Dean Koontz

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bigkingfan91

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Mar 1, 2014
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Kingricefan do you remember the chapter that deals with the "surgery"??? I just finished up that part and I couldn't stop turning the pages, that was just unreal! I don't ever recall being that tied into a chapter of a Koontz book, so maybe that's a good omen for my future Koontz reads.. I like this long drawn out character development, it really builds the tension up, but some readers don't see it that way and can't stand anything long & drawn out.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Kingricefan do you remember the chapter that deals with the "surgery"??? I just finished up that part and I couldn't stop turning the pages, that was just unreal! I don't ever recall being that tied into a chapter of a Koontz book, so maybe that's a good omen for my future Koontz reads.. I like this long drawn out character development, it really builds the tension up, but some readers don't see it that way and can't stand anything long & drawn out.
It's been a really long time since I read Strangers. I vaguely remember something about 'surgery'. I know his early books were the ones that, IMHO, the best ones. Strangers had me hooked from the get-go! Watchers broke my heart (even tho it has a supernaturally gifted Golden Retriever in it!). You need to read Phantoms and Whispers, too.
 

bigkingfan91

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Mar 1, 2014
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It's been a really long time since I read Strangers. I vaguely remember something about 'surgery'. I know his early books were the ones that, IMHO, the best ones. Strangers had me hooked from the get-go! Watchers broke my heart (even tho it has a supernaturally gifted Golden Retriever in it!). You need to read Phantoms and Whispers, too.
Finished Strangers, now that was a good read! Complete surprise to me, I never expected it to take the turn it took. Very good unique & original story! Really kept me turning the pages and I haven't finished a 600+ pager that fast in a long time. Thanks for the recommendation!!!!!!!
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Spokane, WA
Finished Strangers, now that was a good read! Complete surprise to me, I never expected it to take the turn it took. Very good unique & original story! Really kept me turning the pages and I haven't finished a 600+ pager that fast in a long time. Thanks for the recommendation!!!!!!!
You are humbly welcome. I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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Strangers has a perfect structure for a two part mini-series I always felt. The structure reminds me of It a lot: you have all these separate people who come together halfway the book (which is where the second part of the series would start) in one place and start sharing and dealing with what they once went through together, but forgot about.

I remember Intensity worked really well as a mini-series, but Strangers, one of his most mentioned and, I assume, popular novels has never been picked up for this format or a different kind of adaptation, which seems strange.

As far as writing, I don't think he slaves endlessly over it sentence by sentence (which is an almost impossible way to write), but he does many drafts of a certain page, completely finetuning it, which you can tell from the precise prose. And it's true he probably won't collaborate with King (or someone else anymore), as he says it's one of his flaws he can't collaborate.

Apart from that it's hard to tell if their styles would go well together or not. Despite all the comparisons I always felt they were quite different writers, certainly in style, but maybe even more so in themes, or at least the way they work out their plots.
There is obviously far more sci-fi in Koontz, but even when he does supernatural (like, say, The Mask) it ends up feeling very different from King. King is a horrorwriter mostly, I would say - you can always tell that's where his heart is, even when he does other things. Koontz is a suspense writer influenced by different genres, like sci-fi, crime, horror, espionage, adventure, detective.

Also there is a strong undercurrent of religion in Koontz' books (catholicism) which he works into his plots in imaginative ways. King doesn't have that.

I would say the most common factor with both is that their books are about ordinary, everyday Americans getting caught up in or threatened by something unusual, out of the ordinary. But for me after that most of the similarities end.
 

Tiny

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Nov 25, 2009
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Wilmington DE, strange little place.
I love the Odd books themselves ...read them all...
but I dont like Odd himself very much,

strange, little ,pompous, stuck-up, "goodie 2-shoes", guy with strange , catholic ideas
about everything. (that's a lot of comma's)

I liked his first girlfriend much better then I liked him./
his first love...you guys know who I mean, I forget her name.

I dont think Ive ever enjoyed books sooo much when I dont like the main
character ...ITS.....VERY....Odd ...lol
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Spokane, WA
I hope you ENJOY it, it's a WONDERFUL book, but a HORRIBLE movie, someone truly BUTCHERED it when they put it on the big screen! :)
Yes, that is when Corey Haim was becoming a big star and the screenplay was written for him. It didn't work and flopped big time. I haven't seen it but have heard that the sequel, starring Marc Singer, is actually quite good. Anyone seen it?
 

KINGSMAN129

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Jun 30, 2013
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Yes, that is when Corey Haim was becoming a big star and the screenplay was written for him. It didn't work and flopped big time. I haven't seen it but have heard that the sequel, starring Marc Singer, is actually quite good. Anyone seen it?
I tried to watch the first one, but just couldn't get through it! It DISSAPOINTED me horribly simply because of how much I ADORED the book! Until NOW, I'd never even heard of a SEQUEL, but does it follow the movie or the book? :)
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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I love the Odd books themselves ...read them all...
but I dont like Odd himself very much,

strange, little ,pompous, stuck-up, "goodie 2-shoes", guy with strange , catholic ideas
about everything. (that's a lot of comma's)

I liked his first girlfriend much better then I liked him./
his first love...you guys know who I mean, I forget her name.

I dont think Ive ever enjoyed books sooo much when I dont like the main
character ...ITS.....VERY....Odd ...lol
...Stormy was her name, and I have to disagree about Odd's character...I find him intriguing and quite humorous...
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
I tried to watch the first one, but just couldn't get through it! It DISSAPOINTED me horribly simply because of how much I ADORED the book! Until NOW, I'd never even heard of a SEQUEL, but does it follow the movie or the book? :)
I haven't seen the sequel, but Singer is age appropriate for the role (not some pretty faced teen!), if it's even the same character.
 

SharonC

Eternal Members
Jul 9, 2007
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I tried to watch the first one, but just couldn't get through it! It DISSAPOINTED me horribly simply because of how much I ADORED the book! Until NOW, I'd never even heard of a SEQUEL, but does it follow the movie or the book? :)
This was re-made in 1990 with Marc Singer and Tracey Scoggins and was more faithful to the book version, as I remember. I believe it was made for tv, and is available on DVD, if you check online. Maybe on Amazon? It was much better than the Corey Haim version.