Well when we were at half price books

LindaS · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:27 am

a few weeks ago I wound up in the mystery fiction section.
I bought two Dean R Koontz books. He is good. I finished "Shattered" and started "Sole Survivor".

LisaTX · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 2:04 pm

He is my favorite author! I love all his books!

Tory · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:58 pm **Posts:** 5828

I'll be on the lookout for his books. The name is familiar but I don't think I've ever read any of his stuff.

Anna1111 · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:14 pm **Posts:** 8115

I only had one encounter with him, when a young family member asked to read one of his books. I opened a page at random, read it, and said "I wouldn't let you read this if you were 35!" (So, Tory, if you're 35 or younger, you do NOT have my permission! ; )

Tory · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:58 pm **Posts:** 5828

Sadly, I am way past 35. :shock:

... and I'm still not quite sure how that happened.

LisaTX · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:49 pm

I haven't read all of his books, there are so many of them. He is not a Christian author, although a lot of his books do have some spiritual content in them. My favorites are the Odd Thomas and Frankenstein series. He reminds me of a much cleaner version of Stephen King. I can't read Stephen King's books because they are so vulgar and crude and the language is so unnecessary and distracting. While Dean Koontz does have some bad words sprinkled throughout his books, I don't get the feeling that he puts it in there just for the sake of being vulgar. I have not come across anything in the books I have read that I think was in poor taste. Instead, I've been riveted and drawn in to the worlds he creates in his books. Never read a book in his genre with as much talent and taste as he has.

Anna1111 · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:14 pm **Posts:** 8115

I have two issues with his writing:

1) I think the entire horror genre is problematic - as it promotes a spirit of fear, which the Bible discourages. Often there is "dark" or "spooky" or gratuitously violent content in horror.

2) the one page I read in his book years ago was and extremely graphic depiction of a woman having an abortion - along with some incredibly crude language to describe body parts, s*x, human life, etc. (I have no clue which of his books I looked at)

I'm not a language prude- in fact, having spent a good portion of middle childhood in the company of a stepfather who had the most erudite vocabulary of profanity of anyone I have ever met, followed by 4 years in the military, well - let's say if I haven't heard it, it probably hasn't been said in English. And, language very seldom offends me unless it is disrespectful to God or cruel to humans. But, even at that threshhold, I found Koontz shocking.

I think that I vividly remember reading that one page 16 years later says something about its content.

LisaTX · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:36 pm

That sounds out of character for Koontz, but he's written so many books over such a long span of time, that I suppose it's not too surprising, but I would have to read it myself and see the context to comment on it. I'm sorry that was the sample you got of his writing. Doesn't sound like a good one, I'd probably be turned off, too. I will probably come across that book, I have a whole bunch I borrowed from my mom that I haven't read yet.

I love horror (though I wouldn't put Koontz in the horror category, probably more mystery/suspense)! I don't feel scared when I read his books. But I do like being scared by scary movies. I know they aren't reality, though, so I don't go around feeling scared. But horror isn't for everyone. I think you have to be just a little demented (I blame it on my family) to like it, lol. Most of my friends hate horror movies/books. Maybe I'm not the best person to even comment on this, lol. My favorite movies are zombie movies! :shock:

Anna1111 · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:14 pm **Posts:** 8115

Did someone say zombie movies? :lol:

Well, you may be right, Lisa - who knows?

My Mom always had a very strict "no scary movies" policy when we were kids - of course, we tried to argue about it, and when we were young adults, had to find out what we had missed.

But, now that I'm middle aged, I think she was brilliant 8-)

I noticed that my friends who had grown up watching scary movies tended to be more frightened of everyday things than those of us who hadn't.

For instance, when I drove cross-country by myself, several friends said they would be afraid to do that. And, an extreme case, when I led my officemates down a dark staircase to get out of our building, and had to both lead the way AND turn over my light source, because several of the MEN were afraid!

It could be that the two have nothing to do with each other, but I'm not sure that our subconscious mind always differentiates truth from fiction and sometimes we can be more influenced by fiction than we realize.

Tory · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:58 pm **Posts:** 5828

*I* watched so many movies growing up that my parents had no idea I was watching. There was no "you can't watch that" in my house. Now, I have such horrible dreams. I can't watch anything scary at all, and any creepy looking characters on tv.. forget it!!
My dc knows that I am this way and why.
As for books, I can tolerate things to a certian level but I still don't like scary stuff just because I'm afraid of those nightmares. I do tend to be more afraid in daily life than some people. I often wonder how a person can do that?? (like drive cross country, lol) when I'm afraid to even try it?
However, I'm working hard to get out of being so afraid. I've been driving by myself or with my dc out of state... I never thought I'd do that. My sister and I are making plans to go to Hawaii to visit a friend next year... I NEVER thought I'd ever consider flying, ever!
Perhaps there's still hope for this scaredycat, lol!

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