I’ve never been a huge Dean Koontz fan but got this anthology at a library sale and here’s my breakdown:
1. Strange Highways – one of the two long stories and it starts off good but kind of goes down the tubes the longer it goes on
2. The Black Pumpkin – way better, I actually liked this one a lot and it’s a Halloween story so it gets bonus points
3. Miss Attila the Hun – another banger, cheesy as all hell but in a good way
4. Down in the Darkness – probably my favorite of the bunch, it’s like House of Leaves but like, readable
5. Ollie’s Hands – kind of a fumble. This is a 90s horror collection so it was going to get weird eventually. This is the calm before the storm
6. Snatcher – kind of forgettable but it’s not bad
7. Trapped – another good one, probably my second favorite. Animal horror needs to make a comeback
8. Bruno – Weird but almost in an endearing way
9. We Three – oh, oh noooooooooooo.
10. Hardshell – Dean Koontz is so hot for Noir Detectives it’s almost funny, this one is good even if it goes off the rails.
11. Kittens – this one is pretty cruel but it’s over quick. Probably the only one that actually creeped me out (in a horror way, not in a why were the 90s like this way)
12. The Night of the Storm – this one was kind of cool, I could see this as a full novel
13. Twilight of the Dawn – cheesy, but in a bad way.
14. Chase – I was vibing with this one but quit pretty early because it gets super pervy with one of the teenage characters. Stephen King would be proud.
Overall – Skip Strange Highways, We Three, Ollie’s Hands and Chase and this is a pretty solid little collection that might be worth a look if you want some older horror stories
by ShinyBlueChocobo