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Strangers
"The plot twists ingeniously...chilling."--New York Times Book Review
Strangers is a novel written by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 1986. It is about a group of people who are brought together by their different and equally strange maladies. These people gather to meet in the middle of the Nevada 'high-desert' to try and figure out what was done to them, who could have done it, while at same time being watched by the people who have done this.
Strangers is a novel written by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 1986. It is about a group of people who are brought together by their different and equally strange maladies. These people gather to meet in the middle of the Nevada 'high-desert' to try and figure out what was done to them, who could have done it, while at same time being watched by the people who have done this.
630 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1986
2947 people are currently reading
22093 people want to read
About the author
Dean Koontz
879 books39.8k 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,121 reviews
May 11, 2013
"We may be teetering on the brink of a whole new world. Are you ready for it?"
This review is complicated for me. Dean Koontz’s Strangers is an amalgamation of many things: techno-thriller; psychological horror; science fiction. It’s quite unlike DK’s other 1980s novels. The book does contain some pretty creepy scenes, but the terror generated here is vested in the not knowing; the “something terrible happened to me but I don’t know what” scenario. Strangers is a longish book, at 700-or-so pages, and the great many characters lend it an epic sweep, while the story reminds more than a little of something Spielberg might have come up with. Of course, any story that revolves around a motel in the middle of nowhere is always going to appeal to me.
But is it scary?
And in the morning, he virtually exploded out of sleep with a shrill scream and found himself in total, claustrophobic darkness. Something had hold of him, something cold and clammy and strange and alive.
Koontz manages to wring some very real chills from his story, but this isn’t a full-blooded Horror novel. It’s ominous and sinister at times, but it never crosses into the realm of the macabre. I’m not mentioning this as criticism, but if you’re purely looking for a Koontz Horror fix you may want to explore something like Phantoms or Midnight instead. The horror element in this novel runs out of steam once most of the mysteries are solved. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a good story that just happens to contain some chilling elements and a dash of the paranormal, then Strangers is the book for you.
I will say this, though: there is a depiction of a medical procedure that literally had me squirming.
The less you know about the premise of Strangers, the better. The novel is 90% build-up and 10% reveal, so you really don’t want to know too much beforehand. It is a (fairly cinematic) novel about obsession, the fear of the unknown and the search for answers, but it is also a novel about the value of friendship and one which brims with a sense of wonder.
“What frightens you so?"
"I don't know. Something in my nightmares."
This review is complicated for me. Dean Koontz’s Strangers is an amalgamation of many things: techno-thriller; psychological horror; science fiction. It’s quite unlike DK’s other 1980s novels. The book does contain some pretty creepy scenes, but the terror generated here is vested in the not knowing; the “something terrible happened to me but I don’t know what” scenario. Strangers is a longish book, at 700-or-so pages, and the great many characters lend it an epic sweep, while the story reminds more than a little of something Spielberg might have come up with. Of course, any story that revolves around a motel in the middle of nowhere is always going to appeal to me.
But is it scary?
And in the morning, he virtually exploded out of sleep with a shrill scream and found himself in total, claustrophobic darkness. Something had hold of him, something cold and clammy and strange and alive.
Koontz manages to wring some very real chills from his story, but this isn’t a full-blooded Horror novel. It’s ominous and sinister at times, but it never crosses into the realm of the macabre. I’m not mentioning this as criticism, but if you’re purely looking for a Koontz Horror fix you may want to explore something like Phantoms or Midnight instead. The horror element in this novel runs out of steam once most of the mysteries are solved. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a good story that just happens to contain some chilling elements and a dash of the paranormal, then Strangers is the book for you.
I will say this, though: there is a depiction of a medical procedure that literally had me squirming.
The less you know about the premise of Strangers, the better. The novel is 90% build-up and 10% reveal, so you really don’t want to know too much beforehand. It is a (fairly cinematic) novel about obsession, the fear of the unknown and the search for answers, but it is also a novel about the value of friendship and one which brims with a sense of wonder.
“What frightens you so?"
"I don't know. Something in my nightmares."
December 11, 2025
Koontz starts by dropping us into the lives of 6 completely different people, each one written like they might be the main character. And by the time you get through a few chapters, that cast has exploded into a couple dozen names scattered across the U.S. A doctor in Boston, a motel owner and his staff in Nevada, a priest in Chicago, a thief in New York, a little girl in Vegas… none of them connected, except for one strange summer night at the Tranquility Motel.
Are all haunted by different fears, nyctophobia, sleepwalking, anxiety, and an overwhelming sense that something is deeply wrong. Koontz really takes his time peeling back the layers on each character, and I ended up loving how he exposes their hopes, fears, anxieties, and all the things they’ve been trying to ignore.
The story really takes off when these characters finally stop running from their experiences, admit how scared they are, and lean on each other.
Tropes/themes
Strangers-to-found-family
Multiple POVs
Shared trauma
Psychological mystery
Intense ending
While the beginning half was a little slow, the ending was stellar! *4.5*
Thank you for the recommendation, Dan!
Are all haunted by different fears, nyctophobia, sleepwalking, anxiety, and an overwhelming sense that something is deeply wrong. Koontz really takes his time peeling back the layers on each character, and I ended up loving how he exposes their hopes, fears, anxieties, and all the things they’ve been trying to ignore.
The story really takes off when these characters finally stop running from their experiences, admit how scared they are, and lean on each other.
Tropes/themes
Strangers-to-found-family
Multiple POVs
Shared trauma
Psychological mystery
Intense ending
While the beginning half was a little slow, the ending was stellar! *4.5*
Thank you for the recommendation, Dan!
November 6, 2016
Changing my rating on this since I remember that it was just awful! And that Koontz' writing is dire.
I found that I enjoyed this in the same way that you enjoy a terrible film. It is entertaining because it is so bad. That being said I might pick up a Koontz book again just for the lolz.
I found that I enjoyed this in the same way that you enjoy a terrible film. It is entertaining because it is so bad. That being said I might pick up a Koontz book again just for the lolz.
March 14, 2018
Picture me beating my head against a wall...or a table....or a desk, or something. Dean Koontz can write a good book, he's written several that rate among my favorites. This isn't one.
To be fair different books by DK rate high and low with different people. I've read that this was his first best seller. Cool. I see that there are a lot of people who love it and for them I'm happy. Really.
For me this book was too long for the story it told. The disparate characters of the story each struggling with and/or suffering from their different "situations" was a good idea, but he dragged (drug?) it out too long. FAR TOO LONG. I was so sick of the individual stories bouncing around and seemingly getting no where meaningful chapter after chapter I was just burned out. By the time I got to the climax I just didn't care any more.
I mentioned elsewhere that when I lay a book aside and find myself looking for something to watch amid the drek on TV instead of getting back to the novel it may be time to lay the book aside completely. I was getting there. I did skip forward a few times.
So if you like this, good for you. I would suggest that DK fans look for themselves as we all tend to disagree about his best works. For me I find this book to have a vastly too long "fore-section" that took way too long setting up the story. When it got there the climax was hokey and disappointing (to me anyway). I can't really recommend this one highly, but it's...okay.
To be fair different books by DK rate high and low with different people. I've read that this was his first best seller. Cool. I see that there are a lot of people who love it and for them I'm happy. Really.
For me this book was too long for the story it told. The disparate characters of the story each struggling with and/or suffering from their different "situations" was a good idea, but he dragged (drug?) it out too long. FAR TOO LONG. I was so sick of the individual stories bouncing around and seemingly getting no where meaningful chapter after chapter I was just burned out. By the time I got to the climax I just didn't care any more.
I mentioned elsewhere that when I lay a book aside and find myself looking for something to watch amid the drek on TV instead of getting back to the novel it may be time to lay the book aside completely. I was getting there. I did skip forward a few times.
So if you like this, good for you. I would suggest that DK fans look for themselves as we all tend to disagree about his best works. For me I find this book to have a vastly too long "fore-section" that took way too long setting up the story. When it got there the climax was hokey and disappointing (to me anyway). I can't really recommend this one highly, but it's...okay.
May 19, 2022
Strangers was one of Koontz's first long, successful, big mash-up novels, with elements of suspense, mystery, science fiction, romance, Western, tech-thriller, intrigue, and any other flavor you'd care to suggest. I also thought it was the most similar to Stephen King's brand, including the a-little-less-than-one-wanted ending. The major characters are enjoyable (though none of them are a dog), and all pleasantly quirky (if a bit one sided), all the way down to their psychological afflictions; they all get together in Nevada and things get stranger for the strangers as their stories intertwine and unfold. It's all about the mystery, and I can't say anything else without being spoilery... Classic mid-period Koontz.
August 9, 2023
I had read this before, and I remember loving it. This time around, not so much. Dean Koontz has a verbosity that most times reaches the depths of soul, such that it resonates in the reader because the reader has felt those emotions before.
This novel has verbosity that just drones on and on. He begins by telling the story of 6 characters, as if each is the MC, but by the end of the narrative, those characters have multiplied into 2 dozen. This is not a well-told story. It meanders, loses itself, and then aimlessly tries to find its way.
I was really disappointed at the piss poor storytelling and found myself hoping, praying to end it and put myself out of my misery. I just finished it and the ending is not terrible, but it sure took its time getting here. This is the first time I will say this about a Koontz work. I probably will never read this again.
This novel has verbosity that just drones on and on. He begins by telling the story of 6 characters, as if each is the MC, but by the end of the narrative, those characters have multiplied into 2 dozen. This is not a well-told story. It meanders, loses itself, and then aimlessly tries to find its way.
I was really disappointed at the piss poor storytelling and found myself hoping, praying to end it and put myself out of my misery. I just finished it and the ending is not terrible, but it sure took its time getting here. This is the first time I will say this about a Koontz work. I probably will never read this again.
October 1, 2019
This has to be one of my least favorite reads of 2019. Good lord this is just bad. And it has too many characters and not enough plot. When we finally get to the whole conspiracy aspect of this I laughed. I think since this was written in 1986 it made sense to Koontz to write it the way that he did. However, as someone who grew up watching B level monster movies, this is just no comparison at all.
This book also indulges in all of Koontz's many writing weaknesses through the years, we can see his beginning fascination with military men or women who know how to shoot guns. We can see the "Perfect Woman" that shows up in his books again and again, though this one is short and a doctor. I can't recall him writing a woman with a job in his last couple of books that wasn't an artist or doctor. The book is also too freaking long. This is over 700 pages. I skipped over the Afterword because (swear word) you that's why. I didn't care what Koontz had to say about this book at this point. He had 700 pages to say it, and I was just done. This book fits so many squares for Halloween bingo, but I refuse to recommend you all read this. Just stay away.
"Strangers" follows like 20 people. I don't know. I stopped counting once we got up to five separate story-lines. Anyway, back to the book, "Strangers" follows a lot of people across the United States over a period of a few weeks who seem to be hiding from someone or something. Some of these people go into fugue states, others are scared of the dark, of black gloves (no really) and all of them are starting to feel strange. Once the strangers start to connect the dots they realize that all of them seem to be missing a period of time. And what happened during that period will be a revelation.
Cue the sad trombone noise.
So off the top of my head, these are the only characters I can remember. Dom, a writer who has hit it big. Ginger, a surgeon. Ernie who is a retired Marine who runs a motel with his wife Faye. Brendan who is a priest. Jack Twist whose name made me laugh a lot who is a retired Army Ranger but is now a thief (don't ask me, I didn't write this) and Stefan another priest. There are other people that were brought up later in the book and I refuse to go back and look their names up. Koontz focuses on these people at first (6 strangers) and then adds in more people. And let's not get into all of the secondary and tertiary characters. It's too much. I just maybe ugly laughed at one point last night or this morning (it was around 1 am) and I started to wonder if Koontz wanted to go up against King for most characters vis a vis, "The Stand." For those who are wondering, "The Stand' was published in 1978 and I recall as a kid not even trying to get through that brick. I jumped around a lot while trying to finish that at the age of 12. One of these days I will re-read.
I usually have one or two people I like in these kinds of books and honestly the only person that I felt any infinity with while reading was Ginger. I loved her whole backstory and if the book had focused solely on her I would have loved it. A young woman whose Jewish father and Swedish mother were very much in love with each other and her, she's excelled at anything she has ever wanted to do. When she starts taking part in surgeries in Boston and when she starts to have terrors and blank spots in her memory, she's legitimately scared she has a tumor or something else wrong with her. Unfortunately, Koontz switches back and forth between her and 5 other people, and then adds in more, and then Ginger is just lost in the wind like everyone else.
I already said this book seemed to start Koontz's fascination with portraying ex-military personnel as characters. One character, Jack Twist, had a storyline involving his wife that reminded me a bit of "The Husband."
The writing was great in parts (hence the one star) this book just needed way cut back. And when we get to Part III the book hit a ridiculous stage and when we get into the reveal I maybe said seriously? The flow was bad. There was no action until maybe the last 100 pages. Maybe less than that? When all is revealed. Until then it's just all of these people we track trying different ways to figure out what is going on with them. It's not that interesting in the end.
The setting of the book of course takes part in the 1980s. I can see some elements of horror and science fiction books and movies taking place here. We get the scary government element (see E.T., Flight of the Navigator, etc.). You also get (spoilers) which is very 80s too.
The ending was just a wash for me. I felt like I was being preached to (a favorite thing that Koontz still likes to do in his books) and just felt bored and also robbed of the time I spent reading this.
This book also indulges in all of Koontz's many writing weaknesses through the years, we can see his beginning fascination with military men or women who know how to shoot guns. We can see the "Perfect Woman" that shows up in his books again and again, though this one is short and a doctor. I can't recall him writing a woman with a job in his last couple of books that wasn't an artist or doctor. The book is also too freaking long. This is over 700 pages. I skipped over the Afterword because (swear word) you that's why. I didn't care what Koontz had to say about this book at this point. He had 700 pages to say it, and I was just done. This book fits so many squares for Halloween bingo, but I refuse to recommend you all read this. Just stay away.
"Strangers" follows like 20 people. I don't know. I stopped counting once we got up to five separate story-lines. Anyway, back to the book, "Strangers" follows a lot of people across the United States over a period of a few weeks who seem to be hiding from someone or something. Some of these people go into fugue states, others are scared of the dark, of black gloves (no really) and all of them are starting to feel strange. Once the strangers start to connect the dots they realize that all of them seem to be missing a period of time. And what happened during that period will be a revelation.
Cue the sad trombone noise.
So off the top of my head, these are the only characters I can remember. Dom, a writer who has hit it big. Ginger, a surgeon. Ernie who is a retired Marine who runs a motel with his wife Faye. Brendan who is a priest. Jack Twist whose name made me laugh a lot who is a retired Army Ranger but is now a thief (don't ask me, I didn't write this) and Stefan another priest. There are other people that were brought up later in the book and I refuse to go back and look their names up. Koontz focuses on these people at first (6 strangers) and then adds in more people. And let's not get into all of the secondary and tertiary characters. It's too much. I just maybe ugly laughed at one point last night or this morning (it was around 1 am) and I started to wonder if Koontz wanted to go up against King for most characters vis a vis, "The Stand." For those who are wondering, "The Stand' was published in 1978 and I recall as a kid not even trying to get through that brick. I jumped around a lot while trying to finish that at the age of 12. One of these days I will re-read.
I usually have one or two people I like in these kinds of books and honestly the only person that I felt any infinity with while reading was Ginger. I loved her whole backstory and if the book had focused solely on her I would have loved it. A young woman whose Jewish father and Swedish mother were very much in love with each other and her, she's excelled at anything she has ever wanted to do. When she starts taking part in surgeries in Boston and when she starts to have terrors and blank spots in her memory, she's legitimately scared she has a tumor or something else wrong with her. Unfortunately, Koontz switches back and forth between her and 5 other people, and then adds in more, and then Ginger is just lost in the wind like everyone else.
I already said this book seemed to start Koontz's fascination with portraying ex-military personnel as characters. One character, Jack Twist, had a storyline involving his wife that reminded me a bit of "The Husband."
The writing was great in parts (hence the one star) this book just needed way cut back. And when we get to Part III the book hit a ridiculous stage and when we get into the reveal I maybe said seriously? The flow was bad. There was no action until maybe the last 100 pages. Maybe less than that? When all is revealed. Until then it's just all of these people we track trying different ways to figure out what is going on with them. It's not that interesting in the end.
The setting of the book of course takes part in the 1980s. I can see some elements of horror and science fiction books and movies taking place here. We get the scary government element (see E.T., Flight of the Navigator, etc.). You also get (spoilers) which is very 80s too.
The ending was just a wash for me. I felt like I was being preached to (a favorite thing that Koontz still likes to do in his books) and just felt bored and also robbed of the time I spent reading this.
September 26, 2009
I picked up a bag full of old Koontz books, and this is the one I chose to read first. I'm glad I did. Although it's a dense book, it was worth the wait slowly getting to know the characters and having their fears revealed little by little, one by one. When the strangers convene once again at the Tranquility Inn to get to the bottom of what happened one July night a year before and end their nightmares, the tension and fear of what they saw and heard from the skies is palpable. The ending is just beautiful and very poignant and I kept wishing that I could have been one of the lucky few to witness the event.
April 24, 2010
Strangers (1986)
"Strangers" is not your typical Koontz book. It was his first hardcover bestseller and the first book he wrote without resorting to outlines.
Plus it bears a glowing endorsment from Stephen King, who states that it's "The best novel he has written!".
The novel is concerned with a group of strangers from all over the USA - a surgeon, a writer, a motel-keeper, a priest and a thief - who are troubled by different phobias - nyctophobia, somnambulism, anxiety. They have nothing in common - except for one hot summer night at the Tranquility Motel.
Strangers is a skilfully woven tale, though it has its flaws. Koontz characters only seem to have nothing in common - they all suffer from Koontz's "trademark" black and white personality disorder. The good guys are ideal; the writer is the author of touching bestsellers, the doctor is devoted to her task of saving lives, and the thief is basically a modern version of Robin Hood.
The novel captures the attention of the reader and keeps him involved in the first two parts, but it looses the steam in part three. His simple minded moralising and heavy preaching about the importance of values such as love and friendship is annoying. The final action sequences, as always with Koontz, are cop-outs and hard to accept by a serious reader, but since this is no serious fiction I guess this can be overlooked.
The ending in itself is very poignant and moving, if only he could keep his standard blabbering to minimum...
Overall, the main issue with "Strangers" is that it could have been so much more. The topic tackled by Koontz is extremely interesting, and with a good editor it could have been executed much better - but I still liked it very much, mainly because it's better than all the garbage he's been putting out recently and it created vivid images in my head. The moon !
"Strangers" is not your typical Koontz book. It was his first hardcover bestseller and the first book he wrote without resorting to outlines.
Plus it bears a glowing endorsment from Stephen King, who states that it's "The best novel he has written!".
The novel is concerned with a group of strangers from all over the USA - a surgeon, a writer, a motel-keeper, a priest and a thief - who are troubled by different phobias - nyctophobia, somnambulism, anxiety. They have nothing in common - except for one hot summer night at the Tranquility Motel.
Strangers is a skilfully woven tale, though it has its flaws. Koontz characters only seem to have nothing in common - they all suffer from Koontz's "trademark" black and white personality disorder. The good guys are ideal; the writer is the author of touching bestsellers, the doctor is devoted to her task of saving lives, and the thief is basically a modern version of Robin Hood.
The novel captures the attention of the reader and keeps him involved in the first two parts, but it looses the steam in part three. His simple minded moralising and heavy preaching about the importance of values such as love and friendship is annoying. The final action sequences, as always with Koontz, are cop-outs and hard to accept by a serious reader, but since this is no serious fiction I guess this can be overlooked.
The ending in itself is very poignant and moving, if only he could keep his standard blabbering to minimum...
Overall, the main issue with "Strangers" is that it could have been so much more. The topic tackled by Koontz is extremely interesting, and with a good editor it could have been executed much better - but I still liked it very much, mainly because it's better than all the garbage he's been putting out recently and it created vivid images in my head. The moon !
January 29, 2016
I've re-read this book several times over the years, and for me it holds up very well. I like books you can sink your teeth into, and really get to know the characters...and this book, longer than average, allows you to do just that.
October 14, 2014
I read Strangers years ago, and it's probably about time for a reread. For me, it's that good, my second favorite Koontz book behind Watchers which was written in 1987, the year after Strangers was published.
Dominick Corvaisis, author
Ginger Weiss, surgeon
Ernie Block, U.S.M.C. (ret.), and his wife, Faye Block
Brendan Cronin, priest and curate
Jack Twist, former Army Ranger and P.O.W., professional thief
Jorja Monatella, formerly Rykoff, Las Vegas casino cocktail waitress
Six people, six...wait for it...Strangers!, each afflicted by different and...wait for it...strange! maladies, each unable to figure out on his/her own what is causing the somnambulism, fugue states, nyctophobia, loss of faith, among other...yeah, here it is again...strange happenings.
Strangeness all around. And just in time for Halloween!
Strangers is a doorstopper of a book, the paperback version hefting 681 pages of ink. And that's just fine with me. If an author does it correctly, the longer the book the better. Koontz does it correctly here. What I love about this story is that it pulled me into each character's life, peeling away layer after layer, exposing the hopes and fears and anxieties of the characters, but it's not just their hopes and fears and anxieties, it's also ours. We all have those hidden parts of our lives that we dare not let anyone else discover. No, no. We keep those areas in the back corners of our hearts, not daring to expose our weaknesses and worries. Not daring to become vulnerable, never quite understanding that we're already vulnerable, no matter how much we may fight against that.
All of us are vulnerable.
It's when these six characters come to terms with what their suffering, admit their vulnerability, and rely on each other for help, comfort, and strength, where the story really takes off. Again, we all need the help offered by others at times, the comfort of family, and the strength that comes from the numerous friends we all have. I loved watching this band of strangers come together, find strength in each other, press forward to discover the common secret they all share (even though they don't at first know what that secret it) and confront their common enemy.
And when they find out that their common enemy is a lot closer than any of them imagined...well, enough said on that.
If all you've read of Koontz is the stuff he's put out the past ten years, and you'd like to get a taste of what he used to write before he fell in love with golden retrievers and Odd Thomas and single-sentence paragraphs, check out Strangers. It just may be a breath of fresh air and spur you on to more of Koontz's earlier works.
Next up in the review queue, I'll write about an Orson Scott Card novel that had me crying like a baby during the last ten pages. And no, it's not Ender's Game. You know, the man has written a bunch of other books beside the Ender series!
Dominick Corvaisis, author
Ginger Weiss, surgeon
Ernie Block, U.S.M.C. (ret.), and his wife, Faye Block
Brendan Cronin, priest and curate
Jack Twist, former Army Ranger and P.O.W., professional thief
Jorja Monatella, formerly Rykoff, Las Vegas casino cocktail waitress
Six people, six...wait for it...Strangers!, each afflicted by different and...wait for it...strange! maladies, each unable to figure out on his/her own what is causing the somnambulism, fugue states, nyctophobia, loss of faith, among other...yeah, here it is again...strange happenings.
Strangeness all around. And just in time for Halloween!
Strangers is a doorstopper of a book, the paperback version hefting 681 pages of ink. And that's just fine with me. If an author does it correctly, the longer the book the better. Koontz does it correctly here. What I love about this story is that it pulled me into each character's life, peeling away layer after layer, exposing the hopes and fears and anxieties of the characters, but it's not just their hopes and fears and anxieties, it's also ours. We all have those hidden parts of our lives that we dare not let anyone else discover. No, no. We keep those areas in the back corners of our hearts, not daring to expose our weaknesses and worries. Not daring to become vulnerable, never quite understanding that we're already vulnerable, no matter how much we may fight against that.
All of us are vulnerable.
It's when these six characters come to terms with what their suffering, admit their vulnerability, and rely on each other for help, comfort, and strength, where the story really takes off. Again, we all need the help offered by others at times, the comfort of family, and the strength that comes from the numerous friends we all have. I loved watching this band of strangers come together, find strength in each other, press forward to discover the common secret they all share (even though they don't at first know what that secret it) and confront their common enemy.
And when they find out that their common enemy is a lot closer than any of them imagined...well, enough said on that.
If all you've read of Koontz is the stuff he's put out the past ten years, and you'd like to get a taste of what he used to write before he fell in love with golden retrievers and Odd Thomas and single-sentence paragraphs, check out Strangers. It just may be a breath of fresh air and spur you on to more of Koontz's earlier works.
Next up in the review queue, I'll write about an Orson Scott Card novel that had me crying like a baby during the last ten pages. And no, it's not Ender's Game. You know, the man has written a bunch of other books beside the Ender series!
November 1, 2025
I first read Strangers over 30 years ago—it was my introduction to Dean Koontz, who’s remained one of my favorite authors. He’s a brilliant writer, though his tendency to overwrite, his writing verbosity has turned me away from reading a lot of his most current works.
Strangers juggles many characters, but Koontz’s skillful character work keeps it engaging. The story is way longer than it needs to be, yet still an enjoyable and entertaining read.
Skip the Kindle version—it’s a formatting disaster. The audiobook, narrated by Dick Hill, is the way to go.
Strangers juggles many characters, but Koontz’s skillful character work keeps it engaging. The story is way longer than it needs to be, yet still an enjoyable and entertaining read.
Skip the Kindle version—it’s a formatting disaster. The audiobook, narrated by Dick Hill, is the way to go.
April 9, 2017
This is a book by Dean Koontz. Even though this author is known for his suspense thrillers, this novel is more like a mystery book with supernatural aspects. In this one, different people from different areas of the country are suffering meltdowns. Some are sleepwalking, others are afraid of the dark, and others are scared of the moon. All of these people have a shared experience.
This book had a X-Files feel to it as the author gives us one piece of the puzzle at a time. I liked this change of book from this author as this author usually writes about good versus evil and the chase between them. This was a mystery book that the reader goes along for the ride as the characters discover each piece of the puzzle and they attempt to put all the pieces together. This novel does have a lot of set up but I was never bored with it. I was interested throughout as I was wondering where the mystery led to. And I would have never guessed the result even though it makes sense knowing this author as I am a fan. There is a large cast of characters in this book and the reader should be able to connect with some of them.
For the majority of this novel this is not your typical Dean Koontz book. It really felt like a mystery book but it isn't your typical mystery book either. There wasn't a ton of action but I always wanted to read more because of the mystery and I was curious to find out what happened to this cast of characters. This is a lengthy book but a very enjoyable one.
This book had a X-Files feel to it as the author gives us one piece of the puzzle at a time. I liked this change of book from this author as this author usually writes about good versus evil and the chase between them. This was a mystery book that the reader goes along for the ride as the characters discover each piece of the puzzle and they attempt to put all the pieces together. This novel does have a lot of set up but I was never bored with it. I was interested throughout as I was wondering where the mystery led to. And I would have never guessed the result even though it makes sense knowing this author as I am a fan. There is a large cast of characters in this book and the reader should be able to connect with some of them.
For the majority of this novel this is not your typical Dean Koontz book. It really felt like a mystery book but it isn't your typical mystery book either. There wasn't a ton of action but I always wanted to read more because of the mystery and I was curious to find out what happened to this cast of characters. This is a lengthy book but a very enjoyable one.
November 14, 2024
First of all, congratulations to Koontz for the award for "Most Uses of the Word 'Moon' In Any Publication Ever", it was well deserved with over 300 occurrences over a little under 600 pages.
This is a very good novel, but you do feel a little bit hit over the head with it at times. Also, the book moves at a snail's pace, but luckily the characters are interesting and the central mystery was compelling enough to hold my interest throughout.
This is a very good novel, but you do feel a little bit hit over the head with it at times. Also, the book moves at a snail's pace, but luckily the characters are interesting and the central mystery was compelling enough to hold my interest throughout.
April 2, 2018
A shockingly bad novel from Dean Koontz’s “classic” period, Strangers is a big, dumb, plodding creature overstuffed with banal characters and pointless storylines, all which converge to form a predictable, distinctly Koontzian ending. While Koontz’s novels that focus on a couple of characters are typically fun (albeit brainless) reading, with this the author bit off more than he could chew. Lifeless and insufferable, I could barely make it through what Stephen King once called Dean Koontz’s “finest novel.”
March 3, 2015
This was probably my fourth time reading this book and I have to say this is one example of Koontz at his best. Maybe it's because of my advancing years causing me to be forgetful, but I think it's Koontz magic that makes this book just as exciting as that first night in 1986 or 1987 when I stayed up much too late just to finish it. It bristled with excitement with each new piece of the puzzle trying to figure out what exactly happened to these strangers that links them together. I loved all of the main characters who were not necessarily perfect but good-hearted. At various times both the characters of Ginger's father Jacob, through her remembering what he'd taught her, and that of Father Wycazek bring home the message of the book and sum up its theme. I liked how this book differs from Koontz's more recent writings where everything happening is brought together by the end of the book. The questions left for me after this reading were now "why did...?" or "how does ...?" but more of a "What If?" It's also a very different book from the more recent dystopian fiction coming out lately. Dean Koontz at his finest.
September 9, 2020
This story is more than 30 years old, so I tried to consider that with my generous evaluation. No better than 1 1/2 stars. I'm glad this wasn't my first Koontz as there may not have been another. Religion rears its head and the end is anything but satisfactory. 3 of 10 stars
November 2, 2018
This is one of those novels that will linger in your thoughts for decades and I don’t just mean an image or two. From the very first chapter, Koontz starts cultivating feelings of suspense and ever increasing tension that will have your desperately turning pages, or, if listening to it in audio as I did this time, finding excuses to keep the book playing long after your commute is done. What is especially impressive for an author who made his reputation in the horror genre is that it’s not even clear that there is going to be a supernatural element for half the book. It opens with a man who finds himself hiding in the closet after apparently sleep walking. He’s sore, he’s frightened, and he has no idea what is going on. But it isn’t until he pulls himself together and sits down at his computer to continue writing his books that things get really eerie. He finds that while sleep walking he has typed page after page of just two words: “I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared.”
Koontz then shifts focus to a young doctor on her day off who panics and flees in a fugue state when she notices a pair of black gloves. Next we meet a retired marine who is suddenly terrified of the dark and trying desperately to hide his fear from his wife. None of these people have any apparent connection, yet they are all showing evidence of psychological suffering they can’t explain. Later in the book we meet a young child who has become terrified of doctors and a priest whose deep and abiding faith suddenly collapses so that he throws the chalice in the middle of Mass. And the list goes on. What makes this all the more frightening is it is way too easy to imagine yourself suffering these almost normal problems which means that you will enjoy a high level of empathy with each of these very well drawn characters.
As we get deeper into the novel, elements of a vast conspiracy begin to be uncovered with the real possibility of danger to the people trying to find out why they are suffering these bizarre symptoms. This ramps up the tension to a whole new level as we also began to meet people who have gone over the edge and even kill themselves as a result of the psychological harm they have suffered. At the same time suppressed memories begin to pop free in those sufferings and they separately begin to evolve plans that will ultimately bring them together to find out what incredible event triggered all of this.
I don’t want to give away the end of this novel, but I found it to have a totally satisfying conclusion. The chief villain, when he is revealed, is both frightening and believable. This is a long book—nearly 30 hours in audio—but every page is worth reading. 5 stars
Koontz then shifts focus to a young doctor on her day off who panics and flees in a fugue state when she notices a pair of black gloves. Next we meet a retired marine who is suddenly terrified of the dark and trying desperately to hide his fear from his wife. None of these people have any apparent connection, yet they are all showing evidence of psychological suffering they can’t explain. Later in the book we meet a young child who has become terrified of doctors and a priest whose deep and abiding faith suddenly collapses so that he throws the chalice in the middle of Mass. And the list goes on. What makes this all the more frightening is it is way too easy to imagine yourself suffering these almost normal problems which means that you will enjoy a high level of empathy with each of these very well drawn characters.
As we get deeper into the novel, elements of a vast conspiracy begin to be uncovered with the real possibility of danger to the people trying to find out why they are suffering these bizarre symptoms. This ramps up the tension to a whole new level as we also began to meet people who have gone over the edge and even kill themselves as a result of the psychological harm they have suffered. At the same time suppressed memories begin to pop free in those sufferings and they separately begin to evolve plans that will ultimately bring them together to find out what incredible event triggered all of this.
I don’t want to give away the end of this novel, but I found it to have a totally satisfying conclusion. The chief villain, when he is revealed, is both frightening and believable. This is a long book—nearly 30 hours in audio—but every page is worth reading. 5 stars
June 3, 2020
A terrible darkness has fallen upon us,
but we must not surrender to it.
We shall lift lamps of courage
and find our way through to the morning.
- Anonymous member of the French Resistance (1943)
I think we are in rats' alley,
Where the dead men lost their bones,
-T. S. Eliot
Like one that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Courage, love, friendship,
compassion, and empathy
lift us above the simple beasts
and define humanity.
-The Book of Counted Sorrows
This is a really long Dean Koontz novel. At times it seems a bit much, but I believe it's worth sticking with. A really beautiful conclusion. A book of paranoia, phobias and obsessions but also a message of connection, hope and the future of humanity. The moon plays a significant role in the story.
During my most recent reading of STRANGERS, I was inspired to re-experience a particular film, and I plan to read the short story upon which it was based: I haven't read this story, but I'm excited to do so.
Strangers features Dean's often used method which can be experienced in Jane Hawk Novels, The Mask, The House of Thunder, The Key to Midnight and False Memory.
Favorite Passages:
"What the hell happened to you during that long drive to Utah? Something must've given you a real jolt, something big enough to knock you out of your complacency."
"Nope. It was an uneventful trip."
"Not inside your head, it wasn't."
_______
At the far end of the fourth-floor hall, in the last room on the right, lived the dead woman who still breathed.
_______
Ernie pulled open the drapes. He peered out at the night and told himself that this perfect blackness was not so bad - deep and pure, vast and cold, but not malevolent, and in no way a personal threat.
However, as he watched, unmoving and unmovable, portions of the darkness seemed to . . . well, to shift, to coalesce, forming into not quite visible but nonetheless solid shapes, lumps of pulsing and denser blackness within the greater blackness, lurking phantoms that at any moment might launch themselves toward the fragile window.
________
The sleepwalker would be well-advised to search the past for the source of his problem. That is where the secret is buried.
_______
. . . a delightful surprise and an inexplicable mystery.
_______
She was more interested in the immediate terrain, which exerted a mysterious and powerful attraction for her, and which seemed to radiate peace the way a rock, in evening, radiated the heat of the sun that it had absorbed during the day.
_______
"In retrospect I can see that her behavior had all the earmarks of a phobia. Irrational fear, panic attacks . . . "
_______
"I'll have to ransack the place, empty out drawers, take a few things of value, and make it look like you two walked in on a burglar . . . Should I maybe rape you, too? I mean, would a burglar just shoot a good-looking girl like you? Wouldn't he rape you first? Wouldn't that make this look more real?"
_______
He drove through the university campus, stopping repeatedly to let the familiar scenes stir feelings and attitudes of times past. he parked across the street from the apartment where he'd lived, and as he stared up at the windows, he tried to recall the man he had been then.
He was surprised at how difficult it was to recollect the timidity with which that other Dom Corvaisis had viewed life.
_______
He was seeking satori, which was a Zen word meaning "sudden enlightenment," a profound revelation. But enlightenment eluded him.
_______
He was afraid. Afraid of the past. Afraid of the future. But afraid mostly because he did not know why he was afraid.
_______
The girl looked bewildered, as if she were not quite sure where she was or who Jorja was. Then her eyes cleared, and she gave her mother a smile that could melt butter. "Hi, Mommy. I been coloring moons."
"Well, now it's time to get ready for bed," Jorja said.
"In a little while, okay?" The girl appeared to be relaxed, yet she was gripping a crayon so tightly that her knuckles were white. "I want to color some more moons."
. . .
Red. The girl was coloring all the moons red, both those she had drawn and those clipped from newspapers and magazines. She had already painted more than fifty lunar images. The obsessive quality of the girl's work was evident in the great care she had taken to keep the crayon from slipping past the outline of each moon. The crayon had been applied more heavily picture by picture, until some moons were coated with so much scarlet wax that they had a glisteningly wet look.
The use of red - and red alone - profoundly disturbed Jorja. It almost seemed as if Marcie had glimpsed an augury of some onrushing terror, a premonition of blood.
_______
Dom remembered every detail of the place now that he was standing in it, and he had the impression that a multitude of ghosts flitted teasingly through the room, staying just at the periphery of his vision. The ghosts were actually bad memories rather than spirits, and they haunted not the room but the shadowy corners of his own mind.
_______
She hoped she would one day meet the people who had messed with her mind. She wanted to look in their eyes and ask them how they could have so little respect for the personal integrity of another human being. Now that she knew she had been manipulated, she would never again feel entirely secure.
Stirred by the wind, the dry sagebrush made a scraping-rustling noise. Ice-crusted twigs clicked against one another with a sound that, fancifully, made Faye think of small, scurrying skeletons of little animals long dead but somehow reanimated.
_______
"I don't want this. I don't want to be so different from other people."
_______
"What's it mean, Father? I heard you tell Mr. Mendoza this wasn't the whole story. What's happening?"
In their faces, he saw a longing to believe, not particularly in the truths of Catholicism or Christianity, for not all were Catholics or Christians, but a deep-seated longing to believe in something greater and better and cleaner than humankind, an intense yearning for spiritual transcendence.
"What's it mean, Father?" one of them asked again.
"Something's happening," he told them. "Here, elsewhere. A great and wonderful something. This child is part of it. I can't tell you for sure what it means or that we've seen the hand of God here, though I believe we have. Look at Hector on his mother's lap, eating candy, and remember God's promise: 'There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,' In my heart of hearts, I feel that the former things are about to pass away."
_______
"Do cardinals wear pants under their robes?"
_______
We care. That is what differentiates us from the beasts of the field. That's what Jacob had always said. Intellect, courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy - each of those qualities was as important to the human species as all the others, Jacob had said. Some people thought only intellect counted: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. All were important factors that had contributed to the ascendancy and supremacy of humankind, yes, but the many functions of intellect were insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy. We care. It is our curse. It is our blessing.
_______
_______
In spite of its plainness, the chamber had a warmth, appeal, and magic that, strangely enough, reminded Ginger of her father's private office at the back of his first jewelry store in Brooklyn, the one he always used as his headquarters. The walls of that sanctum sanctorum had been decorated only with a calendar, and the furniture had been inexpensive, old, and well used. Plain. Even drab. But for Ginger, it had been a fine and magical room, because Jacob had seldom worked there but had squirreled away with one book or another, from which he'd often read to her. Sometimes it would be a mystery, or a fantasy about gnomes and witches, a story of other worlds, or a thriller about spies. And when Jacob read, his voice acquired a resonant and mesmerizing timbre. The reality of the gray little office faded, and for hours Ginger could believe herself to be investigating with Sherlock Holmes upon the misty moors, celebrating with the Hobbit Mr. Bilbo Baggins inside the Hill at Bag End, or with Jim and Will as they explored the terrible carnival in Mr. Bradbury's lovely book. Jacob's office hadn't been only what it seemed to be . . . under its drab skin, it harbored wondrous things, great mysteries.
Two quotes from Afterword by Dean Koontz:
I was not fully sane when I wrote Strangers.
_______
I dreamed of writing a book that would be big in narrative scope and theme, that would be stuffed with interesting characters, that would rivet the reader with twists and turns and mystery and wonder, that would be THE BEST DAMN BOOK EVER WRITTEN. Yes, of course, that is an absurd goal, overweening ambition of the most deplorably weening sort, especially as The Little Engine That Could had already been published and had established a literary pinnacle that no mortal writer will ever achieve again.
but we must not surrender to it.
We shall lift lamps of courage
and find our way through to the morning.
- Anonymous member of the French Resistance (1943)
I think we are in rats' alley,
Where the dead men lost their bones,
-T. S. Eliot
Like one that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Courage, love, friendship,
compassion, and empathy
lift us above the simple beasts
and define humanity.
-The Book of Counted Sorrows
This is a really long Dean Koontz novel. At times it seems a bit much, but I believe it's worth sticking with. A really beautiful conclusion. A book of paranoia, phobias and obsessions but also a message of connection, hope and the future of humanity. The moon plays a significant role in the story.
During my most recent reading of STRANGERS, I was inspired to re-experience a particular film, and I plan to read the short story upon which it was based: I haven't read this story, but I'm excited to do so.
Strangers features Dean's often used method which can be experienced in Jane Hawk Novels, The Mask, The House of Thunder, The Key to Midnight and False Memory.
Favorite Passages:
"What the hell happened to you during that long drive to Utah? Something must've given you a real jolt, something big enough to knock you out of your complacency."
"Nope. It was an uneventful trip."
"Not inside your head, it wasn't."
_______
At the far end of the fourth-floor hall, in the last room on the right, lived the dead woman who still breathed.
_______
Ernie pulled open the drapes. He peered out at the night and told himself that this perfect blackness was not so bad - deep and pure, vast and cold, but not malevolent, and in no way a personal threat.
However, as he watched, unmoving and unmovable, portions of the darkness seemed to . . . well, to shift, to coalesce, forming into not quite visible but nonetheless solid shapes, lumps of pulsing and denser blackness within the greater blackness, lurking phantoms that at any moment might launch themselves toward the fragile window.
________
The sleepwalker would be well-advised to search the past for the source of his problem. That is where the secret is buried.
_______
. . . a delightful surprise and an inexplicable mystery.
_______
She was more interested in the immediate terrain, which exerted a mysterious and powerful attraction for her, and which seemed to radiate peace the way a rock, in evening, radiated the heat of the sun that it had absorbed during the day.
_______
"In retrospect I can see that her behavior had all the earmarks of a phobia. Irrational fear, panic attacks . . . "
_______
"I'll have to ransack the place, empty out drawers, take a few things of value, and make it look like you two walked in on a burglar . . . Should I maybe rape you, too? I mean, would a burglar just shoot a good-looking girl like you? Wouldn't he rape you first? Wouldn't that make this look more real?"
_______
He drove through the university campus, stopping repeatedly to let the familiar scenes stir feelings and attitudes of times past. he parked across the street from the apartment where he'd lived, and as he stared up at the windows, he tried to recall the man he had been then.
He was surprised at how difficult it was to recollect the timidity with which that other Dom Corvaisis had viewed life.
_______
He was seeking satori, which was a Zen word meaning "sudden enlightenment," a profound revelation. But enlightenment eluded him.
_______
He was afraid. Afraid of the past. Afraid of the future. But afraid mostly because he did not know why he was afraid.
_______
The girl looked bewildered, as if she were not quite sure where she was or who Jorja was. Then her eyes cleared, and she gave her mother a smile that could melt butter. "Hi, Mommy. I been coloring moons."
"Well, now it's time to get ready for bed," Jorja said.
"In a little while, okay?" The girl appeared to be relaxed, yet she was gripping a crayon so tightly that her knuckles were white. "I want to color some more moons."
. . .
Red. The girl was coloring all the moons red, both those she had drawn and those clipped from newspapers and magazines. She had already painted more than fifty lunar images. The obsessive quality of the girl's work was evident in the great care she had taken to keep the crayon from slipping past the outline of each moon. The crayon had been applied more heavily picture by picture, until some moons were coated with so much scarlet wax that they had a glisteningly wet look.
The use of red - and red alone - profoundly disturbed Jorja. It almost seemed as if Marcie had glimpsed an augury of some onrushing terror, a premonition of blood.
_______
Dom remembered every detail of the place now that he was standing in it, and he had the impression that a multitude of ghosts flitted teasingly through the room, staying just at the periphery of his vision. The ghosts were actually bad memories rather than spirits, and they haunted not the room but the shadowy corners of his own mind.
_______
She hoped she would one day meet the people who had messed with her mind. She wanted to look in their eyes and ask them how they could have so little respect for the personal integrity of another human being. Now that she knew she had been manipulated, she would never again feel entirely secure.
Stirred by the wind, the dry sagebrush made a scraping-rustling noise. Ice-crusted twigs clicked against one another with a sound that, fancifully, made Faye think of small, scurrying skeletons of little animals long dead but somehow reanimated.
_______
"I don't want this. I don't want to be so different from other people."
_______
"What's it mean, Father? I heard you tell Mr. Mendoza this wasn't the whole story. What's happening?"
In their faces, he saw a longing to believe, not particularly in the truths of Catholicism or Christianity, for not all were Catholics or Christians, but a deep-seated longing to believe in something greater and better and cleaner than humankind, an intense yearning for spiritual transcendence.
"What's it mean, Father?" one of them asked again.
"Something's happening," he told them. "Here, elsewhere. A great and wonderful something. This child is part of it. I can't tell you for sure what it means or that we've seen the hand of God here, though I believe we have. Look at Hector on his mother's lap, eating candy, and remember God's promise: 'There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,' In my heart of hearts, I feel that the former things are about to pass away."
_______
"Do cardinals wear pants under their robes?"
_______
We care. That is what differentiates us from the beasts of the field. That's what Jacob had always said. Intellect, courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy - each of those qualities was as important to the human species as all the others, Jacob had said. Some people thought only intellect counted: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. All were important factors that had contributed to the ascendancy and supremacy of humankind, yes, but the many functions of intellect were insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy. We care. It is our curse. It is our blessing.
_______
_______
In spite of its plainness, the chamber had a warmth, appeal, and magic that, strangely enough, reminded Ginger of her father's private office at the back of his first jewelry store in Brooklyn, the one he always used as his headquarters. The walls of that sanctum sanctorum had been decorated only with a calendar, and the furniture had been inexpensive, old, and well used. Plain. Even drab. But for Ginger, it had been a fine and magical room, because Jacob had seldom worked there but had squirreled away with one book or another, from which he'd often read to her. Sometimes it would be a mystery, or a fantasy about gnomes and witches, a story of other worlds, or a thriller about spies. And when Jacob read, his voice acquired a resonant and mesmerizing timbre. The reality of the gray little office faded, and for hours Ginger could believe herself to be investigating with Sherlock Holmes upon the misty moors, celebrating with the Hobbit Mr. Bilbo Baggins inside the Hill at Bag End, or with Jim and Will as they explored the terrible carnival in Mr. Bradbury's lovely book. Jacob's office hadn't been only what it seemed to be . . . under its drab skin, it harbored wondrous things, great mysteries.
Two quotes from Afterword by Dean Koontz:
I was not fully sane when I wrote Strangers.
_______
I dreamed of writing a book that would be big in narrative scope and theme, that would be stuffed with interesting characters, that would rivet the reader with twists and turns and mystery and wonder, that would be THE BEST DAMN BOOK EVER WRITTEN. Yes, of course, that is an absurd goal, overweening ambition of the most deplorably weening sort, especially as The Little Engine That Could had already been published and had established a literary pinnacle that no mortal writer will ever achieve again.
March 2, 2024
Re-reading an old friend
What do you get when you toss nightmares and daymares and sleepwalking and a writer and a doctor and a child and a motel owner and a thief and a priest and more into a disparate mix of people scattered across the U.S.? You get a long, convoluted book by Dean Koontz.
Did I mention this book was LONG, at over 700 pages? But...I enjoyed this early offering (copyright 1986). Suspense, intrigue, a bit of romance, some sci fi, some paranormal, some mystery all lead up to a soft ending with a message to the masses rather than a cinematic ending with pyrotechnics.
I had read this book when it first came out but I'm glad I picked it up again. To me, it was like visiting an old friend. It wasn't a fast read but a nice amble in the park.
What do you get when you toss nightmares and daymares and sleepwalking and a writer and a doctor and a child and a motel owner and a thief and a priest and more into a disparate mix of people scattered across the U.S.? You get a long, convoluted book by Dean Koontz.
Did I mention this book was LONG, at over 700 pages? But...I enjoyed this early offering (copyright 1986). Suspense, intrigue, a bit of romance, some sci fi, some paranormal, some mystery all lead up to a soft ending with a message to the masses rather than a cinematic ending with pyrotechnics.
I had read this book when it first came out but I'm glad I picked it up again. To me, it was like visiting an old friend. It wasn't a fast read but a nice amble in the park.
May 10, 2009
I used to love Koontz, when I was in junior high. What happened? Oh, I know, I grew up and realized that his characters are absolutely ridiculous.
Dean Koontz, much like his mid-life crisis make over from bald mustached guy to full of head of hair and clean shaven face, is just one big old cliche. There, I said it.
This book had promise. Again, I had read it years ago, but it didn't stick with me, so when I saw it at the used book store I had to pick it up again. I should have kept the three dollars and gone to the library. But I was all, "It's Koontz! It's summer in Florida already, gotta get my summer horror reading on!"
Yeah, no. After reading some of the books I've been reading lately - see Bee Season, Bastard Out of Carolina - Koontz just doesn't live up to my tastes anymore. So I'm sad to say I'm just going to have to let him go.
So what's so bad about Strangers? Oh, everything is hackneyed. The heroes and heroines are perfect. He doesn't come out and say they are perfect, but he might as well because they have absolutely no flaws or faults. None. Dom Corvaisis is a soon to be highly toted and celebrated fiction writer who's handsome, but not a lick of personality. Ginger Weiss - she's short and spunky and incredibly smart skipped grades in high school and graduated from medical school at the top of her class- workacholic. Even the supposed bad guy has a heart of gold and turns good guy at the end. It's just too much! Where's the internal struggle? Where's the meat?
That's just it. There's really no meat to Koontz's books. All the characters are the same just in different situations. It's all so formulaic and I'm done with formulas unless it has to do with shopping (my mom sent me that Shopaholic book a couple of weeks ago).
Dean Koontz, much like his mid-life crisis make over from bald mustached guy to full of head of hair and clean shaven face, is just one big old cliche. There, I said it.
This book had promise. Again, I had read it years ago, but it didn't stick with me, so when I saw it at the used book store I had to pick it up again. I should have kept the three dollars and gone to the library. But I was all, "It's Koontz! It's summer in Florida already, gotta get my summer horror reading on!"
Yeah, no. After reading some of the books I've been reading lately - see Bee Season, Bastard Out of Carolina - Koontz just doesn't live up to my tastes anymore. So I'm sad to say I'm just going to have to let him go.
So what's so bad about Strangers? Oh, everything is hackneyed. The heroes and heroines are perfect. He doesn't come out and say they are perfect, but he might as well because they have absolutely no flaws or faults. None. Dom Corvaisis is a soon to be highly toted and celebrated fiction writer who's handsome, but not a lick of personality. Ginger Weiss - she's short and spunky and incredibly smart skipped grades in high school and graduated from medical school at the top of her class- workacholic. Even the supposed bad guy has a heart of gold and turns good guy at the end. It's just too much! Where's the internal struggle? Where's the meat?
That's just it. There's really no meat to Koontz's books. All the characters are the same just in different situations. It's all so formulaic and I'm done with formulas unless it has to do with shopping (my mom sent me that Shopaholic book a couple of weeks ago).
September 2, 2014
I enjoyed this book. It had some suspenseful moments. I wish I could have given it more than 3 stars. However...
It was long. Too long. There were many unnecessary characters and events which had absolutely no point except to add to the word count. And everything was described with such meticulous detail. Too much detail.
I was disappointed with the ending. It could have been so much more. Thankfully everything wrapped up nicely, but all that momentum built up in the beginning of the novel came to a somewhat unsatisfying climax. I found myself saying "REALLY???? That's it??".
Having said that, I did enjoy most of the characters. I loved Dom and his sleepwalking, Ginger and her fugues, and Jack.
I was genuinely hooked at the start of the novel. Unfortunately not impressed enough to give it more than three stars at the end.
I will defiantly give Koontz another try and look forward to reading more of his work.
It was long. Too long. There were many unnecessary characters and events which had absolutely no point except to add to the word count. And everything was described with such meticulous detail. Too much detail.
I was disappointed with the ending. It could have been so much more. Thankfully everything wrapped up nicely, but all that momentum built up in the beginning of the novel came to a somewhat unsatisfying climax. I found myself saying "REALLY???? That's it??".
Having said that, I did enjoy most of the characters. I loved Dom and his sleepwalking, Ginger and her fugues, and Jack.
I was genuinely hooked at the start of the novel. Unfortunately not impressed enough to give it more than three stars at the end.
I will defiantly give Koontz another try and look forward to reading more of his work.
May 7, 2020
I have had this book on my TBR for four years and really not sure why. Koontz is by far my favorite author and it takes me more than usual to read a Koontz book since I love to savor the words on the pages. I read this one in a little under two weeks and I love it.
As usual, Koontz writes an appealing, unique plot about humanity. He brings together the most unlikely characters that bond in the most unlikely way. To say that this story is very thought provoking is a little mild because Koontz always provides us with the stories that probe at our minds and emotions.
Koontz uses an extremely diverse cast of characters to tell this story.
Jack- thief
Jorja- waitress
Marcie-Jorja's daughter
Brendan- priest
Don-autor
Ginger-surgeon
Ernie-ex-marine and hotel owner
Faye-Ernie's wife
Ned-restaurant owner
Sally-Ned's wife
Parker-artist
I loved each and every one of them.
As usual, Koontz writes an appealing, unique plot about humanity. He brings together the most unlikely characters that bond in the most unlikely way. To say that this story is very thought provoking is a little mild because Koontz always provides us with the stories that probe at our minds and emotions.
Koontz uses an extremely diverse cast of characters to tell this story.
Jack- thief
Jorja- waitress
Marcie-Jorja's daughter
Brendan- priest
Don-autor
Ginger-surgeon
Ernie-ex-marine and hotel owner
Faye-Ernie's wife
Ned-restaurant owner
Sally-Ned's wife
Parker-artist
I loved each and every one of them.
October 31, 2022
17% in and I wish I was plagued by nightmares. Would be vastly more entertaining than turning another page of this bollocks.
Just awful.
So it goes. .
Just awful.
So it goes. .
February 11, 2017
Uh....
Did not like. 600 pages of setup for 100 pages of plot. Atheists are evil psychopaths, Native Americans weren't butchered, they just lay down and died because their culture was inferior, and you're sure brave, little lady. The big revelation is not a surprise and the ending lacks logic. Umm...Yep, those atheists. Fighting against everything good. Dang Ol Atheists.
The techniques are good. I did a lot of skimming, but was forced to keep turning pages to find out what happened. And the characters are mostly excellent, real people reacting in a variety of ways to an improbable situation. It's just that the MESSAGE is so crude and clumsy that it felt like an imposition, like the author was unwilling to play fair.
Now, say, Intensity, by the same author, gets much of the same point across--but does so in a way that I personally found enjoyable. This was just...a two by four of shouting and bad logic.
Did not like. 600 pages of setup for 100 pages of plot. Atheists are evil psychopaths, Native Americans weren't butchered, they just lay down and died because their culture was inferior, and you're sure brave, little lady. The big revelation is not a surprise and the ending lacks logic. Umm...Yep, those atheists. Fighting against everything good. Dang Ol Atheists.
The techniques are good. I did a lot of skimming, but was forced to keep turning pages to find out what happened. And the characters are mostly excellent, real people reacting in a variety of ways to an improbable situation. It's just that the MESSAGE is so crude and clumsy that it felt like an imposition, like the author was unwilling to play fair.
Now, say, Intensity, by the same author, gets much of the same point across--but does so in a way that I personally found enjoyable. This was just...a two by four of shouting and bad logic.
February 3, 2013
In an effort to give Koontz one last try I opted for this one, since it was better reviewed in general than his other books. Even King said that this was Koontz's best, but then again maybe he has a low opinion of his other works. This exhausting massive door stopper consists of three parts, first two are the size of a novel each and the last one the size of a novella. All this reading basically amounted to a giant waste of time. Koontz is capable of creating a somewhat decent plot, but not the characters or a compelling narrative. In his black and white claustrophobically narrow world view he creates protagonist men who are manly and good and women who are lovely and maternal and an antagonist who is just irredeemably horrible. The good characters even pair up with each other just to make it all that much neater. The reader never has to worry about what's gonna happen, because in a Koontz book the good is unfailingly going to triumph. The moral, in this case the wrongness of xenophobia, is driven through with the power and subtlety of a freight locomotive. The main thing is that Koontz is just not an interesting writer, his writing like his characters is consistently flat and by the book. It's serviceable, but there are no nuances, no excitement, no life behind the words, no colors. This book is particularly tedious because of its overwhelming and completely unnecessary verbosity, it's as if the author is trying to overcompensate for lack of quality with quantity and pointlessly detailed digressions to show that he does in fact do some research. . There is a market for Koontz, hence his books keep popping up on bestseller lists, but he caters to the lower denominators, his books are equivalent of a fast food meal, which are always going to be popular and never going to be good. If you're interested in a story about strangers meeting up in a hotel for a mysterious reason, watch Identity. If you're interested in reading a scary or exciting story, read another book, by another author, there are so many good and great ones out there. This book was a waste of time and paper.
July 23, 2012
Weak 3 stars. Neat characters and ideas, but I grew tired of too much “I can’t remember.”
The first 80% or more is stories about a handful of unrelated people living in different parts of the U.S. Ginger is a Boston surgeon. Jack is a New York thief. Dom is a Los Angeles writer. Brendan is a Chicago priest. Ernie owns the Tranquility Motel in Nevada. Each story is broken into maybe eight pieces, and the reader is jumping around among the various stories. I am not a fan of jumping around, but I can see how it was necessary for this story. But I would have preferred less jumping. Some of the characters have recently begun having psychological problems. Ginger occasionally goes into a fugue, losing consciousness. Ernie fears the dark. Dom sleepwalks with troubling results.
I felt the book was too long. I was soooo tired of hearing characters say “I can’t remember” or “I remember this, but I can’t remember any more” or “What is going on?” For most of the book pieces of someone’s memory come out, but never enough to provide answers. Finally at the end, we get the full story of what happened to these people. It was not a fun structure. It reminds me of other books where a psychic gets partial clues and never the whole story until the end. However most of these stories were interesting even though I did not like all the “I can’t remember”s. Characters were good. I loved Jack’s talents, skills, and actions. He made things happen. Ginger had strength, logic, and some good scenes. But most of her time was suffering and wondering
I also liked the ending even though I would have liked more details. I liked the idea of what the future was going to be like for these characters and others. It was thought provoking.
NARRATOR:
The narrator Dick Hill was very good. But he sounded weird doing a couple of the females.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook reading time: 29 hrs and 25 mins. Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual content: none. Setting: current day various U.S. locations. Book copyright: 1986. Genre: sci-fi mystery suspense. Ending: happy for most of the main characters.
The first 80% or more is stories about a handful of unrelated people living in different parts of the U.S. Ginger is a Boston surgeon. Jack is a New York thief. Dom is a Los Angeles writer. Brendan is a Chicago priest. Ernie owns the Tranquility Motel in Nevada. Each story is broken into maybe eight pieces, and the reader is jumping around among the various stories. I am not a fan of jumping around, but I can see how it was necessary for this story. But I would have preferred less jumping. Some of the characters have recently begun having psychological problems. Ginger occasionally goes into a fugue, losing consciousness. Ernie fears the dark. Dom sleepwalks with troubling results.
I felt the book was too long. I was soooo tired of hearing characters say “I can’t remember” or “I remember this, but I can’t remember any more” or “What is going on?” For most of the book pieces of someone’s memory come out, but never enough to provide answers. Finally at the end, we get the full story of what happened to these people. It was not a fun structure. It reminds me of other books where a psychic gets partial clues and never the whole story until the end. However most of these stories were interesting even though I did not like all the “I can’t remember”s. Characters were good. I loved Jack’s talents, skills, and actions. He made things happen. Ginger had strength, logic, and some good scenes. But most of her time was suffering and wondering
I also liked the ending even though I would have liked more details. I liked the idea of what the future was going to be like for these characters and others. It was thought provoking.
NARRATOR:
The narrator Dick Hill was very good. But he sounded weird doing a couple of the females.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook reading time: 29 hrs and 25 mins. Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual content: none. Setting: current day various U.S. locations. Book copyright: 1986. Genre: sci-fi mystery suspense. Ending: happy for most of the main characters.
May 31, 2025
I loved Koontz’s writing in this book. It was really smart how he tied all these different characters together with their fears. Watching how things played out as the cast slowly started to put things together was both fun and creepy at the same time.
One of my favorite aspects of Koontz’s writing in all of his books is his tendency to add a sci-fi or fantasy twist as an explanation to what is happening to the characters. You never know where this author is going with his standalone books.
Ginger and Marcie were my favorite characters. Ginger’s issues throughout the book were some of the most life altering out of all of the characters, and it was encouraging to watch her find a way to get herself back to a normal life. With Marcie, she was only a child going through this. Seeing her mind slowly deteriorate was sad to watch and I needed to know that she was going to be okay.
One of my favorite aspects of Koontz’s writing in all of his books is his tendency to add a sci-fi or fantasy twist as an explanation to what is happening to the characters. You never know where this author is going with his standalone books.
Ginger and Marcie were my favorite characters. Ginger’s issues throughout the book were some of the most life altering out of all of the characters, and it was encouraging to watch her find a way to get herself back to a normal life. With Marcie, she was only a child going through this. Seeing her mind slowly deteriorate was sad to watch and I needed to know that she was going to be okay.
March 10, 2007
This is not one of his best books. It drew you in because you wanted to know what happened to the characters to connect them, but I thought the end was anti-climatic. The actual story of the event that occurred to the characters was sort of boring; an interesting concept, but not told in an interesting way. Even the characters, who were interesting throughout most of the story, seemed to become less so during the main "action" part. He's had better.
October 31, 2025
3.5. The story captivated my imagination. What did Ginger the doctor from Boston see? Brendon the Priest who lost his faith? Jack Twist ranger turned criminal? Ernie the motel owner of Tranquility Motel now afraid of the dark and his wife Faye. Jorga and her daughter and Dom a writer with a bad case of somnambulism. All strangers, all with strange phobias.
Of course it’s easy to guess what they saw and why they were brainwashed and are struggling to remember an eventful July night in the desert. The US military is believable with Colonel Falkirk’s paranoia and masochism bent on his own agenda. A good ending in the military facility.
The story is well written but it could have been shortened from 700 to 500 pages. Koontz likes to develop his characters way too much. Saying that I enjoyed this 1986 story without a cell phone in sight.
Of course it’s easy to guess what they saw and why they were brainwashed and are struggling to remember an eventful July night in the desert. The US military is believable with Colonel Falkirk’s paranoia and masochism bent on his own agenda. A good ending in the military facility.
The story is well written but it could have been shortened from 700 to 500 pages. Koontz likes to develop his characters way too much. Saying that I enjoyed this 1986 story without a cell phone in sight.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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