| The Darkest Evening of the Year, Dean Koontz |
| Dean Koontz’s, The Darkest Evening of the Year, captures the scary truth of pathological killers that suffer no remorse for killing, and kill for no reason other than they can. Koontz presents a group of killers that kill each other and innocent victims on a whim. In addition to random killings, the killers in this story have developed a long term hatred for the protagonists.
Amy Ravenwood and Brian McCarthy seem to be two really nice folks that have met, and are building a life together. As they get to know each better, they discover they both encountered some really nasty people in their past that took advantage of their youth and innocence. Unbeknownst to Amy and Brian, their history has joined forces, and is coming for them.
The lead bad guys in this story are Moongirl and Harrow. Koontz describes Moongirl through Harrow’s eyes as, “The pent-up violence in Moongirl is like the megadeath condensed in the perfect sphere of plutonium in a nuclear weapon. When a blast is finally triggered, the explosion will be awesome.” Although Moongirl uses a knife on occasion, her favorite form of long lasting death uses the punishment of fire.
Moongirl promises Harrow that soon she will sacrifice her own daughter. Moongirl hates and despises her because the girl has Down’s syndrome, and has ruined Moongirl’s life. For ten years, Moongirl has tormented and abused her daughter that she calls Piggy. Harrow looks forward to the event. “Although Harrow is an imaginative man, his imagination fails him when he tries to envision the horrors that this woman will visit on her daughter before setting her afire. After ten years of unslaked thirst for infanticide and then parricide, Moongirl will surely make a memorable spectacle of Piggy’s final hours.” Does the reader ever witness the spectacle? Is Piggy saved? What horrors await this poor child?
At first Harrow appears as this guy just along for the ride that gets his jollies from Moongirl’s evilness and sex. Towards the middle of the book Harrow’s character develops into a diabolical mastermind that runs an international organized crime ring. Harrow serves as a very central character to the story, and provides for the suspense, orchestrating the events aimed at bringing ruination to Amy and Brian.
An unknown power or spiritual force befriends the duo, and manifests itself as a Golden Retriever, Nickie. An underlying theme throughout the story describes the love and devotion exhibited by Golden Retrievers. From the jacket cover, the reviewer believes that Koontz recently lost his Golden Retriever, Trixie, and the story provides a loving memorial to her. Is this spiritual force greater than the evil force of Moongirl and Harrow? Can Amy and Brian be saved?
Koontz writes a marvelous story that promises evil and nasty things to come. He keeps you perched on the edge of your seat, ready for the next fire to start or painful event to happen, and you hope it doesn’t. The Darkest Evening of the Year provides a good story, and maintains you interest. A good book for an airplane ride or a lazy Sunday afternoon.
BGS 5/14/2008
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