991. The novel received lot of attention in recent pandemic because of its reference to a virus developed as biological weapon named Wuhan-400. Initially he had called it Gorki-400 and the research lab was in Russia. But in the new reissued edition it was changed to Wuhan. Though there are reams of information on net downplaying the name yet there is chilling similarity between the virus in the novel and the COVID-19. Call it pure chance or an intelligent guess, the novel in many ways is a terrifying prelude to the pandemic. The beginning is brilliant and hooks you to the novel right from the start. This is the first Dean Koontz novel i have read and now i am looking forward to reading his complete works of more than 40 novels.
April 15, 2020
One of my friends suggested this book a while back but I just put it off. Then with the onset of Covid-19, the novel gained an unprecedented popularity and now I can't really keep it aside, right?
The novel started off like a ghost story with Danny's mother seeing her dead son in another car. Well, horror is my least favourite genre along with psychological thriller, so I did have a peek at some of the spoilers. Don't want to waste my brain work finding the criminal only to realise that it only happened in the protagonist's mind. Nope, definitely not my thing.
The story tuned out to be a thriller with some elements of the supernatural. Packed with action, the narrative follows Tina Evans and Elliot Stryker on their journey to find what really happened with Danny. With just more than three fifty pages, the book can be finished in one sitting. The plot gives some old cinematic vibes, but it can only be expected since this was written way back in 1981.
So to the million dollar question that is on everyone's mind: did this 1981 novel predict corona virus? Not exactly. But a virus named Wuhan-400 (so named since it is developed by the Chinese in Wuhan lab) is the crux of the problem. Fortunately for us, the virus that we experience is far from lethal compared to the one described in the novel. The author seems to have taken great care not to insinuate something against China and US, but may not have succeeded completely. It do blames both the countries, at least that is the way I found it.
The novel started off like a ghost story with Danny's mother seeing her dead son in another car. Well, horror is my least favourite genre along with psychological thriller, so I did have a peek at some of the spoilers. Don't want to waste my brain work finding the criminal only to realise that it only happened in the protagonist's mind. Nope, definitely not my thing.
The story tuned out to be a thriller with some elements of the supernatural. Packed with action, the narrative follows Tina Evans and Elliot Stryker on their journey to find what really happened with Danny. With just more than three fifty pages, the book can be finished in one sitting. The plot gives some old cinematic vibes, but it can only be expected since this was written way back in 1981.
So to the million dollar question that is on everyone's mind: did this 1981 novel predict corona virus? Not exactly. But a virus named Wuhan-400 (so named since it is developed by the Chinese in Wuhan lab) is the crux of the problem. Fortunately for us, the virus that we experience is far from lethal compared to the one described in the novel. The author seems to have taken great care not to insinuate something against China and US, but may not have succeeded completely. It do blames both the countries, at least that is the way I found it.
March 28, 2020
26/80, 4 stars ****
Very dated and a lot of fuss about nothing! But it’s Dean Koontz, hence the 4th star - I grew up with his books and, in fact, they’re still propping up my bookshelves all these years later 😀 He’s in the top 5 scary writer genre for me 😉
Very dated and a lot of fuss about nothing! But it’s Dean Koontz, hence the 4th star - I grew up with his books and, in fact, they’re still propping up my bookshelves all these years later 😀 He’s in the top 5 scary writer genre for me 😉
Want to read
October 2, 2017This hardcover is numbered 378 of 400 copies produced and is signed by author Dean Koontz and illustrator Phil Parks on limitation page.
September 18, 2025
Extremely good Dean Koonz book. i highly recommend it!
March 12, 2020
Obviamente que me leí este libro por el Bulo que estuvo circulando de que este era un libro premonitorio que hablaba del Coronavirus del 2020 en la ciudad de Wuhan y que hasta fotos me pasaron de lo específico que era, debo decirles que No es tan especifico que no se desarrolla en China y que no crean en tantas cosas hasta que las comprueben y lean ustedes mismos. Ahora si debo decir que lo que describe el autor es muy parecido a la realidad.....
Una vez aclarado el Fake, les cuento que q mi si me gusto y mucho, claro me metí en el contexto, me fui 40 años pa’tras y me sumergí en la historia, no paré de leer hasta que lo terminé y me gusta ese toque paranormal que le mete el autor a la obra.
Una vez aclarado el Fake, les cuento que q mi si me gusto y mucho, claro me metí en el contexto, me fui 40 años pa’tras y me sumergí en la historia, no paré de leer hasta que lo terminé y me gusta ese toque paranormal que le mete el autor a la obra.
April 13, 2020
Although I had re-read The Eyes of Darkness in Spring 2019, I decided to re-read again in Spring 2020 due to this Dean Koontz book getting immense social media attention for it's connection to COVID-19. The Eyes of Darkness has 40 chapters - the reference to a world-wide respiratory virus originating in China (Chapter 39) is quite near the end.
The dialogue is pretty bad and often laughable, but the reader must take into account that this novel was first published in 1981, six years before the author's best-selling release of Watchers. The 1981 version has been slightly updated with mentions of Alan Jackson and email. The Eyes of Darkness is an interesting work which not only has echoes of recombinant DNA research that we see in Watchers, but also of Dean's more recent Jane Hawk's novels and the theme of Justice.
The Eyes of Darkness was written by Dean Koontz and published under the pen name Leigh Nichols. In chapter fourteen, we see a reference to several Dean Koontz Pen names:
Elliot grinned, "I'm one of the founding partners of Stryker, West, Dwyer, Coffey and Nichols. We're one of the largest law firms in town. I can't take a whole lot of credit for that. We were lucky. We were in the right place at the right time. Owen West and I opened for business in a cheap storefront office twelve years ago, right at the start of the biggest boom this town has ever seen. We represented some people no on else would touch, entrepreneurs who had a lot of good ideas but not much money for start-up legal fees. Some of our clients made smart moves and were carried right to the top by the explosive growth of the gaming industry and the Vegas real-estate market, and we just sort of shot up there along with them, hanging on to their coattails."
I did like the action toward the end and the events occurring but after the action is over, the book ends rather abruptly.
I loved the paranormal aspect of this NOT DEAD idea with the message coming through so many forms and the icy drop in temperature. The Eyes of Darkness relates to other books I've read over the years on a similar theme: Shadows by John Saul, Firestarter by Stephen King and most recently The Institute by Stephen King.
Chapter 9 is one of my favorites of the book - it consists of two whole pages.
Favorite Passages:
As they stared at each other through two windows and through the strange sulphurous light, she had the feeling that they were making contact across an immense gulf of space and time and destiny.
_______
Danny, sweetheart, don't worry about anything you might have heard through the wall. Your father is only suffering and identity crisis. He's been acting like an ass lately, but he'll get over it.
_______
As a sponge soaked up water, she took a chill from the surface of the slate. Not dead. It was a denial of Danny's death. An angry refusal to accept the awful truth. A challenge to reality.
_______
Tina looked out the side window, watching in disbelief as the flames spread from the shattered garage roof to the main roof of the house, long tongues of lambent fire, licking, licking, hungry, bloodred in the last orange light of the afternoon.
_______
The ghostly, slightly luminous winter landscape made George Alexander think of graveyards. He had an affinity for cemeteries. He like to take long, leisurely walks among the tombstones. For as long as he could remember, he had been fascinated with death, with the mechanics and the meaning of it, and he had longed to know what it was like on the other side - without, of course, wishing to commit himself to a one-way journey there.
_______
She didn't know what to make of the damned thing.
This was just a silly comic book, an absurd horror story. Yet . . .strange parallels existed between this gruesome tale and the recent ugliness in her own life.
She put the magazine aside, cover-down, so she wouldn't have to meet Death's wormy, red-eyed gaze.
The Boy Who Was Not Dead.
It was weird.
She had dreamed that Danny was buried alive. Into her dream she incorporated a grisly character from an old issue of a horror-comics magazine that was in Danny's collection. The lead story in this issue was about a boy, approximately Danny's age, mistakenly pronounced dead, then buried alive, and then exhumed.
Coincidence?
Yeah, sure, just about as coincidental as sunrise following sunset.
_______
The spirit world? Visions? Clairvoyant experiences? She didn't believe in any of that psychic, supernatural stuff. At least she'd always thought she didn't believe in it. Yet now she was seriously considering the possibility that her dreams had some otherworldly significance. This was sheer claptrap. Utter nonsense. The roots of all dreams were to be found in the store of experiences in the psyche; dreams were not sent like ethereal telegrams form spirits or gods or demons.
_______
"Murder. Conspiracy. Something damn strange. They probably intend to kill you too."
"But that's -"
"Crazy," he said. "I know. But it's true."
_______
Tina looked out the side window, watching in disbelief as the flames spread from the shattered garage roof to the main roof of the house, long tongues of lambent fire, licking, licking, hungry, bloodred in the last orange light of the afternoon.
______
He enjoyed killing. He didn't try to pretend otherwise with himself, no matter what face he had to present to the world. All of his life, for reasons he had never been able to fully ascertain, he had been fascinated by death, intrigued by the form and nature of possibilities of it, enthralled by the study and theory of its meaning. He considered himself a messenger of death, a divinely appointed headsman. Murder was, in many ways, more thrilling to him than sex. His taste for violence would not have been tolerated for long in the old FBI - perhaps not even in the new, thoroughly politicized FBI - or in many other congressionally monitored police agencies. But in this unknown organization, in this secret and incomparably cozy place, he thrived.
He closed his eyes and thought about Christina Evans.
_______
"Who are you people?"
"Justice," Tina said.
_______
He had an affinity for cemeteries. He liked to take long, leisurely walks among the tombstones.
__________________
Examples of bad or laughable dialogue featured in The Eyes of Darkness:
"Don't be silly, Billy."
----
"You're lovely."
"Love me."
----
"Interesting," Tina said
"It is?"
"You are."
----
"Anyway," Tina said, "I'm glad I've got you on my side."
"I like it better when you're on top," he said, and he winked at her.
"Have you always had such a dirty mind?"
"No. I've had to cultivate it."
"Joking in the midst of disaster," she said.
"'Laughter is a balm for the afflicted, the best defense against despair, the only medicine for melancholy.'"
"Who said that?" she asked. "Shakespeare?"
"Groucho Marx, I think."
----
"You're a lifesaver, Billy. And I mean that literally."
"I'm a small circlet of hard candy?"
----
"You're really something else," she said.
"What else am I?"
"Lots of things."
"Such as?"
"Terrific."
"Not me. What else?"
"Brave."
"Bravery is a virtue of fools."
"Smart."
"Not as smart as I think I am."
"Tough."
"I cry at sad movies. See, I'm not as great as you think I am."
"You can cook."
"Now that's true!"
The dialogue is pretty bad and often laughable, but the reader must take into account that this novel was first published in 1981, six years before the author's best-selling release of Watchers. The 1981 version has been slightly updated with mentions of Alan Jackson and email. The Eyes of Darkness is an interesting work which not only has echoes of recombinant DNA research that we see in Watchers, but also of Dean's more recent Jane Hawk's novels and the theme of Justice.
The Eyes of Darkness was written by Dean Koontz and published under the pen name Leigh Nichols. In chapter fourteen, we see a reference to several Dean Koontz Pen names:
Elliot grinned, "I'm one of the founding partners of Stryker, West, Dwyer, Coffey and Nichols. We're one of the largest law firms in town. I can't take a whole lot of credit for that. We were lucky. We were in the right place at the right time. Owen West and I opened for business in a cheap storefront office twelve years ago, right at the start of the biggest boom this town has ever seen. We represented some people no on else would touch, entrepreneurs who had a lot of good ideas but not much money for start-up legal fees. Some of our clients made smart moves and were carried right to the top by the explosive growth of the gaming industry and the Vegas real-estate market, and we just sort of shot up there along with them, hanging on to their coattails."
I did like the action toward the end and the events occurring but after the action is over, the book ends rather abruptly.
I loved the paranormal aspect of this NOT DEAD idea with the message coming through so many forms and the icy drop in temperature. The Eyes of Darkness relates to other books I've read over the years on a similar theme: Shadows by John Saul, Firestarter by Stephen King and most recently The Institute by Stephen King.
Chapter 9 is one of my favorites of the book - it consists of two whole pages.
Favorite Passages:
As they stared at each other through two windows and through the strange sulphurous light, she had the feeling that they were making contact across an immense gulf of space and time and destiny.
_______
Danny, sweetheart, don't worry about anything you might have heard through the wall. Your father is only suffering and identity crisis. He's been acting like an ass lately, but he'll get over it.
_______
As a sponge soaked up water, she took a chill from the surface of the slate. Not dead. It was a denial of Danny's death. An angry refusal to accept the awful truth. A challenge to reality.
_______
Tina looked out the side window, watching in disbelief as the flames spread from the shattered garage roof to the main roof of the house, long tongues of lambent fire, licking, licking, hungry, bloodred in the last orange light of the afternoon.
_______
The ghostly, slightly luminous winter landscape made George Alexander think of graveyards. He had an affinity for cemeteries. He like to take long, leisurely walks among the tombstones. For as long as he could remember, he had been fascinated with death, with the mechanics and the meaning of it, and he had longed to know what it was like on the other side - without, of course, wishing to commit himself to a one-way journey there.
_______
She didn't know what to make of the damned thing.
This was just a silly comic book, an absurd horror story. Yet . . .strange parallels existed between this gruesome tale and the recent ugliness in her own life.
She put the magazine aside, cover-down, so she wouldn't have to meet Death's wormy, red-eyed gaze.
The Boy Who Was Not Dead.
It was weird.
She had dreamed that Danny was buried alive. Into her dream she incorporated a grisly character from an old issue of a horror-comics magazine that was in Danny's collection. The lead story in this issue was about a boy, approximately Danny's age, mistakenly pronounced dead, then buried alive, and then exhumed.
Coincidence?
Yeah, sure, just about as coincidental as sunrise following sunset.
_______
The spirit world? Visions? Clairvoyant experiences? She didn't believe in any of that psychic, supernatural stuff. At least she'd always thought she didn't believe in it. Yet now she was seriously considering the possibility that her dreams had some otherworldly significance. This was sheer claptrap. Utter nonsense. The roots of all dreams were to be found in the store of experiences in the psyche; dreams were not sent like ethereal telegrams form spirits or gods or demons.
_______
"Murder. Conspiracy. Something damn strange. They probably intend to kill you too."
"But that's -"
"Crazy," he said. "I know. But it's true."
_______
Tina looked out the side window, watching in disbelief as the flames spread from the shattered garage roof to the main roof of the house, long tongues of lambent fire, licking, licking, hungry, bloodred in the last orange light of the afternoon.
______
He enjoyed killing. He didn't try to pretend otherwise with himself, no matter what face he had to present to the world. All of his life, for reasons he had never been able to fully ascertain, he had been fascinated by death, intrigued by the form and nature of possibilities of it, enthralled by the study and theory of its meaning. He considered himself a messenger of death, a divinely appointed headsman. Murder was, in many ways, more thrilling to him than sex. His taste for violence would not have been tolerated for long in the old FBI - perhaps not even in the new, thoroughly politicized FBI - or in many other congressionally monitored police agencies. But in this unknown organization, in this secret and incomparably cozy place, he thrived.
He closed his eyes and thought about Christina Evans.
_______
"Who are you people?"
"Justice," Tina said.
_______
He had an affinity for cemeteries. He liked to take long, leisurely walks among the tombstones.
__________________
Examples of bad or laughable dialogue featured in The Eyes of Darkness:
"Don't be silly, Billy."
----
"You're lovely."
"Love me."
----
"Interesting," Tina said
"It is?"
"You are."
----
"Anyway," Tina said, "I'm glad I've got you on my side."
"I like it better when you're on top," he said, and he winked at her.
"Have you always had such a dirty mind?"
"No. I've had to cultivate it."
"Joking in the midst of disaster," she said.
"'Laughter is a balm for the afflicted, the best defense against despair, the only medicine for melancholy.'"
"Who said that?" she asked. "Shakespeare?"
"Groucho Marx, I think."
----
"You're a lifesaver, Billy. And I mean that literally."
"I'm a small circlet of hard candy?"
----
"You're really something else," she said.
"What else am I?"
"Lots of things."
"Such as?"
"Terrific."
"Not me. What else?"
"Brave."
"Bravery is a virtue of fools."
"Smart."
"Not as smart as I think I am."
"Tough."
"I cry at sad movies. See, I'm not as great as you think I am."
"You can cook."
"Now that's true!"
August 21, 2021
نمیدونم من کتاب های آمریکایی کم خوندم، یا اینکه هر کتاب آمریکایی که به تور من خورده اینجوری بوده که همشون یک تم دارن، یه جورایی انگار آدم داره فیلم هالیوودی میبینه، مشکلات بوجود میان، ولی همون لحظه قهرمان داستان شانس میاره و مشکلش حل میشه.
این کتاب بجز اینکه کرونا رو پیشبینی کرده بود، و تا حدی هم درست پیشبینی کرده بود چیز دیگه نداشت، در واقع میشه گفت یه قصه برای نوجون های 13-14 ساله بود. کتاب هایی که دن براون در نوشنشون استاده.
بریم سر اصل ماجرا یعنی پیشگویی کرونا، اول از همه باید بگم که ما همگی فیلم های هالیوودی زیاد دیدیم و خیلی از این دست اتفاقات که هنوز به وقوع نپیوسته رو تو فیلم ها دیدیم که پیشبینی کردن، مثل سیل، زلزله، سونامی، حمله پرندگان، حمله خرگوش ها، حمله مورچه ها، اگر سریال 24 رو دیده باشید به وفور از این پیشبینی ها شده....الان فرض رو بر این بذاریم که کرونا نباشه آیا اگر همچین کتابی میخوندید تعجب میکردین؟ من بعید بدونم. ولی آنچه که یه مقدار عجیبه(که البته میشه دستکاری هم شده باشه) محلی هست که این ویروس اولین بار ساخته میشه. ووهان چین. دوتا نظریه هست. اول اینکه بعد از اینکه کرونا اومده، یه ویرایش روی کتاب زدن و اسم ویروس رو ووهان گذاشتن، دوم اینکه واقعا توی ووهان یه سری مراکز تحقیقاتی که در رابطه با ویروس ها هست و احتمالا این شهر به این خاطر معروفه.
در کل کتاب خوب بود، جذاب بود، شخصیت ها همونی بودن که باید میبودن کلیشه ای غیر واقعی. آدم هایی که باید دوست داشته میشدن، به هم میرسیدن، شجاع میبودن، مشکلاتشون هم خودبخود حل میشد. خب ناشر و نویسنده هم شانس بزرگی آوردن که کرونا اومد.
این کتاب بجز اینکه کرونا رو پیشبینی کرده بود، و تا حدی هم درست پیشبینی کرده بود چیز دیگه نداشت، در واقع میشه گفت یه قصه برای نوجون های 13-14 ساله بود. کتاب هایی که دن براون در نوشنشون استاده.
بریم سر اصل ماجرا یعنی پیشگویی کرونا، اول از همه باید بگم که ما همگی فیلم های هالیوودی زیاد دیدیم و خیلی از این دست اتفاقات که هنوز به وقوع نپیوسته رو تو فیلم ها دیدیم که پیشبینی کردن، مثل سیل، زلزله، سونامی، حمله پرندگان، حمله خرگوش ها، حمله مورچه ها، اگر سریال 24 رو دیده باشید به وفور از این پیشبینی ها شده....الان فرض رو بر این بذاریم که کرونا نباشه آیا اگر همچین کتابی میخوندید تعجب میکردین؟ من بعید بدونم. ولی آنچه که یه مقدار عجیبه(که البته میشه دستکاری هم شده باشه) محلی هست که این ویروس اولین بار ساخته میشه. ووهان چین. دوتا نظریه هست. اول اینکه بعد از اینکه کرونا اومده، یه ویرایش روی کتاب زدن و اسم ویروس رو ووهان گذاشتن، دوم اینکه واقعا توی ووهان یه سری مراکز تحقیقاتی که در رابطه با ویروس ها هست و احتمالا این شهر به این خاطر معروفه.
در کل کتاب خوب بود، جذاب بود، شخصیت ها همونی بودن که باید میبودن کلیشه ای غیر واقعی. آدم هایی که باید دوست داشته میشدن، به هم میرسیدن، شجاع میبودن، مشکلاتشون هم خودبخود حل میشد. خب ناشر و نویسنده هم شانس بزرگی آوردن که کرونا اومد.
March 14, 2020
Μιας και είμαστε στο μέσον μίας πανδημίας, ναί στο πολυδιαφημισμένο από τα μέσα βιβλίο του Koontz υπάρχει ένας ιός που φτιάχτηκε στην Κίνα, στην πόλη Wuhan (!) ο οποίος σκοτώνει τα θύματά του μέσα σε 24 ώρες και ονομάζεται Wuhan-400, αλλά εντάξει, όλα τα υπόλοιπα για Νοστράδαμους και προφητείες είναι αστεία.
Τίποτα που δεν έχεις ξαναδιαβάσει, τίποτα που δεν έχεις ξαναδεί σε ταινία, σα να φτιάχνω εγώ ένα βιβλίο όντας Κινέζος και να γράφω «ο ιός ανακαλύφθηκε σε ένα χωριό τση Κρήτης και έχει το κωδικό όνομα “Μάταλα-90210”»
Έπεσα θύμα της διαφήμισης και της περιέργειάς μου. Όχι πως πέρασε άσχημα η ώρα. Αλλά ούτε βήμα παραπάνω.
Τίποτα που δεν έχεις ξαναδιαβάσει, τίποτα που δεν έχεις ξαναδεί σε ταινία, σα να φτιάχνω εγώ ένα βιβλίο όντας Κινέζος και να γράφω «ο ιός ανακαλύφθηκε σε ένα χωριό τση Κρήτης και έχει το κωδικό όνομα “Μάταλα-90210”»
Έπεσα θύμα της διαφήμισης και της περιέργειάς μου. Όχι πως πέρασε άσχημα η ώρα. Αλλά ούτε βήμα παραπάνω.
December 18, 2022
کتاب صوتیش رو گوش دادم. (از ایران صدا یا طاقچه می تونین گوش بدین)
صدای گوینده ها خوب بود طوری که هروقت پوکر به در و دیوار خیره می شدم، باعث می شدن دوباره به ماجرا برگردم😅
راستش ایده و داستانش بییییش از حد واسم تکراری بود و اصلا جذبم نکرد.
خیلی هالیوودی و بی روح بود.
داستانش نه تنها هیچی بهم اضافه نکرد بلکه در یک کلام رو مخ بود.
حتی برای من که از نوجوونی به پیگیری تئوری های توطئه علاقه داشتم هم این داستان به نظرم خیلی پیش پا افتاده و معمولی بود.
خلاصه این امتیاز ۲ رو به خاطر گوینده ها، اشاره داستان به ووهان ۴۰۰ و علاقه م به تئوری و تحلیل معماها دادم و هییییییچ ارزش مادی و معنوی دیگری ندارد 🙌🏻
صدای گوینده ها خوب بود طوری که هروقت پوکر به در و دیوار خیره می شدم، باعث می شدن دوباره به ماجرا برگردم😅
راستش ایده و داستانش بییییش از حد واسم تکراری بود و اصلا جذبم نکرد.
خیلی هالیوودی و بی روح بود.
داستانش نه تنها هیچی بهم اضافه نکرد بلکه در یک کلام رو مخ بود.
حتی برای من که از نوجوونی به پیگیری تئوری های توطئه علاقه داشتم هم این داستان به نظرم خیلی پیش پا افتاده و معمولی بود.
خلاصه این امتیاز ۲ رو به خاطر گوینده ها، اشاره داستان به ووهان ۴۰۰ و علاقه م به تئوری و تحلیل معماها دادم و هییییییچ ارزش مادی و معنوی دیگری ندارد 🙌🏻
November 9, 2020
⚰️☠️
Dead.
Cold.
Decaying.
In a coffin.
Under the ground.
Forever.
☠️⚰️
“Not dead. It was a denial of Danny’s death. An angry refusal to accept the awful truth. A challenge to reality.”
⚰️☠️
“I thought I’d put the worst pain behind me. But a month ago I started dreaming about Danny again. The first week, it happened twice. The second week, four nights. And the past two weeks, I’ve dreamed about him every night without fail. The dreams get worse all the time. They’re full-fledged nightmares now.”
- Christina Evans
-—-
“When a child dies, one of the worst things a parent can do is refuse to look at the body while it’s lying in a casket. You need to spend time with the deceased, enough to accept that the body is never going to be animated again.”
- Elliot Stryker
-—-
“To everything there is a season. A time to kill and a time to heal.”
- Christina Evans
Dead.
Cold.
Decaying.
In a coffin.
Under the ground.
Forever.
☠️⚰️
“Not dead. It was a denial of Danny’s death. An angry refusal to accept the awful truth. A challenge to reality.”
⚰️☠️
“I thought I’d put the worst pain behind me. But a month ago I started dreaming about Danny again. The first week, it happened twice. The second week, four nights. And the past two weeks, I’ve dreamed about him every night without fail. The dreams get worse all the time. They’re full-fledged nightmares now.”
- Christina Evans
-—-
“When a child dies, one of the worst things a parent can do is refuse to look at the body while it’s lying in a casket. You need to spend time with the deceased, enough to accept that the body is never going to be animated again.”
- Elliot Stryker
-—-
“To everything there is a season. A time to kill and a time to heal.”
- Christina Evans
September 25, 2020
Dean Koontz'u duydum ama daha önce hiç okumadım sanırım. "İçinde covid geçen kitap yazmışşşş" şeklinde lanse edilen bu kitabı da merakımdan aldım, kesinlikle böyle tahmin ettiğini felan düşünmüyorum ki mantıksız. Macera güzeldi bence, hatta çok akıcı ilerledi. Tabi ki yetersizlikleri vs var ama gözüme batmadı çok fazla. Her şey fazla kolay ilerliyor, gerçi ekibin güçlü bir üyesi var ondan da olabilir. Oğlunun ölümüyle artık yüzleştiğini hisseden Tina, rüyalarında oğlunu görmeye ve evde garip şeyler yaşamaya başlar. Oğlunun ona bir yerlerden mesaj gönderdiğini hissetmeye başlayan Tina da Elliot ile kendini beklemediği bir şeyin ortasında bulur.
Dediğim gibi biraz gererek başlıyor, güzel de ilerliyor. Böyle paranormal şeyleri severim de ben, o yüzden bana batmadı ama biraz bilim-kurgu ögeleri içeriyor açıkça. Gelelim günümüz şartlarına, belki spoiler olur buradan sonrası ona göre okuyun: Kitaptaki virüsün adı Wuhan-400. Bir Çinli araştırmacı sığınmak için virüsü Abd'ye getiriyor ve tabi ki gizli, illegal bir kurumla garip araştırmalar başlıyor. Wuhan'da bir araştırma laboratuvarı o zamanlarda var mıymış? Gerçek miymiş? Günümüze kadar gelmiş mi? Şimdiki bütün bu derdin nedeni yine bu arkadaşların bir halt yemesi mi? Bilemiyorum. Ama kitabın anlatımı güzel gerçekten, yazarın teşekkür kısmında yazdıklarına göre abimiz bir hayli de komik birisi gibi. Bence güzel bir macera okumak için tercih edin derim.
Dediğim gibi biraz gererek başlıyor, güzel de ilerliyor. Böyle paranormal şeyleri severim de ben, o yüzden bana batmadı ama biraz bilim-kurgu ögeleri içeriyor açıkça. Gelelim günümüz şartlarına, belki spoiler olur buradan sonrası ona göre okuyun: Kitaptaki virüsün adı Wuhan-400. Bir Çinli araştırmacı sığınmak için virüsü Abd'ye getiriyor ve tabi ki gizli, illegal bir kurumla garip araştırmalar başlıyor. Wuhan'da bir araştırma laboratuvarı o zamanlarda var mıymış? Gerçek miymiş? Günümüze kadar gelmiş mi? Şimdiki bütün bu derdin nedeni yine bu arkadaşların bir halt yemesi mi? Bilemiyorum. Ama kitabın anlatımı güzel gerçekten, yazarın teşekkür kısmında yazdıklarına göre abimiz bir hayli de komik birisi gibi. Bence güzel bir macera okumak için tercih edin derim.
March 29, 2020
Exciting scifi thriller. I don't see this as a horror genre so if you are reluctant to read, don't be!
I borrowed this book from the library because of "WUHAN 400" bio weapon that everyone was talking about. It's there towards the end of the story and I'm not going to spoil it any further.
I borrowed this book from the library because of "WUHAN 400" bio weapon that everyone was talking about. It's there towards the end of the story and I'm not going to spoil it any further.
July 8, 2020
The Eyes of Darkness. A title that gave me chills as I inhaled this spectacular, genre busting novel. A government whose role it is meant to be to protect the citizens of their country. They aren’t meant to cover up a catastrophic accident and keep a grieving mother from finding out the true cause of her sons’ demise. This novel is the best example at highlighting that the human condition is the real monsters lurking in the dark. Their penchant for control, devastation and blood thirsty violence is the main theme played throughout.
Sounds intriguing, right? The Eyes of Darkness was magnetic. Every time I put the book down to do chores, I just had to come straight back to it. The synopsis was brief and vague but gave me the carrot and stick analogy. The more delved further into the abyss of the plot, the more I knew that it would swallow me whole! A horror/suspense novel with elements of the supernatural, count me all the way in. it doesn’t follow the usual scripture of the horror genre…it had a stick of TNT under it and Koontz was going to blow it up when you stood on the precipice.
Tina Evans has had a terrible year. First her marriage dissolved and then she found out her only child, Danny had died in a terrible accident whilst hiking with his scout group in the Sierra mountains. She was never given the closure of viewing Danny’s body because there wasn’t much left of it. Now, a year on, it doesn’t hurt as much but someone or something has raked all those feeling back into her subconscious. Someone wants to mess with her. Someone doesn’t want the past to stay buried.
Tina, our protagonist in The Eyes of Darkness is everything I love in a character. No matter how much she has been battered into the ground she just refuses to stay there and succumb to the desolation the situation has put her into. I wanted her to succeed in her career, kick her mentally abusive ex husband to the curb for good, and most of all I was rooting for her and Elliott to get over past hurts together. She is the epitome of a bad ass woman – you’ll just have to take my word for it and read the book.
You really don’t know who you can trust in this novel…the answer is no-one and that’s probably a good life lesson to take forward. Everyone has their own agenda. Everyone will most likely stab you in the back if it came to a you or me situation. One thing was clear, family is and should always be the most important motivator. Hell have no fury like a mother scorned.
The Eyes of Darkness was horror novel with an interesting twist. Another one that kept me up well past my bedtime. It’s frightening realism is never scarier than it is right now!
Sounds intriguing, right? The Eyes of Darkness was magnetic. Every time I put the book down to do chores, I just had to come straight back to it. The synopsis was brief and vague but gave me the carrot and stick analogy. The more delved further into the abyss of the plot, the more I knew that it would swallow me whole! A horror/suspense novel with elements of the supernatural, count me all the way in. it doesn’t follow the usual scripture of the horror genre…it had a stick of TNT under it and Koontz was going to blow it up when you stood on the precipice.
Tina Evans has had a terrible year. First her marriage dissolved and then she found out her only child, Danny had died in a terrible accident whilst hiking with his scout group in the Sierra mountains. She was never given the closure of viewing Danny’s body because there wasn’t much left of it. Now, a year on, it doesn’t hurt as much but someone or something has raked all those feeling back into her subconscious. Someone wants to mess with her. Someone doesn’t want the past to stay buried.
Tina, our protagonist in The Eyes of Darkness is everything I love in a character. No matter how much she has been battered into the ground she just refuses to stay there and succumb to the desolation the situation has put her into. I wanted her to succeed in her career, kick her mentally abusive ex husband to the curb for good, and most of all I was rooting for her and Elliott to get over past hurts together. She is the epitome of a bad ass woman – you’ll just have to take my word for it and read the book.
You really don’t know who you can trust in this novel…the answer is no-one and that’s probably a good life lesson to take forward. Everyone has their own agenda. Everyone will most likely stab you in the back if it came to a you or me situation. One thing was clear, family is and should always be the most important motivator. Hell have no fury like a mother scorned.
The Eyes of Darkness was horror novel with an interesting twist. Another one that kept me up well past my bedtime. It’s frightening realism is never scarier than it is right now!
September 24, 2016
Once again Koontz, has no idea how to apply romance into his writing, so he should not even try. It does allow you to skim through those pages however. I'm not exactly sure what I ever saw in his novels as a child because most of them are just really bad, this one is no real exception. Too wordy about things that no one really would care about and the best part of the novel (the discovery) is basically only a few pages. Read nutrition labels if you must read.
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