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The Haunted Earth by Dean Koontz



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 suck a human's blood and convert just about anyone without the consent of the victim. Laws dictate that they recite first the laws protecting other creatures or form a contract.

As the duo pursued the case, the discovered a bigger conspiracy behind it. It seems like the supernatural creatures are also involved. The book is divided into two parts: The Alien Graveyard and The Beast at Midnight. The book will let the reader experience what it's like to live with aliens and supernatural beings on earth and later on, experience the maseni world and its concept of mythology.

The twists in the story will surprise the reader. Although I don't think it's as good as most of Koontz's novels, he handled the story very well. Some of the concepts seemed ridiculous but he pulled it off nicely.

I didn't like the sexual references to the character named Helena but she was portrayed as a sexually-liberated woman so I guess it suits her image. On the other hand, I enjoyed reading the events that happened in the maseni home planet leading to the discovery of the supernaturals' secret. And I also liked the funny scenes involving the maseni gods and Hogar.

I'm giving this book a 7 out of 10 rating.

This book was published in 1973 by lancer Books and is now out of print.
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  1. K. Allen Wood4:36 PM

    Hi.

    I know this isn't the right spot for this comment, but the post I'm referring to didn't have a comment box.

    Anyway, I came across your review of Invasion, by Dean Koontz, tonight, and saw that you were surprised he never reprinted it. He did. Only he updated and renamed it Winter Moon.

    Thought you might find that interesting. =)

    ReplyDelete

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