Dean Koontz

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bigkingfan91

bigkingfan91

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Is "Strangers" anything like the movie "Identity"?? I recall when the movie came out, I thought it was basically just an adaptation from the book..

I really enjoyed Shattered.. That's one of his real old ones, but I loved it. I used to read a lot of Koontz, actually read just as much Koontz as I did King back then, but I slowly got out of his work. I have tons of Koontz books, they are all in a box in the closet since I don't have enough shelf room right now for King and Koontz. I hope to get back into reading Koontz sometime in the future but for right now there are just to many King books to read and re read, along with books on the Manson case which I am an avid reader of, and Joe Hill books.

But Strangers is really appealing to me, I haven't read it obviously but I've been staring at it quite a bit here lately lol. Is it worth the long, long read, and time taken away from Mr. King??????
 
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Walter Oobleck

Walter Oobleck

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bigkingfan91 said:
Is "Strangers" anything like the movie "Identity"?? I recall when the movie came out, I thought it was basically just an adaptation from the book..

I really enjoyed Shattered.. That's one of his real old ones, but I loved it. I used to read a lot of Koontz, actually read just as much Koontz as I did King back then, but I slowly got out of his work. I have tons of Koontz books, they are all in a box in the closet since I don't have enough shelf room right now for King and Koontz. I hope to get back into reading Koontz sometime in the future but for right now there are just to many King books to read and re read, along with books on the Manson case which I am an avid reader of, and Joe Hill books.

But Strangers is really appealing to me, I haven't read it obviously but I've been staring at it quite a bit here lately lol. Is it worth the long, long read, and time taken away from Mr. King??????
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King plugged Strangers...there's a blurb on the jacket of my paperback: "The best novel he has written!" But do what you gotta do to survive.
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

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bigkingfan91 said:
If you haven't seen the movie "Identity" you ought to check it out! Seems like a mirror image of that book!
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The only thing the movie Identity and the novel Strangers has in common is the locale (a motel) and a somewhat large cast of characters all coming together at said motel. You are only hurting yourself by not reading Strangers. You won't know what hit you when you do read it. It's one of Koontz' best!
 
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GNTLGNT

GNTLGNT

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Jun 15, 2007
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kingricefan said:
The only thing the movie Identity and the novel Strangers has in common is the locale (a motel) and a somewhat large cast of characters all coming together at said motel. You are only hurting yourself by not reading Strangers. You won't know what hit you when you do read it. It's one of Koontz' best!
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...and nary a wisp of bougainvillea or stray golden retriever hair to be found...
 
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Mr Nobody

Mr Nobody

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Oh, I agree. If I hadn't enjoyed those three (part of an introductory offer to a now-defunct book club), I wouldn't have bothered with any of the others. And I remember really enjoying the first 2/3rds of False Memory.
It's been donkey's ages since I read any of them, though.
 
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shookme

shookme

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I'm so glad this thread was started. I recently finished By the Light of the Moon and was pretty impressed. I read Hideaway a long time ago but didn't remember too much about Koontz's style. Lots of good suggestions here on what of his to read next.
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

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Jul 11, 2006
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ghost19 said:
I just started "Strange Highways". I haven't read it in a long time but I remember all the short stories being pretty good. Not a big Koontz fan but there are a couple that are decent.
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Strange Highways is a great anthology. Really shows off Koontz' writing styles. It also has the novel 'Chase' in it, which is one he wrote under then name K.R.Dwyer (his initials backwards). 'Shattered' was another one that he used this name for that is available under his real name now. The third book under this name is 'Dragonfly'. All three of these books are great suspense novels!
 
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skimom2

skimom2

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Neesy said:
He did do one with Peter Straub, did he not?

Looks like a definite "bromance" !! :adoration: :biggrin2:
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Straub was somewhat of a personal hero, though, long before the collaboration (I remember Mr. King came perilously close to gushing about Mr. Straub in Danse Macabre). Koontz is more of a contemporary--might make it more uncomfortable for both.
 
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skimom2

skimom2

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blunthead said:
He did two with Straub, one with his son. I'm not sure whom else if anyone. I wonder how many novels are collaborated on per year.
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It was funny reading In The Tall Grass-I've been reading Mr. King for so long that it was immediately apparent who had written what bits--his style is like a literary 'thumbprint' (lol)
 
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skimom2

skimom2

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kingricefan said:
Hi Walter. If you have or run across a copy of Invasion by 'Aaron Wolfe' grab it! It has the destinction of a book, back in the '80's this was, that was rumored to be written by none other than Stephen King. King has said that he didn't write it. But, the entire story takes place in a small cabin in the deep woods of Maine and involves a family of three that are set upon by outside forces. It's a good story, too. I've read it and it does have alot of similarities to what could be an early 'King' story. Koontz wrote alot of his early novels in locations where he actually lived and as far as I know he never lived in Maine. Also, it's not really mentioned alot in that Koontz Companion but he (along with his wife as co-writer) did some paperback original pornography books. Those commands huge prices on the secondary market! HUGE! Dean won't acknowledge them as he says they were re-written by an editor(s) at the publisher after submitting them. Here's a pic of another little gem you might want in your collection- it was at one time also rumored to be written by King (read the author's name backwards.....) :
View attachment 1889
Hey, jchanic, ya got one of these?
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Amazon lists Invasion as being written by Koontz--in fact, they have a signed copy listed. Weird!
 
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