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I've read almost all of the work of Dean Koontz (still tracking down some of his stories from the 70s which are now out of print) and this is by far my favorite. In fact my favorite part of the book is his internal monologue about Winnie the Pooh vs T.S. For any other writer or any other book it would probably be too much. The best part of this book is the banter and dialogue between the characters.
I think this one is a love it or hate it, like many Koontz books. Eliot.As someone else stated, one great thing about this book is its ability to stand alone. The surfer lingo may not be authentic (I wouldn't know) but it's so much fun that I don't really mind. I happened to love it. This is one book that I keep coming back to reread. I can't even begin to tell what it's about because there's so much going on.
I read Seize the Night before I read Fear Nothing and I had no trouble following the plot. I have also listened to the audio book and I found the acting to be quite good. However Koontz blends together the different plot lines and makes them connect interestingly at the end. I did find Christopher Snow's monologue to be repetitive in places, mostly when he describes his life philosophy, but it wasn't so repetitive as to make the book lose its five star rating.
The dialogue exchange between Snow and his surfing buddy is great fun. I recently read Watchers, then followed up with Fear Nothing and Seize the Night. Sharky. I hope there will be more adventures in Moonlight Bay. Wow. In Seize the Night, the character, Chris Snow, and his best 4-legged friend, Orson, are a delight to read about.
This one bad experience has not put me off. I couldn't put my finger on why at first but then I realized there was more than the usual similies and metaphors and waaaay too much scenery description and internal monologue from the first person narrator (Christopher Snow). The natural rhythm of this book was off. In my mind's eye, it felt like I was watching one of those old Godzilla movies where the character's mouths and facial expressions aren't matching the dubbed English words.
I want to start by saying that I am an avid Koontz fan. Anyone is entitled to a bad day or bad call or BAD WRITING every now and then, even best selling authors. I think of a book as a sort of symphony and this musical score just did not come together like it should have because of the rhythm.I will read more Koontz. Until I read Seize the Night, I had not read anything from Dean that I did not enjoy.
Something would happen to Christopher or one of his friends (Orson, Bobby, Sasha, Roosevelt, or Mongojerrie)and we'd get a detailed, long-winded description of the surroundings or lots of similies and metaphors and then the emotional reaction that Christopher Snow experienced and the action he took as a result would be described. At the end of the day, they are, after all, human. As an aspiring writer myself, I deeply admire his way with words and style and only hope that should I ever become published that I can be half as good as he is.With that said, this book's pace was much slower than usual Koontz. This really put a damper on things in terms of the pace.
The characters are laughable, the plot ludicrous, and once again, Koontz demonstrates his literary diarrhea when using 500 words to describe something which could have been better portrayed with 20 words. This is one of the worst books I have ever been forced to listen to. Having to listen to another Dean Koontz book may be grounds for divorce. Mack Bolan mercenary books or even Louis L'Amour westerns are better written than this trash. My wife and I listen to audiobooks during our hour commute every morning and evening. Unfortunately, my wife is a Dean Koontz fan.
Admittedly some of those terms are still in use today but almost all of them were generated in the 50's and should probably remain there.As a real surfer, I found Koontz' constant use and subsequent explanation simply gag-inducing. If you haven't listened to the audio book, trying speaking hoards of sixty-year-old stereotypical surf lingo cliches in your worst mellow but hoarse beach bum imitation (sounding an awful lot like a gay Clint Eastwood with esophageal cancer) into the mirror for a while. I can't say much that all of the other 1-star reviewers haven't already stated.I'll just add one other thought. Not to mention the friend Bobby's "accent". If you can make it past the ten-minute mark without spewing chunks into the sink or at the very least laughing uncontrollably at how much bile has risen into your throat, then I will retract this review.Just don't say you haven't been forewarned. Since Dean Koontz is definitely not a surfer. listening to his 1950's surf jargon and then having Koontz "translate it" to the reader/listener is LITERALLY nauseating.He espouses terms like Kook and Gnarly and Sharkey and Hodad and Grom(met).
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