The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a great day.

You would think living near the North Carolina coast, where millions of people flock to for their annual vacations, that I would think of nothing else.  No, I always have to be the oddball.  I have been incredibly homesick lately.  Hubby and I have even considered moving there.  Unfortunately, although he was willing, the property taxes and school taxes for upstate New York are terrifying! I don't mean cute little kid dressed as any political figure on Halloween scary.  I mean a girl, usually with big boobs, in baby doll pajamas (for no reason) and high heels, in a haunted house with a serial killer chasing her, with all phone lines cut, and the lights go out... terrifying.  Hubby was surprisingly into the idea of fall spent wandering the pumpkin farms, the cider mill, high school football games and stunning leaves.  I even had him primed for snow filled Christmases.  Darn, I don't think I can convince him to drive ten hours to pick apples and see fall leaves.

I recently read The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz.  This is the story of Joanna Chase who grew up on a ranch in Montana.  She starts getting bizarre phone calls and tv broadcasts telling her to go to her childhood home, the theme of returning home invades her dreams as well.  Unable to resist, Joanna heads home determined to see a childhood friend still in the area and find out what is going on.  However, Joanna isn't the only one going to Montana as several other people have been implored for one reason or another to converge at her childhood home. All find themselves in danger as there is a madman nearby, determined to clean the planet by killing everyone, beginning with them.

I don't know why but I never look forward to a Dean Koontz book like I do others.  I really should though, as I can't remember ever being let down by one of his stories.  Koontz books are rarely about what I think they will be, are usually a bit kooky, always feature great writing, and never fail to keep me entertained.  What else could you want?  The Big Dark Sky will have you mesmerized until the end. 

Oh, one more thing.  Amazon currently has this book rated 4.5 stars.  I tell you that so you'll know and NOT be tempted to read any of the reviews.  Many of them mention topics revealed in the book, making them spoilers for the many twists.

Quicksilver by Dean Koontz

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a great day.

Usually, I ramble on about my sisters or housework.  Today I want to address my husband.  Yes, I've told you about him before, how he is such a prince.  Ahhh, now let me tell you about the other side.  If we go to a restaurant, he barely says a word.  We sit eating it utter silence like two people on a terribly awkward first date.  However, if you have something you want to watch on tv, perhaps a long movie you have hours invested in, you can count on my husband to come parading in during the last ten minutes.  It's right when the guy is about to tell the girl he loves her and there is the big kiss.  Or you've watched 85 people killed Agatha Christie style on the remote island and you're about to learn who the killer is, THAT boys and girls is when my husband wants to chat.  Not only chat, he wants to stand squarely in front of the screen so I am denied the flowery wedding proposal or the bad guy falling off a cliff.  AND, if he turns around and sees some part of the movie, he instantly has to know who each person is and what has happened.  Honey, I've been watching this complicated who done-it, turned Radio City Rockettes show that has blossomed into a Brady Bunch reunion for hours... please don't ask me to explain.  Just thinking about it is making me roll my eyes like a teenager with an attitude. I'm convinced he is a Marvel superhero, Chatty Carl, ready to leave you sitting silently in a restaurant or voice bombing your movie ending in a single bound.  Yup, that's my punkin.

I recently read Quicksilver by Dean Koontz.  This is the story of a baby left abandoned on the middle of a highway.  He's taken to an orphanage but sadly never adopted.  We are following him now that he is out of high school and has a job as a writer, telling people about the state of Arizona.  For some reason I put this book to the back of my "read stack."  Something about it just didn't appeal to me.  Feeling obligated since I spent good money on it, I started to read.  Oh my gosh, this young man discovers he possesses some sort of magnetism.  Not like spoons go flying, sticking to his forehead.  He can be out driving and will be pulled to something for an unknown reason.  In the beginning he is pulled to an old building where he discovers a valuable gold coin.  The story really takes off.  It holds your interest the whole way through.  If you're thinking Arizona, dessert, dry, maybe dry story, then stop, because you are wrong. This story is surprising and went to places I had no idea were coming.

The reading is easy with short chapters often ending with a revelation.  This book is fun, and Koontz has some cute little sarcastic zingers added for good measure. 

Don't be like me, pull it to the front of the class, I promise it isn't the dunce.

ps.  hubby is now pouting