On the Verge of Lunacy

Laura Shane was born on a night of a freakish lightning storm. Her life since then has been filled with both despair and mystery. Despite losing her mother and later her father at an early age, Laura grew up to be a strong and positive woman. Through most of the trying times of her life, from her birth then an incident with a store robber and more, Laura feels like she's being watched over by someone. This guardian appears during some of her life-threatening encounters and what's more puzzling is that he does not seem to age even as years pass. Ever since his last appearance however, Laura begins to doubt the existence of this blond, blue-eyed, gun-toting guardian. Lightning's pace is consistent from start to finish even when the timeline jumps from days to years sometimes. Laura's fantastic experiences may be a bit exaggerated but they are consistent with the idea in which the story revolves. The technical details explaining the guardian's appearances is ...

The Pendleton has a dark history of murders, suicides, and mysterious disappearances but for its current residents it was a beautiful home and a refuge from their past. A series of bizarre events however turned this sanctuary into a trap.  2011 marks the 38th year since the last gruesome event at Pendleton. The original owner Andrew North Pendleton was not its first victim. The mysterious events go back in time even before the construction of the mansion in 1880s, according to Witness, a lingering presence whose motives are still yet unknown.  The current residents of the apartments at Pendleton experience strange events like elevators going down 30 floors below, TV screens announcing extermination of the residents, and people wearing clothes from another era walking the hallways and then disappearing. The story is told from individual points of view of the characters including Witness and an omnipotent entity who calls itself the One. Things worsen as some reside...

Police officer John Calvino noticed eerily familiar details when he questioned Billy Lucas, a young man who murdered his family. Twenty years ago, John's family was murdered by Alton Turner Blackwood and John suspects that Alton played a part in the recent murder because both families were murdered almost the same way. He thinks that Alton is possessing people; how does it he hasn't found out yet. His investigations also revealed that there are other victims as well of Alton's spirit and that the murders are just a prelude of what Alton is planning to do to John's family. Meanwhile, unaware of the impending danger, John's wife Nicole and their three children have supernatural encounters at home. Like most recent Koontz books, the story is family-centered and the lead character has a traumatic past that still haunts him. The introduction seemed promising, even creepy, but when you have read so many books from the same author, you begin to see familia...

Martie and Dusty Rhodes may not have perfect lives and friends but that did not stop them from helping Martie's friend Susan Jagger and Dusty's brother Skeet. Susan has extreme agoraphobia while Skeet has had drug rehab several times without any positive result. Susan relies on Martie as her only connection to the rest of the world. Susan takers her to psychologist Dr. Ahriman to get better yet she seems to get worse everyday. However, Susan is a different person when with Dr. Ahriman. Meanwhile Skeet tried to commit suicide while at work when he was introduced in the book.  Things took a turn for the worse when Martie herself experienced frightening episodes of autophobia. After a visit to Dr. Ahriman she went home feeling that she is a danger to herself and her husband. Whenever she sees sharp objects she gets a crazy notion that she might use one on Dusty. Dusty also felt odd things happening when he was with his brother Skeet after the attempted suicide. When Sk...

He was a murderer. Beyond that, he can't remember anything about his past. He is even unsure of his name. Victor Salsbury was supposed to be dead, but he thinks he is that same man. A man with a mission, Victor acts out orders from someone, or something. Where these orders come from he doesn't know. He does not even know why he has to do them, only that he has to and because he might find some answers. The few clues to his identity only add to the mystery; a machine he knows instinctively is called 810-40.04 and some items he needs for his mission were prepared for him. He was alone until a dog came to him. Intrepid became a constant companion since. Then he meets a woman named Lynda while fulfilling his mission. All the while he still can't make sense of everything. Not until he found they were threatened by some strange creatures he has seen on the wall in his house. One of Dean Koontz's earlier novels, Hell's Gate has the distinct Koontz elements fou...

He wakes up without a name and a past. Trapped in a labyrinth of mysterious rooms he does not recognize, his only clue to his identity is the name Joel. Then a faceless man, whom he identified as Sandman, goes after him. The next thing he knew he wakes up in a different room but this time with a beautiful woman he cannot not remember. He was sure however that the woman is harmless and trustworthy unlike the white-haired man he knew instinctively had another agenda. Pleasant though the woman's company is he feels something is wrong. When he starts asking he wakes up again in another place. One nightmare after another, he keeps seeing the same faces in different places each time he wakes up. Sometimes their demeanor would be different. He also figured they will put him to sleep every time he starts asking or he acts strangely. All these only serve to confuse him more, but one thing is certain --- they're trying to keep something from him by playing out different scenes. Joel ...

In a universe ruled mostly by humans, man rules supreme. This guiding principle honors the sacrifices of the Alliance of mankind. Subjugated alien peoples ranked lower than humans and therefore treating them as equals, much more friends, is taboo. Among those conquered are the Demosians, winged creatures whose population is reduced to a few females. Writer Stauffer Davis meets one of them when he goes to Demos to do research. In the course of his dealings with a Demosian named Leah he began to question the system imposed by the Alliance in his relations with non-human creatures. According to the Alliance, each man as part of the system has to keep in mind its laws, the taboos, and the will of the council. Man was only a part of it and to question it is to challenge the very foundations on which it was built. Predictably Davis and Leah became more than just acquaintances and soon the Alliance was on their trail. The characters were trapped in an impossible situation where the on...

Ethan Truman thought all along that he was tracking down a perverted hater of his employer Channing Manheim, a blockbuster film actor. As far as he knows, the six black boxes that were sent were as puzzling as the actor's charisma. Not only does he have to make sense of the gruesome collection but while looking for clues he becomes involved in some extraordinary events which involved his supposedly dead best friend Duncan Whistler. Unknown forces were at work and even the dead are trying to send messages to Ethan. Meanwhile, Corky Laputa's plans to kidnap Channing's son, Aelfric, seem to come together and it seems like even Ethan and some supernatural help could not stop it. Koontz is good at creating characters with depth although readers who have read a number of his books might see similarities in the main characters. At the start of the book the main character Ethan seemed to be confronted with two situations, one of which are events involving Ethan's wife ...

Jake Turnet is stuck in a world destroyed by nuclear holocaust after an overdose of PBT, a psychic chemical that opened the doorway. This world, unlike his own is populated by warlocks and witches and all manner of mythical creatures. He has to find a way to get back to his worldline but he would have to get past an ambitious ruler and his minions with the help of witches, Kell and Cheryn, and a vegetarian dragon, Kaliglia. This book, published in 1972 (now out of print), is a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. It wasn't stated how Cheryn, the Crimson Witch of Eye Mountain, met Jake. How their relationship developed wasn't explained either but Cheryn finds herself madly in love with Jake and ended up helping him. The battle scenes using magic weren't bad but repetitive. The best part of this book for me was when Jake, Cheryn, and Kaliglia passed through the gate to get to Jake's worldline. The ending seemed like it was rushed. Cheryn suddenly gained so much...

Dean Koontz's take on the aftermath of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus novel takes the reader into the darkest corners of one man's insane and grand design to rid the world of humanity. Two hundred years after Victor Frankenstein's death, his first creation who now calls himself Deucalion, sensed that Victor was still alive somewhere and that he must stop him. His worst fears were confirmed when he finds out that Victor has been working secretly for many years refining his techniques and perhaps had achieved immortality. Prodigal Son introduces Deucalion who has changed profoundly through the years. Calmer and wiser now he nevertheless feels that he is still the monster Victor created him to be. But he learned that he has gifts which made him question the purpose of his existence. His discovery of Victor's whereabouts strengthened his conviction that he survived because his mission is unfinished. He is not alone in this quest. Ca...

Don and his son Toby were out exploring the woods surrounding Timberlake farm. On their way back home, Toby found strange tracks on the snow. His father Don felt that the tracks were strange, but he dismissed them as footprints of some unknown animal. When he consulted his books and contacted his friend who said that the tracks aren't from any known animal in the vicinity, he became more suspicious. Toby had also sighted a strange creature with amber eyes peering at him at the windows. When they found one of their horses dead, Don knew his family, Toby, his son and Connie, his wife, is in danger. This book, published by Dean Koontz under the pseudonym Aaron Wolfe is a recollection of the strange events at Timberlake farm from the point of view of Don. He found himself battling for his sanity against an unknown force. The unfolding of the events leading to a shocking revelation was expertly done, creating more tension and anticipation towards the ending. Although the book is...

This is a collection of eight of Dean Koontz's early science fiction short stories. Although this was compiled without a theme in mind, readers will notice that most of the stories focus on the emotional and psychological effects of new worlds and new discoveries on man. If the reader is looking for detailed descriptions of a new planet, species or breakthrough technology, this is not a book that I will recommend. The stories here are more than just that. The ff. are the stories included in this volume: Soft Come the Dragons - a man who was forced by circumstances to solve the mystery of the dragons' ability to kill people through eye contact has unravelled an equally mysterious answer. A Third Hand - a mutant and reject tries to help his murdered friend and finds himself face to face with a formidable foe. A Darkness in My Soul - a successful product of an experiment was asked to unlock the secrets of the mind of a super genius (I wrote a review on this. If you...

This was yet another attempt by Dean Koontz to mix supernatural with sci-fi and suspense. The result: supernaturals from our world conspiring with supernaturals from an alien world to cover up a huge mess that wreaked havoc in the home planet of the maseni. Jessie Blake, a human detective, and his partner Brutus, a hellhound, were getting bored with their usual clients. Jessie was surprised one day when a maseni contacted him to find a lost brood brother. Galiotor Fils said that the maseni embassy were hiding the details of his brother Tesserax's death. The maseni, whose first contact with humans was explained later in the book, have been co-existing with the humans for ten years. They awakened the humans' ability to perceive the supernatural realm, therefore giving the humans no choice but to live with creatures they think exist only in myths and books. The chaos it created forced everyone to make laws to ensure that everyone gets along.  vampires for example, can't ...

Peter Mullion woke up in his garage not knowing what had happened to him in the past few weeks. His wife and the doctor think he has amnesia. Yet he feels it's more than amnesia and so he began to search for clues. When he and his wife went out to eat, he saw a man he thought he recognized but he doesn't have a clue where he had seen him. And as he and his wife Della made their way to their resthouse, he began to feel that his mysterious disappearance was somehow connected to his trip there. He began to feel too that he was being watched. He saw the man again at the restaurant watching him from outside his home. Things went from bad to worse as he had an episode of time-space distortion. He could not count and recognize numbers and he did not know where he was supposed to go. The trip to his office became a challenge. He passed out, then when he came to his senses, his wife told him he disappeared again for 3 days. Was the man who had been watching him had something to d...

I made a list of Dean Koontz books including those that are out of print, children's books, books with Trixie, short stories collections and a novella. More helpful information is indicated beside the year the book was published. I did not include the individual short stories, the graphic novels and screenplays. I separated the list of the series at the bottom. Winter Moon and Icebound, and Invasion and Prison of Ice are all counted separately. This will be updated everytime Koontz has a new book. If I forgot a title, please inform me by posting a comment. I recommend that you visit  deankoontz.com  for more info about the author and his works.  Total no. of books: 112 1. Star Quest (1968) 2. Fear That Man (1969) 3. The Fall of the Dream Machine (1969) 4. The Dark Symphony (1969) 5. Hung (1970) - wrote as Leonard Chris 6. Hell's Gate (1970) 7. Dark of the Woods (1970) 8. Beastchild (1970) 9. Anti-Man (1970) 10. Soft Come the Dragons (197...

Modern man and his inventions survive only as relics of a forgotten past. What seems ordinary to us now are mere legends for the characters in this book. That period in the history is referred to as the Blank where it said that the earth's crust has shifted. Shaker Sandow wanted to find out what happened during the Blank and if it was connected to his ability as a "master of the mind". He was expecting the Banibaleers to arrive at Perdune. This small contingent of General Dark's forces were to investigate the ruins beyond Cloud Range and to gather information about the enemy, the Oragonians, who are rumored to have used the lost technology. More than half of the book deals with the journey of Sandow and his two adopted sons with Commander Richter and his army. Little did they know that the Darklands was about to be conquered by Jerry Matabain and that they were the only ones who can save their people. This book is interesting because of its combination of...

Dean Koontz's latest novel 77 Shadow Street is now available. To learn more about it, go to  http://www.deankoontz.com/77-shadow-street/

Dean Koontz's first novel debuted as one of the two novels in one volume from Ace Double andpublished in 1968. This short sci-fi and adventure mix tells the story of Tohm, who has just realized that he lost his body. Then known as Jumbo Ten, he deserted the Romaghin army to find his beloved whom he believed was also kidnapped. His search led him to something bigger and grander than anything he had ever imagined. Koontz was able to develop the character well in such a short novel. He was able to spare some paragraphs for the character to analyze the situation and therefore allow the reader to sympathize with Tohm. It felt lacking and Koontz could have stretched and improved it, but it was already obvious from this novel that he would become an exceptional writer that he is today. His skill in description is incomparable. Even his action scenes are well-written. I can see the events play out in my head as he describes them. I recommend that Dean Koontz fans like myself r...

This is another tale of the possibilites that one's heart is willing to take. Spencer Grant is haunted by his past. He despises it yet he stubbornly clings to it, waiting for an opportunity to understand a part of himself that he's afraid to explore. When he met valerie Keene, everything changed for him. He could not explain why he was drawn to that woman but he just knew that if he could just talk to her, he'll know the answers. But Valerie's gone and now he's being pursued by an unknown group of people. People with power and influence. And they won't stop. Dark Rivers of the Heart is divided into two parts: On a Strange Sea and To the Source of the Flow. Like most of Dean Koontz's books, the characters have dark pasts that they somehow had to accept and overcome. But unlike the usual Koontz protagonists, Roy Miro isn't well-educated, smart and wealthy. But he's overly confident and merciless. Although he himself was not blessed with good l...

This 1972 science-fiction novel was one of Dean Koontz's earliest works. This book explores the facets of the human mind, its desires, hopes and and its quest for meaning and purpose. The book is divided into four parts: Divinity Destroyed, Humanity Restored, The Incomplete Creation and Man As God. The protagonist Simeon Kelly is one of the two successful products of Artificial Creation. He has the ability to probe the minds of other people. One day he was asked by AC to explore Child's mind, another creation of AC, to unlock the missing information needed to create the shields that will be used for the pending world crisis. Child, the first supergenius ever created, has been withholding important information from Morsfagen and the rest of AC. Simeon's tour of Child's mind takes him into strange worlds and forced him to think and reshape his view of things. Different though they were, he realized that they were both looking for meaning and purpose in their lives b...