Why do people hate Dean Koontz?

Heck if I know.

I've enjoyed all of his books to one extent or another.
His writing is imaginative, descriptive, vivid, hilarious at times, scary when he wants it to be and he loves dogs.
What's not to like ?

I suppose to the snobbish reader his works are not considered "lit-tra-chaw", but so what ?
He's not Dickens, but he's fun to read and that's what I look for.
He writes popular fiction and does it well.

His plots could be considered formulaic, perhaps, but the formula obviously works for many readers.

There are those who don't like him because everything he writes does quite well financially.
"He simply can't be worthwhile if he can publish his shopping list and sell a million copies."
;Q Yeah, whatever.

I'm a fan.

 

Intensity was awesome. They made a movie out of it and it was pretty good too. Surprisingly, it followed the book almost to the letter.

 

I wouldn't know, he is one of my favorite authors. My personal library has a lot of room devoted to his books.

 

Probably because the people who make the Family Guy are liberals and Koontz is a staunch conservative/libertarian and a Christian.

 

The only problem I ever had with Koontz was when I read four of his books in a row...and realized they were all pretty much the same book. I now know to space them out a bit.

 

I've read them all except the newest that is only in hardback, and have a copy of each. I particularly liked TickTock, and any of his where he gets in the head of a dog. I love the dog in Dragon Tears.

 

Yeah, the dog in Watchers was cool, I want a dog like that. Dark Rivers of the Heart had a good dog character too.

 

I certainly don't hate him but it seems as though over the years I see his name constantly and I guess that represents an author into mass production in this medium. Of coures then there's Issac Azimov (sp?), and Ray Bradbury to ruin that theory. It just seems to me as if Koontz as well as King lost something in mass production. I did not word that correctly and now I'll have to think about it. Good question though.

 

i used to be a huge koontz fan. midnight is my all time favorite read. that book drips with pure dread and dark atmosphere.

but all of his new work sucks IMO.

 

Wife and I read a bunch of Koontz awhile ago. If I remember correctly, although he seems pro-gun, his early books are dreadful when it comes to accurate use and capability of firearms. I remember one in particular where the detective had "armor-piercing hollowpoint bullets".

We enjoyed them though. Haven't read any in awhile.

 

"Lightning" is my favorite.

 

Beats me...
I like a number of his stories.
Same as why there are so many calibers.
Something for everyone?

 

I like to compare Koontz to Stephen King when King was at his best, early in his career. King seems to have lost his touch in the last few years, while Koontz gets better and better. Just finished 'Odd Thomas' and consider it to be one of his best.

As an aside, Koontz wrote a book on how to be a fiction author back in the late eighties, when his popularity had really started to grow. I bought a copy of the book since I'm a frustrated fiction author myself. Some years later he brought out a second edition of his 'authoring' book and neatly contradicted most of what he wrote in the first edition. What I learned from all of this is that basic talent will shine through, no matter whether you follow the rules or not.

I consider King to still be an excellent author, but his latest works seem to lack the 'edge' of his earlier stories.

YMMV....
Ronaldo

 

I liked his earlier stuff where the first half of the book setup this mysterious horror for the characters, and the second half showed it to be a scientific/natural phenomenon and everyone got armed to the teeth and blew hell out of it! PHANTOMS, TWILIGHT, MIDNIGHT, WATCHERS, and LIGHTNING all followed this pattern. I don't read much of his stuff anymore, not sure why.

 

I have probably read most of his work. I like to read him because it goes quick. True, he doesn't seem to be a deep thinker. His plots are thin and, Compared to King, Straub, and some others, a little on the linear side. To me his biggest problem is in the dialog between his characters ESPECIALLY between men and women. He just can't seem to get down.

That sounds like I don't like to read his books but the truth is that they make excellent reading when you want to go light.

I think his best book was Bad Place. It is as close as he gotten to a real heavy-going story, IMHO. And I like 'em rough and deep. Some one help me now, I'm trying to think of the name of the author of Hell Raiser, and Carpet World. Clive something or other...Barker...Baker...Aaargh! Gettin' old is a gettin' me down.^2

 

I think his deepest was Intensity. Aptly named.

 

If you like Koontz check out Richard Laymon. He just recently passed away, but his books are awesome.

 

If you want to talk about mentally ill, then I think Richard Laymon had true problems. At first I made up excuses for him, but after I realised that there was a graphic rape in every single one of his books, I began to wonder about him.

As for Koontz, I used to like his books. They were fun to read, easy to follow, and just made for a quick light read. After a while I got tired of the formula. I was more into horror at the time and I was always disappointed that the mysterious monster/psychic phenomenon thing turned out to be a Scientific Experiment Gone Horribly Wrong.

Still, he had some pretty good gun stuff so I can forgive him.

From book-a-minute.com....

 

LOL!