Koontzland - Dean Koontz discussion

Six years after first being released on December 10, 2013, Koontzland - Dean Koontz Group will revisit the novel INNOCENCE during the month of January.
Wilderness is a short story released before Innocence to promote the novel.

I openly admit having issues with both the short story and the novel when they were first published and I look forward to re-reading the story :-)
I am hoping already knowing what I'm going into will help eaze the incidents which infuriated me six years ago.

SIX years ago!!!??? I thought I just struggled through it a couple of years ago. Like you, Dustin, perhaps I will see it differently this time. Sometimes it is just not the right time to read a book.

I wonder if the Big Little Life one will ever be chosen. I really am waiting for an excuse to buy it for my kindle...So very close this time.

I enjoyed these. It may be a matter of tastes.

Charissa wrote: "I enjoyed these. It may be a matter of tastes."

Certainly. Dean Koontz being a particularly prolific cross-genre author, has stories that appeal to a wide variety of readers.

I also think books affect us differently depending on our personal circumstances, which is why I'm willing to give books another try or a second read.

I feel the same about film. I currently work weekends at the movie theater down the street from my home. I get free movies. I'll watch the films I like several times. This past Summer I watched Rocketman ten times and The Farewell nine times. Each experience is unique depending on the audience, where I sit, time of day, what is going on in my life - different aspects will be more prominent.

It's the same book, same film but we all experience life through our unique lens of life experience. I love this.

In my down time, I enjoy hiking one particular trail. Like movies and books, each trip is different because so many factors play a role in the experience. Weather, season, time of day, people I meet, people I'm with, animals I encounter etc.

Books, Film, and Nature - these are my escapes, portals to other dimensions. Music helps too :-)

Mary wrote: "I wonder if the Big Little Life one will ever be chosen. I really am waiting for an excuse to buy it for my kindle...So very close this time."

A Big Little Life is going to be selected it's just a matter of time. I'll be keeping it on the monthly group read poll until it's chosen. I used to put 5 titles on the poll, then I went to 4, now I'm keeping it at just 3 titles.
For February Group Read, A Big Little Life is competing with The Mask (which has also been on the poll for a very long time) and Relentless. The Mask has not been a popular choice, so A Big Little Life just needs to overtake Relentless.
I voted for A Big Little Life :-) February is a shorter month so I purposely put three shorter novels on the poll. The books on the poll are based on when we last featured them. Occasionally, I'll add a seasonal choice into the mix like Mr. Murder/Door to December which isn't necessarily the next in line.
I was considering The Husband, Your Heart Belongs to Me, Dark Rivers of the Heart for February based on their relation to Valentines Day, but when I looked, we've featured them all too recently.

Anyway, A Big Little Life will likely be featured in 2020. Hopefully sooner than later :-)

I have Wilderness on my kindle, but I skipped it because I plucked Innocence off my shelf earlier today and started reading it (maybe I'll go back and read the short story in a day or so) and I have to say I don't remember this one very well at all and am wondering if this is one I never ended up finishing. I'm enjoying it so far, though I think it has a really odd 'voice' for a Koontz book, at least compared to the other books of his I've read lately.

Thanks K.L.
I'm waiting for an audiobook from the library.

Innocence is terrific...it's a creepy fairy tale. It almost has the tone of a bedtime story. Not that I'd recommend it for such--your kids might never sleep again. ;)

I've got an audiobook for Wilderness, so currently listening to the short story.

Keeping the monthly selection option to 3 books will make it easier. Good! I felt this book was good with not many characters to follow

Looking forward to reading both!

Fred wrote: "Keeping the monthly selection option to 3 books will make it easier. Good! I felt this book was good with not many characters to follow"

I'm glad you agree :-)

Have you already finished Innocence re-read or are you remembering last time you read it?

I started and finished re-reading Wilderness last evening. I had forgotten that I'd read it a second time in 2017 - so this was my third time re-reading the short story. I tried to go into it with an open mind and thought I might be able to increase my rating, but I've kept Wilderness at 2 stars "It was okay".

Looking forward to revisiting Innocence soon.

Interesting their Antarctic house is on “sheet of ice“ not land?

I read this in 2014. I can’t believe it was that long ago already. The second time I read a book it’s usually more eye opening. I enjoy it more. Like many only you had said this Is at times frustrating. Let’s see what the second time brings

More than halfway through and am enjoying it. I still can't remember if I finished reading this one back when it first released. Enough of it feels familiar that I want to say I did, and yet for some reason a part of me is almost certain I didn't.

I finished Wilderness (Innocence 0.5) I found a major part is why, Addison is so afraid if his “mean” mother will grow ill and/or die away from him. Can he survive w/o her?

Have to say that while I enjoyed parts, this isn't one of his books that will lasting impression on me ala Dark Rivers of the Heart or Lightning.

K.L. wrote: "Have to say that while I enjoyed parts, this isn't one of his books that will lasting impression on me ala Dark Rivers of the Heart or Lightning."

Lightning is certainly one of my favorites too. I've always had a hard time getting through Dark Rivers of the Heart though.

Dark Rivers of the heart had a car chase that lasted so long that I'm not sure it could actually be called a chase. (It also had me doubting Koontz's integrity thinking he might be getting some kind of kickback from Ford Motors! HAHA) and the HORROR in it was enough to literally sicken me.

BUT, the title is amazing!

LOL Mary…I'd say the chase was over once the truck fell into the flooded arroyo and started floating away. As for Innocence…I really liked the dark fairy tale feel of it. It appears I'm in the minority with my enjoyment of this book.

Matthew wrote: "As for Innocence…I really liked the dark fairy tale feel of it. It appears I'm in the minority with my enjoyment of this book. "

I remember enjoying the fairytale story until the last 30 pages. The ending ruined it for me. I'm still planning to revisit Innocence this month. Soon. I really am.

Mary wrote: "Dark Rivers of the heart . . .BUT, the title is amazing! "

I agree :-) one of the great Dean Koontz Titles
other fan favorites are:

One Door Away From Heaven
From the Corner of His Eye
The Darkest Evening of The Year
The Door to December
What the Night Knows
By The Light of the Moon

If anyone hasn't already, be sure to vote on our Group Poll for The Best Dean Koontz Title (not necessarily your favorite story):
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/6...

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "K.L. wrote: "Have to say that while I enjoyed parts, this isn't one of his books that will lasting impression on me ala Dark Rivers of the Heart or Lightning."

Lightning is certainly one of my fav..."

Not sure what it was about the books but something about Dark Rivers just connected with me. Not sure what that says about me, lol.

I finished the read for January 2020. The book was not a thriller, no matter what it's labeled as. While the action takes place in under a week and moves fairly quickly, we are constantly slowed by flashbacks. My biggest take away from the book is Who decides what a deformity is, the beholder or the beheld? We are never really given any idea what the deformity Addison has that makes people want to kill him so viciously. As for the ending, where the real horror could have been, I thought it just kind of petered out.

Susan wrote: "I finished the read for January 2020. The book was not a thriller, no matter what it's labeled as. While the action takes place in under a week and moves fairly quickly, we are constantly slowed by..."

Mr. Koontz comes out and tells you shortly after Addison starts travelling with the young lady. They're like mirrors into your soul, and many cannot handle seeing what they are.

Susan wrote: "I finished the read for January 2020. The book was not a thriller, no matter what it's labeled as. While the action takes place in under a week and moves fairly quickly, we are constantly slowed by..."

Addison has no deformity. It's his pure soul that people see when they look at him. Seeing his goodness reflects back at them their own inadequacies, their inner flaws, and people rage against that.

As I read the book, and this was a first read for me, nothing about a pure soul was mentioned in the beginning of the story. The midwife reacted to Addison with revulsion and wanted to kill him at birth. There are deformities that will cause that reaction that are not immediately fatal. Hospitals deal with them and in this country they are not euthanized automatically. We don't get information about "souls" until well past midway. We just get revulsion on the part of the beholder. I am imagining things along the lines of reptilian skin or skin so thin it looks like no skin. I am imagining irises like a cat's or double irises, both deeply unsettling to someone seeing them for the first time. I am not imaging an angelic visage. As for "many cannot handle seeing what they are", no one seeing Addison or Father can handle it. Father's friend doesn't look at him past the first glance way back when and won't look at Addison at all. Besides, Addison himself thinks he's somehow malformed because everyone who looks at him tries to kill him.
I still think the book did not give me what it seemed to promise. Some virus from out there comes in the kill off all the other people, leaving these "pure souls" the only ones alive. It kills the man hunting Gwyneth and so removes him from the climax. There was no foreshadowing of this virus. The hidden could come out to a world emptied of those who wanted to kill them like they were waking up from a nightmare. No further effort required to continue existence, at least from humans. If this was a dark fairy tale, it is one without a moral.

Susan wrote: "As I read the book, and this was a first read for me, nothing about a pure soul was mentioned in the beginning of the story. The midwife reacted to Addison with revulsion and wanted to kill him at ..."

You are right. We are not given any hint that Addison is perfectly fine and that's intentional. Koontz wants us to imagine all sorts of hideous deformities. It's very much Twilight Zone Eye of the Beholder episode inspired.

Susan wrote: "As I read the book, and this was a first read for me, nothing about a pure soul was mentioned in the beginning of the story. The midwife reacted to Addison with revulsion and wanted to kill him at ..."

Thanks Susan :-) You're a trooper to finish the book!

I'm going to listen to the audio book soon. I have to catch up with some books. I am a little behind.

I've been perpetually behind on Group Reads since last year when I was working too much.
I'm still following most Group Read Discussions and I'm still slowly going through receny featured Dean Koontz titles other than those new enovellas.

KL, Clarissa, and Susan,
thanks for your ideas about the book. I will definitely read it again. I got pretty much nothing in the thinking you put into it. It was pretty much just a dark fairytale-like story for me with magical settings. And then the end got so weird- sort of what Koontz does sometimes, a bit of self-indulgent confusion and make-believe horror...

So I'll give it another try...maybe 3 is the charm. :-)
Or at least I'll put it in my TBR list