Very good. 2 novels and 13 short stories of suspense and horror. Fun read.

A bunch of interesting and well written short stories, novelettes and two novels. Enjoyed them thoroughly ( )

Indeholder "Ukendte veje", "Det sorte græskar", "Nede i mørket", "Ollies hænder", "Indespærret", "Killinger", "Morgengryets tusmørke".

"Ukendte veje" handler om Joey Shannon på 40 år, der vender tilbage til sin fødeby Asherville med et solidt whisky-forbrug (Jack Daniels) som største udbytte af årene efter at han forlod den i 1975 for tyve år siden. Han er gået ad ukendte veje for at komme hertil igen. Hans storebror P. J. (Paul John), som han ser op til som et ideal, er en succesrig forfatter. Deres mor, Kathleen, er død for seksten år siden og nu er turen kommet til faderen, Dan Shannon, som er død og skal begraves dagen efter. Joey har uhyggelige mareridt og syner blandt andet en død blindet kvinde med sår i håndfladerne, som han ser i sin bils bagagerum. Også ved begravelsen har han den slags syner. ???
"Det sorte græskar" handler om Tommy Sutzmann på 12 år, der bliver kuet af både sine forældre og sin storebror Frank. På et marked køber Frank et uhyggeligt sort græskar, der er blevet skåret ret makabert ud af en lidt indtørret mand, der sælger sine værker for hvad nu kunderne vil give, men advarer om at man får hvad man betaler for. Frank vælger at betale en nickel, dvs 5 cent eller en femogtyveører for græskarret. Tommy prøver at få ham fra det, men det har den modsatte effekt. Forældrene holder fest om aftenen som led i faderens kampagne for at blive valgt til kongressen. Han er allerede guvernør i staten, men higer efter mere magt. Om natten bliver græskarret til et uhyre, der dræber Frank og forældrene Lois og Kyle. Uhyret æder de tre ofre, men lader Tommy være fordi han er en god dreng. Så Uhyret skænker ham frihed. Frihed fra de tre, for de vil aldrig blive fundet.
"Nede i mørket" handler om Jess og Carmen, der har købt hus et sted i Californien. Jess opdager en kælder, men Carmen kan ikke se den og den er heller ikke beskrevet i papirerne. Jess har en fin restaurant i et lille indkøbscenter, som ejes af Horace Dalcoe, Jess er andengenerations mexicaner (døbt Jesus Gonzales) i USA og ung og naiv, da han skrev lejekontrakten under i sin tid, for Dalcoe skal godkende alle ændringer i lokalerne og tager sig blodigt betalt under bordet. Mens Carmen er væk, går Jess ned i kælderen, som er helt uden lys. Han kommer ikke så langt, for der lugter ækelt og han styrter op ad trappen igen. Der lugter som fiskesuppe og det fik han nok af i en fangelejr i Vietnam, da han var 23. Nogle dage efter skal han gennemgå huset sammen med sælger, der hedder Nguyen Quan Phu. Jess genkender ham som torturbøddel fra fængslet. Nguyen kan også se døren til kælderen, selv om han aldrig har set den, mens han boede i huset. Jess tvinger ham derned og noget i mørket, et par døde magre spøgelser af mænd, der døde i lejren, tager Nguyen. Jess flytter Nguyens bil og hævder at Nguyen aldrig overholdt deres aftale om at mødes. Nguyen er forsvundet. Og Jess opdager at døren dukker op, når han tænker på ågerkarlen Dalcoe. Desværre for Jess er han hævngerrig og han laver en liste over folk, der godt kunne forsvinde i kælderen uden at han ville græde over dem. Men han ved også at han selv krydser grænsen til mørket, hvis han benytter sig af kælderen. Sjovt dilemma.
"Ollies hænder" handler om Ollie, der har meget følsomme hænder. De kan fx bruges til at finde kvalitetsbestik som en restaurant jævnligt kommer til at smide ud ved et uheld. Når han har samlet et sæt, sælger han det for penge. Men en nat finder han i stedet en bevidstløs pige bedøvet af narkotika, Annie Grice på 26 år. Han samler hende op og tager hende med hjem. Han undersøger hende med hænderne og finder ud af at hun med vilje har taget en overdosis. Hans hænder helbreder hendes narkomani og han får hende til aat sove. Han gør hende rask og vil ikke udnytte hende ved fx at gå i send med hende, hvilket hun har svært ved at forstå. Men kort tid efter sker "koblingen", så han kan læse hendes tanker, ja faktisk ikke lade være. Det får hun myrekryb af, så han lader hende gå igen og vender tilbage til sit gamle liv.
"Indespærret" handler om ???
"Killinger" handler om Marnie på syv år, der undrer sig over hvor katten Pinkies killinger blev af sidste år. Marnies far siger at Vorherre har taget dem, men i virkelighedens verden er det ham, der har druknet dem. Et yderligere spørgsmål fra Marnie udløser en hård lussing. Da Marnie en dag ser faderen drukne det nye hold killinger, drukner hun selv sine to små babysøskende. For at hævne sig på Vorherre.
"Morgengryets tusmørke" handler om arkitekten Pete Fallon, der er gift med Ellen. Sammen har de sønnen Benny på 7 år. Pete er opdraget religiøst og bekæmper derfor sekterisk alt religiøst, inklusive jul og julemand. Så Benny bliver interesseret alene af den grund. Ellen dør i en bilulykke og to år senere dør Benny af knoglekræft. Benny er bekymret over om Pete mon afviser det religiøse så meget at han ikke kan finde de to andre, når det bliver hans tur. Fallons ven og partner Hal Sheen er startet som ateist og er så gået tilbage til den katolske kirke. Og Pete ender også med at se lyset eller rettere nogle faldende kirsebærblomster. Titlen er et par linier af H. G. Wells: Fortiden er ikke andet end begyndelsen til en begyndelse, og alt hvad der findes, og alt hvad der har været, er ikke andet end daggryets tusmørke.

Originalen har fjorten historier: "Strange Highways", "The Black Pumpkin", "Miss Attila the Hun", "Down in the Darkness", "Ollie's Hand", "Snatcher", "Trapped", "Bruno", "We Three", "Hardshell", "Kittens", "The Night of the Storm", "Twilight of the Dawn", "Chase".
I forhold til den mangler der altså halvdelen: "Miss Attila the Hun", "Snatcher", "Bruno", "We Three", "Hardshell", "The Night of the Storm", "Chase". ( )

I did not know Koontz had such a sense of humour, ...lab rats. ( )

I do re-read this one mostly in the month of October. Koontz really sings in this short story collection. Maybe he should think about publishing more short stories since even some of his shorts he has written lately have been better than the full length novels that have followed.

All in all the books showcase the good with Koontz. He can spin a sentence and also scare you at the same time. You get some religious musings here and there, but honestly everything in most of the stories works. I kept wishing after I first read this, that Koontz would think about spinning off some of the characters that we meet here. Too bad he never did.

"Strange Highways" (5 stars). The anchor of the collection this one was really good. We follow a man named Joey who is in essence a failure. He tried to be an author and is pretty much dead broke. He returns to his hometown in Pennsylvania to attend his father's funeral. His brother is successful and Joey doesn't know why, but he can't stand to be around him. When a second chance has Joey back in the past to fix a mistake that can lead him down a different path. This one had a lot going on with it, but it all works. Most time travel stories make me go hmmm, but Koontz plays with it in a good way and the reveal about what happened to Joey in the past and who was behind it was actually scary. I think Koontz also smartly incorporated the town. We find out this is a dying former mill town (there are lots in PA) and due to that many people had left it when he was a teen, when Joey goes back as an adult you feel like time stopped there. I loved this story from beginning to end.

"The Black Pumpkin" (4.5 stars). An almost perfect Halloween tale. A young boy named Tommy is in a terrible family. His mother and father are pretty awful and his brother is a potential serial killer. When Tommy and his brother get to pick out a pumpkin, his brother picks the black one that has Tommy scared to death. He can sense something evil about it. In the end though there is a definite surprise about the pumpkin. The ending was okay, but just didn't gel with the scares that came before it.

"Miss Attilla the Hun" (3 stars). Among my least favorite in this series. Probably because we get another uber perfect woman for Koontz to fawn over. Mrs. Laura Caswell is a teacher who one day realizes that something funky is going on at her school. A classic alien story which in the end didn't really work for me, probably because it didn't seem quite finished.

"Down in the Darkness" (3.5 stars). We follow a good man (Jess) who is excited about moving his family into their new home. When Jess finds a mysterious door that he doesn't recall being there during the house tour, he realizes that the door is hiding something potentially evil. When we (readers) find out what the door is for and how it comes into play with Jess's background as a former POW it was intriguing. In the end though I thought the ending (pun intended) wasn't that great. I think because it ends up leaving things a a moral question when we see what happens with Jess and the door and I don't think that Koontz needed it to be that deep.

"Ollie’s Hands" (4.5 stars). A sad story but very good. We find out about a man named Ollie and what his hands can do. I had nothing but pity for the character named Ollie when we come to the end of his story.

"Snatcher" (5 stars). This is really a fun and scary story. A man that is a purse snatcher and just all around terrible person has the tables turned on him.

"Trapped" (3 stars). I honestly feel like I read this story before somewhere. A woman and her son are on the run from some scary rats. Not a bad story, but like I said, I think that I read this or a similar idea of it somewhere before. Drove me up the wall because I can't figure out where.

"Bruno" (5 stars). I laughed and always laugh reading this one. No spoilers, I just think you will enjoy a story about a time traveling bear (seriously) and a private eye named Jake. Jake is asked to help Bruno out with catching a time traveling criminal (as one is these days apparently). this is one of the stories I wish we had seen a follow up about since it was so interesting.

"We three" (3.5 stars). Not bad, just fairly short. Murderous triplets maybe ushered in something that will be the end of them.

"Hardshell" (5 stars). So good. Another one I would have loved to see a spin off or larger novel about. We have a LAPD detective chasing a killer. We find out though that neither man are what they appear to be.

"Kittens" (5 stars). The main reason why I gave this one five stars is that for once Koontz didn't back away from a scary/terrible ending. Reminded me a bit of King with the ending and what we realize must have happened as readers. Shudder.

"The Night of the Storm" (3 stars). My second least favorite story in this collection. I can't even go into how boring I found this, but it was boring.

"Twilight of the Dawn" (3 stars). A very preachy Koontz book that also had no horror elements in it so it doesn't really fit with the rest of the book. That said, it works because Koontz manages to draw you in with his writing. The story is about an atheist who ends up being pretty much an asshole to his young son and his own wife when the question of religion comes up. We know why he is that way (he had very religious parents) and doesn't want his son growing up thinking there is a God. When he loses his wife though his son starts to question his father's lack of faith and grows even stronger in his belief of a God. When his son eventually gets diagnosed with a fatal cancer, the question of faith becomes even more of divide between them. I went back and forth on this rating a lot. I eventually ended up with a three since I thought the father character was an ass.

"Chase"(5 stars). This and "Strange Highways" were the longest stories in the collection and this one really packs a punch. It's a good way to end the collection. Benjamin Chase has a complicated history. Returned from Vietnam and having to drink to forget his memories he is welcomed at a dinner for a Guest of Hero thing. I was a bit nonplussed at first since I thought most of the US was terrible to returning vets. Chase is given a new car and while driving ends up saving a young girl who was about to be raped and murdered. This puts Chase neck in neck with a killer who is determined to end Chase. ( )