Rating: 
Summary: VERBAL DIARRHEA
Review: I used to be a fan of Dean Koontz and always looked forward to a new Koontz book, but no more. He went through a bad period, writing several very long books that simply amounted to a chase and a single climactic scene, and while the characters were interesting enough, the stories often weren't. Then, with Seize the Night and Fear Nothing, he found his strength again--both the stories and the characterizations were fascinating. But in From the Corner of His Eye, Koontz has reverted to his bad habits. This might have made a good 200 page book, but my paperback copy is 729 pages long. Koontz desperately needs a forceful editor. How on Earth can a story be so badly written? First, the thesaurus approach. Here the idea is to consult a thesaurus and use every available synonym: "Ferocious pirates, ruthless secret agents, brain-eating aliens from distant galaxies, supercriminals hellbent on ruling the world, bloodthirsty vampires, face-gnawing werewolves, savage Gestapo thugs, mad scientists, satanic cultists, insane carnival freaks, hate-crazed Ku Klux Klansmen, knife-worshiping thrill killers, and emotionless robot soldiers from other planets has slashed, stabbed, burned, shot, gouged, torn, clubbed, crushed, stomped, hanged, bitten, eviscerated, beheaded, poisoned, drowned, radiated, blown up, mangled, mutilated, and tortured uncounted victims in the pulp magazines that Paul had been reading since childhood." (p. 651) What, no defenestration?! Second, give details of every character, no matter how removed from the story: "Selma Galloway, retired from a professorship years earlier, had subsequently retired further, taking advantage of the equity in her long-owned home to buy a little condo on the beach in nearby Carlsbad." (p. 671) Would you believe that neither Selma Galloway nor her financial plans occur anywhere else in the novel? Every detail of this sentence, from the character's name to her occupation and her ultimate place of residence, is completely irrelevant to the story--the only point is that the house next door to a certain character was available for sale. Third, complete travel itineraries are a must: "From San Francisco south to Orange County Airport on a crowded commuter flight, then farther south along the coast by rental car, Paul Damascus brought Grace, Celestina, and Angel to the Lampion house." (p. 646) What a shame the flight was crowded--if he'd chartered a plane they could have gone more directly and in comfort. Fourth, use plenty of descriptions that seem to qualify for the Bulwer-Lytton Contest for worst sentence, "Winter night, wound in scarfs of fog, like a leprous mendicant, rattled out a breath as though begging their attention beyond the glass." (p. 493). Fifth, be sure to give meaningful Biblical names to all your characters, so your readers are sure which ones are good (Bartholomew, Angel, Grace, Celestina, Seraphim, and even Paul Damascus!) and bad (Enoch Cain). Sixth, give your hideous killer fun quirks so that he's clearly distinguishable from every other fictional killer--Cain has the amusing tendency to develop hilarious illnesses such as vomiting, diarrhea, and boils after he kills his victims. Seventh, make sure that your story is meaningful--be sure to put in deep philosophical undercurrents, but be sure not to make them too difficult for the average thriller reader. Especially important is that bad guys are stupid and good guys are smart. Eighth, make sure you put lots and lots and lots of foreshadowing in your book, so that when you actually get around to the event foreshadowed, your readers aren't thrown by the unexpected. Also, make sure there is lots more foreshadowing than the actual event itself, especially if that event is the climactic showdown between good and evil. The list goes on and on, but frankly I've lost heart in this review--the book is so bad on so many levels that there is no challenge in so demonstrating. Koontz has lost me as a fan, and I regret that. But his writing has become so overblown and shows so little self-control that I'm no longer interested. Koontz's killer developed diarrhea after he killed, but Koontz's verbal diarrhea has killed my anticipation of his future work.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not Great
Review: Koontz is still the master. However, either he is letting down or I am getting too used to his style. Of course It held me spell bound and I could not put it down. But like a Chinese meal a few hours later I was hungry again.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable story, bad ending
Review: I have read several Dean Koontz books and have always liked them. Therefore, when a friend lent me this audiobook, I was anticipating a good story, although I was somewhat unnerved by the length of the book. The plot was absorbing and the descriptive words Koontz used were great. I was eagerly anticipating the revenge of detective Tom Vinadium (sp?) and the demise of Junior Cane, and could not have been more disappointed in the way Koontz resolved this. After it happened, I thought, that's IT? After the length of the book and the detail Koontz goes into throughout the book, I thought the resolution would be extremely satisfying. I was completely let down. I would have liked to see/hear Junior's reaction, but there was nothing. I felt like I had wasted all that time listening to the book for nothing.
Rating: 
Summary: One of Koontz's best books ever!!
Review: I have read many of his novels, including Intensity, Lightning, Night Chills, and Watchers. Like in Lightning he puts the a paradoxical idea into the plot; time travel in Lightning and different demintions in From the Corner of his Eye. Of all of Koontz's novels I rate this one up at the top of my list of favorites, with Intensity and Lightning. I have seen some of the miniseries's adapted from Koontz's novels, and I believe this novel should be the next one. I have read in other reviews that only the beginning of the novel is good, for after the first 100 pages the novel is slow, but if you love Koontz's books you will not care. The book is as fast moving as a 600 page novel can be. Also do not let the length of the book stop you from reading it, for it moves quickly. All in all I rate this as one of my all time favorite novels, not just Koontz novels but all novels.
Rating:
Summary: Ho-hum: Koontz makes haste slowly.
Review: Koontz takes well over one-fourth of the book's 600 plus pages just to set the opening scene (dozens of pages alone for the car crash, Barty's birth and hospital stay) which led me to wonder how he was ever going to get to the end of the week, let alone Barty's thirteenth birthday. Despite being a long-time Koontz reader, I felt a lot of the suspense and disbelief I experienced was more about Koontz's glacial pacing than about the story. Koontz seemed to realize how long the project was getting and sped things up about 300 pages into the book but not for the better since the climactic encounter with the villain and our saintly heroes occurs 600 pages in and lasts for only a couple of paragraphs. That's it! The whole point of the book - the encounter between good and evil - and its over in a blink and a push! I feel Koontz just started typing without a real goal in mind until he neared his 600 page contract requirement and decided to wrap things up.
Rating:
Summary: HIS BEST BOOK YET!!!
Review: Hmmm, when I finished this book I was amazed that someone could write such a profound book. Some of the other readers disagree --though I am not sure why. I found it to be one of the most emotional books ever written. If you didn't understand the ending I suggest you read Michael Chrichton's novel Time Line which gives a very scientific discription of the theory discussed. But all in all, I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! ;)
Rating:
Summary: A new road for Koontz with the best of the old preserved
Review: I very much enjoyed this book by Koontz. The style has maintained all the best elements from the past, while adding some new style features. This book will touch you and move you, but will still give you that familiar shudder. I was very surprised that the Amazon review already reveals that the central character Junior Cain throws hiw wife off that tower. I did not know that beforehand, and literally gasped at that moment in the story, because it was SO unexpected! The heavenly element in the story weaves very naturally in his normal style. All characters become dear to you and you want to know what happens with them. Because of the different viewpoints, you get to ride on everyones 'rollercoaster of life'. Good to see that Dean Koontz is back on his original quality track. I almost feared that he would not let go of his Christopher Snow-storyline, which I disliked - ugh. Buy this book! Thumbs up.
Rating: 
Summary: Good start, bad finish
Review: Let me start by saying I've read all of Koontz's work that I know of. His best work is Lightning, The Bad Place, and Strangers. From the Corner of His Eye is an okay read. Koontz's writing is always superb, but the protagonists in this novel are so unbeleivably wholesome that I couldn't relate to any of them. The one antagonist is just a vain, annoying simpleton. However, the beginning of this novel will suck you in, but then you'll keep waiting for it to progress and get better, and it just doesn't happen. This story could have been told in 200 less words. This novel just further exemplifies where DK has gone as a writer. If he would only get back to his roots and start writing truly suspenseful novels like Watchers and the stories I mentioned above, myself and the rest of his original readers would be much happier.
Rating: 
Summary: Great beginning; worthless ending
Review: As an avid reader of Dean Koontz novels, I was excited to learn my library had acquired the book-on-tape. This was 13 cassettes which is very long for a book-on-tape. The beginning was fabulous. Dean Koontz always does an excellent job introducing and developing colorful, off-the wall characters. Throughout the book, Koontz builds the reader up for a very intense climax. Well, I'm done with the book, and am still waiting for the climax. The ending was lukewarm and extremely anticlimactic. Unfortunately, after listening to this book for over a month, based on the ending, I was very upset to have wasted so much time on a book which, in the end, really had no point. Why devote so many, many chapters developing Junior Cain's character and getting into Junior's head if Koontz was going to suddenly switch gears and go in another, more mundane direction? Considering how good the book started out, the slow-paced, drawn out, sugar-coated ending left a very negative overall impression.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: I have not really enjoyed the past few Koontz novels, but I loved this particular one. Koontz is a master in creating interwoven plot lines, complex characters and multiple crescendos. From the Corner of His Eye is really a story about love and loss, death and rebirth... the way that all things are. Koontz's take on the quantum mechanics of life is very interesting. I'd recommend this Koontz book to everyone, a lifelong fan or a new reader.
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