Fear Nothing

Rating:
Summary: Koontz! What were you THINKING?
Review: I admit to being a Koontz fan; the man has the talent to write books that sustain tension and deliver action. But somehow along the road, he degenerated into this: the most self indulgent, overblown, absurdly extravagant sort of writing style I think I've ever seen outside of a Victorian novel. Except they had a good excuse for it.

I admit I read "Fear Nothing" and the equally silly "Seize the Night." Most of them. Anyone wishing to remain sane will by necessity skip four and five pages at a time when the action is suddenly put on hold by Koontz playing with himself by way of lengthy, boring, pontifications disguised as profundities.

Koontz is so in love with the sound of his own voice, the feel of being a twenty eight year old hero, that he takes every opportunity to meander off the subject, to inflate his own ego, to imagine himself, I suppose, the supercoolest dude that ever lived....P>The dialogue, which you can tell Koontz thinks is so frosty totally neato cooool, is deplorable. The two heroes, Bobby and Chris, speak only surfer, and only totally mackin' slang, in as few words as possible, cuz, you know, that's how real cool guys must talk outside of their cartoon frames. At one point, when a savage maniac is about to burst loose from the remaining consciousness of a once decent man, the maniac speaks as if he were reading from a book. When is the last time you heard someone use the word "ceaselessly" in normal conversation? And this guy is a disintegrating maniac!

Yet Koontz never passes up an opportunity, if one word will do, to use twenty. He sidetracks the action with these long, self aggrandizing asides, always modestly kicking the dirt and ah shucks'ing his incredibly vain musings.

These books are an embarrassingly ...game of words, words, words. "I was sad" is way more effective than, "Rather to have my sorrow ground to splinters in the teeth of despair..." or whatever that line was when I finally tossed the book aside, laughing out loud.

The book jacket was filled with blurbs of praise. Hey guys! Anyone take a good look at that Emperor? He's naked as a jay, with only his big words to fool you. Take a closer look and you'll see this book is the antithesis of "Intensity," a return to an imaginary childhood where Koontz must have desperately wanted to be a cool dude surfer, and now desperately attempts to find his way back at last to the past and all its attendant literary self abuses....

Rating:
Summary: fear this book!
Review: By far, the worst Koontz book I've ever read. I did force my way through it but it was difficult. I wouldn't suggest this book to anyone. Maybe "Lightning" by Koontz is a better choice.

Rating:
Summary: Not my favorite
Review: I have been reading Koontz for years, and this particular novel could do virtually nothing to catch my interest. While some of the scientific interludes were interesting, I felt that Koontz waited much too long to indulge his readers in the odd biological and scientific theories that make his novels so popular.

On a lighter note, I would say read the novel anyway. We all have our favorites, and just because some of the reviews say it was not worth the read, doesn't mean that you won't enjoy it. The story did have its highlights, and I found it entertaining - just no captivating. Read it and make up your own mind.

Rating:
Summary: Vintage Koontz, excellent
Review: While this book is typical Koontz in terms of government conspiracies, biological engineering and a "us against the world" group mentatlity, it is also typical Koontz in terms of giving us characters that we begin to care about. For example: he succeeds by portraying the world of a man who must hide himself from all U.V light, including the sun. This is something that most of us ordinarily take for granted. His condition is further compounded by the fact that he loses both of his parents. But the real meat of the novel lies in his interaction with his friends. His best friend and his girlfriend who are willing to risk thier lives to help him. The policeman who compromises his principals inorder to save (or so he thinks) his son from a life of mental retardation. I liked this book as much as I liked Intensity, Sole Survivor, and Strangers.

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Summary: A Reveiw of Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz
Review: Fear Nothing is the story of Christopher Snow. Christopher Snow, known as Snowman by most of his friends, lives a very interesting life. His mother has already passed away at the start of the story. The novel opens with his father dying. It is an on-the-edge-of-your-seat novel that always keeps you wornder "what's next?". It is a great novel. It is never boring. There is always some twist or turn that keeps you coming back until the novel is finished. Fear Nothing is a 432 page book whose pages never stop turning. You never want to put it down. I finished it in six days. I enjoyed it not only because it was interesting, but also because it teaches a wonderful life lesson. Be happy being yourself. Dean Koontz is an extraordinary writer. He is the author of seven number one New York Times bestsellers and Fear Nothing is on that should be there. The novel is compulsively readable. His powers are prodigious. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys suspense novels that never become dull. Anyone who enjoys Dean Koontz will thoroughly enjoy Fear Nothing.

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Summary: fear nothing 'cept being stuck in a desert w/ only this...
Review: dean is one of those writers who i can't say that i'm a fan of, but i usually buy his books. granted is often in an airport and i need something to keep me occupied. while i don't find him pârticularly thought provoking, i find him reliable.

this one is a dud.

over-written with some of the worst metaphors and similes i've encountered in a while - it was almost as if i was stuck in a english 101 class in some third rate junior college populated entirely by folks who had to take the course. the plot takes forever to get anywhere and you really don't care about it anyway. the characters are predictable and offer no insight. the entire work has a feeling of deja vu and not in a good way.

certainly don't bother with this one when koontw has put out much more entertaining work.

Rating:
Summary: Typical Koontz; Nothing New
Review: Overall, the story is intriguing. There are many great scenes that will have you wondering what kind of conspiracy the main character, Chris Snow, has found himself involved in. The plot builds as Chris comes across a variety of strange occurences.

However, I thought the book fell pretty flat as it entered the final 1/3, as Snow starts to piece together the meaning of the oddities, and it's a typical Koontz plot at this point. To me, the climax was anti-climatic, and actually kind of ridiculous (I'm not at a liberty to reveal why or what the climax is...obviously, that's not encouraged on this public forum!)

I realize it's intended to be part one of a trilogy, and perhaps as the story continues into the next two books, a more appropriate ending will tie everything together. But I still think the ending of this one was almost comic-book like.

Also, I think Koontz can be a little overkill with his descriptions of characters, their motivations, their actions, their memories, etc. Sometimes I just want to say, "I get the idea!" For example, the full two page description of every room in Snow's girlfriend's house just to describe how independent, and adventurous she was...a very idealistic character, described in almost goddess-like terms at times, was a bit too much.

I will read the second installment of this series in hopes of getting a better ending...

Rating:
Summary: Ear Poison
Review: RE: UNABRIDGED AUDIO TAPE. I read Koontz's SEIZE THE NIGHT first, not realizing it was a sequel and rathered enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure. Now I find in the tape version of FEAR that there's no place to hide from the narrator-hero's tedious mood-setting, mind-numbing overdescription and maddening reluctance to get to the point of any scene. This apparently passes for suspense-building. I realize now that as a reader I skimmed over all this nonsense in SEIZE, somewhat masking the failure of the book's editors. But no-can-do with the unabridged tape version - one must sit there and take it. Either that or fast forward and risk missing the fleeting pay-off moments. Yes, I understand that thoughtful introspection and eloquent description can enhance great literature. Here it doesn't and this isn't.

Rating:
Summary: Too much imagery and too many side-journeys
Review: Vivid imagery and philosophical side-journeys can be good, but when overused, can dramatically slow down suspense. Sadly, this book is laden with things that slow the book almost to a crawl. I kept wanting to skip over long sections--several pages at a time--just to get back to the real action. I am writing a novel myself, and this book taught me what NOT to do. Also, I've decided that plots like this one are a bit too evil for my taste; I prefer plots with wholesome messages.

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Summary: The BEST book ever written!
Review: Fear Nothing was and is still the best book I've ever read, and I've read quite a few books. Koontz uses his words to grab the readers attention and keep it all throughout his books, I literally read the first few sentences and couldn't put it down until I was finally done, four or five hours later. His characters are reprsented and described amazingly well, throughout the book it's like you form a bond with these characters and you grin stupidly to yourself at jokes they make. Another highlight of Fear Nothing was the super intelligent canine friend Orson. Personally he is my favorite character because he acts in a nature extremely close to that of humans, and Koontz writes about things like the faces Orson makes or the things he does, and you find yourself with that absurd grin on your face yet again. I haven't yet been graced with the opportunity to read the sequel, Seize the Night, but I'm without doubt when I say that it has got to be just as good if not better than this superb novel. If you've never read Fear Nothing and you're reading this review to get an idea, take my word and GO BUY IT! Sit down in your most comfortable chair with a drink nearby and read. I assure you that you wont be able to put it down until your drink is gone, and you have a large indent in that chair of yours. Don't miss it.