Koontzland - Dean Koontz discussion

Mr. Murder is being featured as our second ever Mini-Group Read. This group read is scheduled 11/26 - 12/26. Please feel free to join with us & post any thoughts or favorite quotes in this thread. Use spoiler alerts when needed. See y'all soon!


Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz

Just started and already intrigued. Scored 4 koontz titles at the flea market on sunday for $2. yipee. I didn't get darkfall yet, so I started this one.

ok, so i'm on page 50. I had to go and find the name of the stephen king book that used the three fates as gnomes. Insomnia=great book. But, so far I am liking this one. It always makes me wonder when I read the reviews and they are so mixed; what makes certain books appealing to some and distasteful to others.

Driftwood wrote: "ok, so i'm on page 50. I had to go and find the name of the stephen king book that used the three fates as gnomes. Insomnia=great book. But, so far I am liking this one. It always makes me wonder w..."

I haven't read Insomnia but heard that Koontz fans usually like that one - maybe I should give it a try huh?

Dustin Crazy wrote: "Driftwood wrote: "ok, so i'm on page 50. I had to go and find the name of the stephen king book that used the three fates as gnomes. Insomnia=great book. But, so far I am liking this one. It always..."

Uh, yeah...you should definitely give Insomnia a try!

Dustin wrote: "Uh, yeah...you should definitely give Insomnia a try! "

Fine. I will... sometime :-)

That's awesome, Dustin Crazy!

Dustin Crazy wrote: "I haven't read Insomnia but heard that Koontz fans usually like that one - maybe I should give it a try huh?"

It's 1 of only 3 King books I have read so far and I really enjoyed it, so would recommend it.

I just started Mr. Murder 2 nights ago. I'm only about an hour into the audiobook, after Marty has read the first part of his scary Christmas poem to his daughters.

I didn't like it. Too much of old formula for me.

I am enjoying this more than I thought I would so far. I am certainly noticing the "old formula" that Mac mentioned, but it is bothering me much yet. I am curious to discover why the doppelganger is identical to the lead protagonist and how he was able to survive the gunshots to the chest and the nasty fall.

I hope you'll like it more than I did. I just remembered that it was made into a TV movie with Stephen Baldwin playing both Martin and his doppelganger - have you seen it?

Maciek wrote: "I hope you'll like it more than I did. I just remembered that it was made into a TV movie with Stephen Baldwin playing both Martin and his doppelganger - have you seen it?"

Yes, I did see it, but it's been awhile. I need to watch it again after I finish the book.

There's really a movie? Is it readily available? Is it any good?

Dustin Crazy wrote: "There's really a movie? Is it readily available? Is it any good?"

Yes; not really; and okay.

Isn't it on Netflix or something? Everything seems to be availible there.

Maciek wrote: "Isn't it on Netflix or something? Everything seems to be availible there."

Not everything, unfortunately. They used to have the 3 Watchers movies, but even they have been unavailable for some time now. I suspect people were stealing them, because they are fairly valuable (you can get them used for a high price on Amazon).

Aren't Netflix DVD all issued especially for the service, with the same layout? I thought it worked that way.

Apart from Intensity I haven't seen any other adaptation, but from what I've read they are all bad. I remember watching Phantoms way back in 2000 or earlier, and the only thing I remember is Ben Affleck in a cowboy hat.

Maciek wrote: "Apart from Intensity I haven't seen any other adaptation, but from what I've read they are all bad. I remember watching Phantoms way back in 2000 or earlier, and the only thing I remember is Ben Affleck in a cowboy hat."

I think you've seen the 2 best adaptations. I like both of them and own Phantoms on DVD. I know Koontz doesn't like any of them very much. I saw Mr. Murder and Hideaway quite a while ago and will be watching Hideaway again soon, because it is available for free to watch on-demand from my cable TV service provider, Comcast. I saw the original Watchers when I was a young child and desperately want to see it again. I thought even Servants of Twilight wasn't too bad, despite Dustin's objections.

What's not to like about Intensity? It was exceptionally well done for a TV movie, with great performances by John McGinley and Molly Parker.
I think Phantoms was poor, which is even weirder because he had big creative control on the project, as he wrote the script himself and participated in the casting.
Watchers seems to be rather easily availible to download from the web. Commercially, I don't know: it seems it has gone out of print and the best you can do is hunt it on eBay or DVD rentals.

Spoiler alert!!!I am stalled in Mr. Murder. Marty just shot the murderer and is tracking him. Life is getting in my way now. But I will continue. I liked the parts of killing Charlotte's pets. yukky. Can't wait til she sees them. Gross.

Driftwood wrote: "... I liked the parts of killing Charlotte's pets. yukky. Can't wait til she sees them. Gross."

:-o You're evil!

I have not read Mr. Murder....but I do like Dean Koontz's writing, for the most part..

Dustin wrote: "I have not read Mr. Murder....but I do like Dean Koontz's writing, for the most part.."

Good. I'll be reading it soon. I'm reading The Face right now and I'm thinking I'm gonna squeeze in a short story by Dean called Chase and a short book called The Vision (also by DK of course) before reading Mr. Murder and Door to December. I'm thinking I might be overdoing it this month trying to take on so much Koontz material, but that's my plan.

So, you gonna be joining us and meet Mr. Murder? I hear there is some doubles/twins in the story since we have the same name, I'm sure it would be fun :-) I can be the evil one and you be the good one - okay? but if you want to be the evil one that's okay too - I'll be the crazy one.

Dustin Crazy - that would be fun, but I really have too much going on right now. I'm currently working on two out four library books, and then I'll be experiencing Full Dark, No Stars!!

I'm really enjoying the dynamic between the two guys chasing after Alfie. The Ivy Leaguer is constantly annoyed with the big Trekker and giving the novel he is reading all sorts of amusing titles, such as Journey into the Rectum of the Universe. :-D

Dustin wrote: "Dustin Crazy - that would be fun, but I really have too much going on right now. I'm currently working on two out four library books, and then I'll be experiencing Full Dark, No Stars!!"

I understand. I get myself reading several books at one time too - I hope you like Full Dark, No Stars though. I really like what I've read so far of the first story :-)

Jason "plasborgma" wrote: "Journey into the Rectum of the Universe."

Wow! I can't wait! I'm currently enjoying The Face but I will be here as I'm reading Mr. Murder in about a week or so :-)

Dustin Crazy wrote: "Wow! I can't wait! I'm currently enjoying The Face but I will be here as I'm reading Mr. Murder in about a week or so :-)"

Another one is something like Captain Kirk and Spock in Love. :-D

I ended up quite enjoying this book. I was really pleasantly surprised. I think the ending was just right for this book, unlike many Koontz books I read. I started reading it right around the time of year that the book begins, which is just after Thanksgiving. I look forward to seeing the movie version of this book now. I'm fairly certain I saw it quite a while ago, but I now want to see it again to compare it to the book.

ok, I am finished and i liked it. But I am a Koontz junkie, and old formula, new format, I don't care. I still think he puts enough in each to warrant reading. The ending chapters were great. I loved the descriptions of the alphie healing and so forth and hunger etc. Suprised about the ending segments and where their help came from. I am starting door to december now. I've read 200 pages already today. Rainy day.

Alphie's hunger and his always saying/thinking "need, need" reminded me of the regressives from Midnight.

Driftwood wrote: "Spoiler alert!!!....I liked the parts of killing Charlotte's pets. yukky. Can't wait til she sees them. Gross. "

That is the part that earned Mr. Murder a "disturbing" tag from me :-)

Jason "plasborgma" wrote: "Alphie's hunger and his always saying/thinking "need, need" reminded me of the regressives from Midnight."

Yes - I can see why. I didn't care for Midnight so much but I might think differently on second reading - I'll re-read it when it's chosen as a group read of course :-)

Just finished today. Those Star Trek titles were fun. Mr. Murder gets 5 stars from me and makes it into my top 10 list of Koontz favorites - I'm starting the Door to December next then it's What The Night Knows :-)

Mr. Murder reminded me a lot of Relentless. The ending was fine - I just enjoyed the first part with the mystery and intrigue better :-)

Dustin Crazy wrote: "Mr. Murder reminded me a lot of Relentless...."

Ditto.

Mr. Murder will be featured as a March 2012 Group Read along with Relentless. Please consider joining us in reading one or both of these great titles :-)

Yay!
:)

Really happy that the 3 books for March are ones I already own, so am looking forward to re-reading them, I cant really remember Mr. Murder, so this will be the first read for me

This is one of my favorites. You will probably really like it :-) This will be my third time reading Mr. Murder.

about half way through this now and loving it, getting hard to put it down.

not read a koontz novel for a number of months, this is reminding me why i like his books.

Well, you are making up for it now - reading 3 books in one month! Mr. Murder is one of my favorites so I'm glad it won. I can relate to the story because I have an evil twin. Which book are you reading now that you've finished Mr. Murder?

just getting to the end of hard landing by stephen leather, a thriller which is mainly prison based (not my usual style, but starting to try new things), should finish this weekend/monday then going to read relentless

not read a koontz novel for a number of months, this is reminding me why i like his books.
I had the same experience Paul, for some reason while reading Hideaway, I got bored and didn't even finish it. I was desperate for something to read and found Lightning in a pile of my hoarder books and remembered why I read Koontz. It was one of the best. And I read Mr. Murder over a year ago and really liked it also. But God help the world if I have an evil twin somewhere, that wouldn't be good.

Sadly if there is more than one of me, I prolly am the evil twin. lol

I am the bad twin too :-)

guess that's why we are all here, birds of a feather and all that!!

Damn right - you better believe it :-)

I finished Mr. Murder around midnight. I gave this book 4 stars because I really enjoyed it. I wished it didn't have quite so many similarities to his other books. At times I felt like I was reading a smorgasboard of 3 of his other books all intertwined into one! I am new to the group and am happy I joined since it's been a while since I read a "new" DK book. Looking forward to more...