Cody | CodysBookshelf's Reviews > Night Chills

This book is old-school Dean Koontz, meaning it’s at least competent, and perhaps charming . . . in a cheesy, dated sort of way. Night Chills features a plot Koontz has rewritten ad nauseum: small town under siege by conspiracy. Include some dated technology and crass rape references and, yeah, ya got yo’ self a typical 1970s Koontzy thriller.

Which isn’t to say this book is bad — I gave it three stars, after all. This book is moody, and it was written before Koontz allowed himself to wallow in cheese and sentiment. The characters, while mostly forgettable, aren’t offensively bad. That’s a plus, given that Koontz is prone to writing some pretty wonky leads.

Where this novel fails most is, weirdly enough, the pacing. There’s just too build-up and too little payoff. I wanted to see more of the town; the story focuses entirely on a tight band of characters. I never got a “feel” for the town actually getting taken over via subliminal messaging. I think this one could have benefitted from being a hundred pages longer, but hey: as is, Night Chills doesn’t overstay its welcome.

A totally average Koontz story.