Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I want to be "smart-alecky" here and just say things like "this book SUCKS!" but that isn't what people want to hear. I ask myself why am I even reviewing a book that has already gotten over 180 reviews and the answer is this: I am a huge Koontz fan, or I was - lately, I've been less impressed. I have all of his pre-2000 signed first-editions. I say this because I want you to understand that I am a big fan and not just jumping in and talking trash about your favorite author. That said, I have to also say that this was the worst Dean Koontz book I have ever read. More than that it is on my top 5 worst books I've ever read. I actually listened to this on unabridged audio CD since I no longer have the luxury of long reading hours since I commute, but the story is the same and audio is often more entertaining as you get the story told to you with a myriad of voices. From the first five minutes of listening, I caught my mind wandering to other things. I made myself focus, but kept being distracted because it just wasn't grabbing me. However, I know not all great books start out great. I was surprised by some of the reviews here who liked the beginning even though they didn't care for the rest... interesting. I did not like the beginning, I found it boring and lifeless. The main characters were presented as these enigmas with their lives coming out in little wisps throughout the book when Dean could have more easily explored the characters from the beginning making the reader become interested in them and like them. As it was, they were flat and uninteresting. The plot was designed to give Dean a forum to voice his opinion about the state of the human race and civilization, as most of his plots are designed to share his messages. This time, however, we were forced to endure this awful book filled with a silly theme, unrealistic characters, and verbose, over-descriptive passages that gave Dean a forum to use all of those big words that he's collected over the years. Worse than that was the constant TS Eliot quotes. By the end of the book, my eyes involuntarily rolled with each one and I couldn't stop shaking my head back and forth in annoyance. This was way over-the-top. And, last, I know you all love the dog(s), but c'mon. Can we get a little imagination here, a little change in the "theme"? Give us a few books without dogs! PLEASE!?! For me a review that is "helpful" gives the reader of the review an idea of what the person (reviewer) thought about the book and why. In all honesty, if I had read the reviews included here (including my own), it would not have kept me from reading the book because of my enjoyment of previous Dean Koontz books. Because of this, I realize that people who have READ this book and LIKED this book will obviously not find this review helpful although the review was not created for them , but for the people who are considering reading this book but have not yet. So, if you are intent on reading this book, try getting it from your local library (like I did, thankfully) so you aren't out the dollars and if you have already read this book, this review is not directed towards you. If you're on the fence or are just trying out Koontz, try some of his older stuff: Lightning (my fave), Watchers, Servants of Twilight, Dark Rivers of the Heart, or Midnight. These books have better storylines, better developed characters and apparently Dean didn't have quite the vocabularly he is now demonstrating.