Rating: Summary: Is Dean too busy to crank the best novels anymore? Review: Are my tastes changing or have Dean's last two novels petered out after gripping starts? Intensity was so riveting. However, Sole Survivor and Fear Nothing have been relatively unsatisfying. The clever dialogue and good characters are there. The familiar elements of Koontz's other stories are there as well. I guess it's some predictability of the plot, as well as unsatisfying resolution of the plot. Is Dean too busy with his movie script writing to write great books instead of good ones, or is his heart involved too much now in the screen writing to really pour his soul into his novels? Let's hope that he can make a new beginning with his next book. I'm not particularly in love with these characters and wouldn't mind discarding them in favor of new ones. The threat to see them in future novels makes me uneasy.
Rating: Summary: A good start to what could potentially be a great series Review: This book isn't half as bad as alot of people on this page have been saying. Granted, the plot is highly derivitive of Watchers. But, and this to me is very important, Koontz's writing STYLE has never been better. He is today's modern master of the English language, bar none. The narrator's point of view was just terrific to behold-Chris Snow has a great personality. And as for this book being scary-the scene involving the dolls in the home of Snow's nurse is probably one of the eeriest scenes I've encountered in a Koontz book yet. What Koontz needs to do now is focus as much of his creative energy on the PLOTS of his novels as he does on character. If he makes this adjustment, the next 2 books in this trilogy should turn out to be instant classics.
Rating: Summary: Is Koontz Stretching Himself too Thin? Review: After an electric start, Fear Nothing dims and fizzles towards its end. This book -- along with his last, Sole Survivor -- suffer a certain transparency of the main plot line. Too many holes and unanswered questions, too many curiosities raised and left uninvestigated. I won't rehash what's been written on this site, but suffice it to say that Intensity was a marvel of plot and character, so tight that each word seemed relevant, every thread followed until its end; with Fear Nothing, so much of the suspense takes place in exposition. Revelation comes from coincidence, conversation, or stumbling onto lengthy journals (do such things exist outside of novels?). And the main element is taken from Watchers. For those who read Fear Nothing, what exactly heppened with his father? It's never explained, and with the book not marketed as part of a trilogy it seems strange to leave such a major plot line open in a 400-page novel. I'm the greatest of Koontz fans, but I must confess his last two seem rushed and unfinished, possibly from his latest forays into TV and movies. Still, I'll eagerly await the next. What can I say, it's a long relationship.
Rating: Summary: Dear Dean: Make this a solo, not a trilogy. Review: I really usually like Dean's novels, but Fear Nothing really stretched my capacity to suspend belief past the breaking point. If I were even close to Chris in affliction or intellectual capacity (a New York Times best seller book), long before p. 225 (on the boat with Roosevelt), I and everyone else we all know would have grabbed a few people by the throats and said: "What the hell is going on?" Chris is disengenuous; Bobby is a surf-dork without a brain; the dog has some potential, but I'm putting this puppy down now and starting the new Grisham novel. Get a grip, Dean.
Rating: Summary: Fear nothing as bsd as tick tick tick thats bad. Review: To much nonscence it just go'es on and on and there is nothing to the story. you don't know much more when you're finished than you did at the start.
Rating: Summary: Unfortunately for Koontz, he's competing against himself. Review: This retread of "Watchers" and other, better Koontz books may hold the attention of readers who are unfamiliar with Dean's work, but longtime fans will likely be disappointed. I've read nearly every Koontz novel in print, and this one definitely lacks that "couldn't-put-it-down" feeling one usually gets with his books. The characters are likeable but two-dimensional, and the suspense elements -- thunderstorms, dark labs, and monsters -- are as old as the genre itself. Of course, even the best writers trot out a dud now and then. It's almost inevitable, especially considering his writing schedule. In addition to a new hardcover every 12 months, Koontz has been revamping old novels written under a pen name, so he's at the keyboard practically non-stop.
As Rod Serling once said while working on Twilight Zone, "It's just more than you really should do. You can't retain quality. You start borrowing from yourself, making your own cliches. I notice that more and more." Perhaps Dean should take a break, in order to recharge his creative batteries, or at least take a little longer with his work.
Rating: Summary: One of Koontz's best! Review: Dean Koontz just keeps getting better and better. Though it can definitely be said that _Fear Nothing_ is a re-tread of similar ground that he's covered elsewhere, the trio of main characters in the book is so well-described that they bring the book to real life. Chris Snow is the narrator, a young man with an unusual biological condition which renders him unable to stand sunlight, or any light for that matter. Because of this, he's largely a night-owl, prowling around his hometown of Midnight Bay. What he discovers following the death of his father is a wide-ranging conspiracy which seemingly touches everyone in the town. Aided by a surfer friend and his radio DJ girlfriend, not to mention his unusually alert dog, Orson, Chris sets out to discover the truth. This is, as I understand, the first book in a trilogy featuring these characters. As such, the book demands some patience from the reader, since very little of much substance is revealed in this installment, just enough to make the reader want more. There are several very effective, very eerie set-pieces in the book, some involving a troupe of enhanced lab monkeys. When all is said and done, we're faced with many more questions than answers, but long-time Koontz fans will want to see parts two and three of this trilogy to discover the secret behind what is going on. A strong recommendation.
Rating: Summary: Not his greatest ; not his worst. Review: After seeing that the reviews of FEAR NOTHING range from 10 all the way down to 1, I feel better about my feelings about the novel. After reading reviews of it, I thought it would be a "can't stop reading it" kind of book. Not so. It took me a while to get started; finally, however, it began to pick up momentum and I finished it fairly quickly. I didn't get the enjoyment from this novel that I have from some of Koontz's others. Maybe I was expecting too much. Also, the ending left me hanging; maybe it's because there are more adventures of Chris, Bobby, Sasha, and Orson to come. Come on, Dean, give us what you used to!
Rating: Summary: DEAN DOES IT AGAIN! Review: Although not the best, certainly a good read. Thrilling, and amusing; definately a book to worth the time. You'll fall in love with the characters, Chris has so many things thrown at him. Thank goodness for his faithful dog! He is loveable, as are most of the characters in this novel. I enjoyed it, and look forward to a sequel!
Rating: Summary: Welcome back to the real Dean Koontz Review: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dean! I have been waiting for you and/or Stephen to start writing again like you both used to. So what if Fear Nothing was just like Watchers! It was the rapid paced, outrageous, nerve-wracking escapism that real Koontz fans crave. Please don't leave us again!
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