Author Spotlight #1

Dean Koontz

Book reviews are great.  It's fun to hear why someone loved or hated a book.  That's a huge reason why I've decided to do them.  But for now I want to shift gears and discuss something a little different, a specific author. 

This is my first of hopefully many Author Spotlights.  I'll pull from my somewhat selective pool of authors that have always been my favorites and talk about what type of books they tend to write, as well as other things I think you should know about them.  Finally, I'll send you off with a list of the author's top three books (in my opinion, at least) that you NEED to check out.


Without further ado, I introduce to you one of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz.  I first started reading his work a couple years ago by pure chance.  Well, pure chance and some cool cover art on one of his books that drew me in.  The book Velocity (which I'll talk about later) was my first book of his that I read, and from then on I was addicted to Dean Koontz's unique style and writing.

This may not seem special or outstanding, but for some reason after seeing it I had to read it.

It's economically sound!

As it turned out, Velocity was amazing.  Not soon after reading it was when I found out that Dean Koontz has a TON of books published.  As of right now, he has written a total of 106!  Which leads me to my first major reason why you should check him out:  you can buy his books without spending too much money.  He has around 84 standalone titles that are priced reasonably.  And for all you folks lucky enough enough to have a used bookstore or stocked Goodwill, I can almost guarantee that you will find at least five books of his, waiting patiently on the shelf for you to discover.

There's gotta be a catch...

At this point, you may be worried (and with good reason) about the great quantity of books he has written.  A similar thought popped into my head, "If there's so many, they can't be that good."  Let me quell your worries, because this is the wonder of Dean Koontz.  He seems to just pump out literary gold.  He has a passion for creating stories and characters that is evident and I can only imagine how much time he spends writing each day.  

There are other reasons why you should check Dean Koontz out, and bullet point lists are fun to read.  You're welcome.

Read Dean Koontz if you like:

• mystery, with a pure emphasis on the mystery and less so on the mushy gushy romance aspect.  Fifty Shades of Grey fans looking for their next batch of "literature" won't find too much of what they are looking for with him.

• like ending your reading sessions with occasional feelings of paranoia, fear, and/or downright uneasiness.  DK's books are scary, suspensful, and while most include some supernatural element, the characters and situations seem real enough to effect you in some powerful way.

• like animals or have a special attachment to your household pet(s).  If you look at the back of most of Dean Koontz's books, you'll find his picture just like any author.  But it's rarely just him.  His golden retriever is almost always featured.    He clearly loves animals (especially dogs) and if they don't at least have a minor role, they are typically featured in some small way.

Wook at duh widdle puppy...

You Need to Read These

So you all probably got the point, I love Dean Koontz.  So if I piqued your interest enough, here are the three books you should start out with if you want to check him out.

Intensity

A young woman witnesses the murder of her family and friends, and instead of running away for her life she ends up going on a cross country personal vendetta to save a potential victim of the killer.   I loved this book because it goes against the usual formula and highlights the bravery of a person facing a dire consequences.

Fun fact:  This was made into a movie featuring Scrub's Dr. Cox as the serial killer.  It's weird seeing him as a murderer and watching Scrubs after seeing the movie was awkward, to say the least.

Velocity

 A man is faced with a grisly ultimatum and deals with the consequences of his decisions.  All the while he figures out more about the people or person behind the sadistic notes.  You will potentially be frightened of answering the phone after reading this. I warned you, fair and square.

Definitely not a children's book

The Taking

The Taking- A mysterious rainstorm potentially brings the end of the world in this book, forcing a small community to ban together to face the mysterious threat. It's easy to compare this to Stephen King's The Mist, but I challenge you to see past that and check this book out.  

Thanks for reading my first Author Spotlight, everyone.  I hope you are able to read some of Dean Koontz work soon!