As I get ready to take a trip and close down my computer for over a week (gulp!), as my last act I want to pass on a very special and unexpected find of a book to you!

• WATCHERS
• by Dean Koontz
• [rated by PBS readers as #79]
• 603 Pages

6/28/20 – FIRST DAY, 65 PAGES IN

Well, well, well… Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water…

I was able to get my hands on two of the titles I picked and it seemed to me that I would read the other one. But I kept holding this one and looking at the thousands of great reviews up front in the paperback. You know, not just enough reviews to wet your appetite. This is the kind of book where they put tens and hundreds of great reviews because it is that well thought of.

It seemed like fun to read an opus of which usually stuffy reviewers said over and over again that they could not put this thing down. Besides, I reasoned, part of this process was to read writers that I had never read before and probably would never have without this. Dean Koontz was certainly a name that I had always heard and seen, but I had no idea what his writing was like. What he a military guy? Or what?

Once I picked Watchers, I asked my girl group that meets virtually on Saturday nights if any of them had read Koontz. There are some heavy readers in that bunch. But no one had. Then my friend Maureen offered that she thought she might have read one once. When I asked her what if anything she remembered about it, she said, “I think it was really creepy.” That made sense to me. Just reading the summary of this book creeped me out.

Then I asked my husband if he had read any Koontz. As a professional musician, he had lived a lot of his life in airports. He allowed that there were a small handful of writers that were in every airport shop, authors that were bought, read and handed off to the drummer… We thought of Tom Clancy, Lee Child, this one, that one and Koontz. He figured that he had probably read one but couldn’t remember.

So, while mine wasn’t terribly encouraging research, it sort of served to make me even more curious. I picked up Watchers and started the read.

The man knows how to write. Let’s begin with that. The reason I put that quote from Jaws at the top of this entry is that the movie’s two note menacing score line could be playing behind this whole story. Just the silent pulse of it… Koontz takes you to places in very few pages that make you scared and nervous and completely addicted. And yet, his touch is light.

I admired that, when he introduced his characters, one was a hired assassin. Clearly a wacky guy who would kill anyway just for fun, he loved his job. You read about one of the killings where he hurt this woman. Yet it is curiously told without trying to gross you out with details. Every word counts – no self indulgence. He is spinning his yarn and he is in charge of just how much he gives away and when he will be giving it.

I admire the mastery. I especially admire that I read for the first time in a long time without checking to see what page I was on while doing so. This baby is 600 pages but I think it will be a quick read. And one that, I imagine, I will be passing on to others.

That’s what I think after 65 pages. Now let’s see how wrong I can be!

JUNE 30, 2020 – 150 PAGES IN

Okay, so now we’re cooking with gas! Watchers is like a steam locomotive racing at top speed! I’m not only a quarter of the way through a 600-page book in two days; I’m also thinking about it whenever I’m not reading it. Showed up in my dreams last night! It has been SO LONG since I’ve felt this involved in a book. It truly feels like a privilege.

I don’t want to give it away and I’m conscious that the brief outline I give you might not seem as good as it really is….

Imagine that a monster that will kill anyone in its way has escaped from a detention-like center. Since no one except the scientists ever knew of its existence, no one is made aware of this escape. We watch it kill as it heads toward…two people and a dog. Three beings that you would instantly protect any way you could. Scary? Of course. You love these people and this dog! and the suspense is so thick that it reaches up into your throat.

Okay, I see you, friend. You read the above paragraph and said this isn’t for me! But it is.

Can’t help this reflection. This guy, Dean Koontz, is a huge best selling author. There is a reason why certain writers are bestsellers. Usually, it’s because they are that good. I mean, if someone writes sappy romances, if you’re reading the top selling author in sappy romances, there’s a reason why they are the top selling author in that genre! It always feels good to experience being in the hands of a good writer

The creepiness is his to brandish when he wants to. But, like Crichton, he is a master storyteller. Fantastic plot and the unfolding of it. Fantastic characters that are unique and clear. The build and the suspense… This man knows how to write this and what fun!

I confess I knew nothing about Koontz. I thought he was a military guy but then I realized I had him mixed up with Clive Cussler, another big airport seller. I probably won’t ever read a Cussler, but I might well read more than one of Koontz. I knew nothing about him and feel so grateful to this project for the chance to be in his capable hands!

JULY 29, 2020 – 400 PAGES IN

So far, this book has been revelatory to me. I already mentioned that I was never drawn to a Dean Koontz book in my life and most likely would never have read one.

And more would be the pity. That would have been my distinct loss. I’m keenly aware that all tastes differ and that I shouldn’t come up with sweeping generalizations about a writer as prolific as Koontz after reading just one of his books. Certainly I can’t speak for the direction that his writing goes beyond the scope of this book. What is merely creepy here might go somewhere I don’t want to go, if you catch my drift. Current events in the world already have me close to throwing up, I don’t need more to push me in that direction.

But.

You know the feeling when you bite into something and it suddenly fills your mouth with flavors and layers and depth and sheer class? And you know that, in tasting that thing, you have put yourself in the hands of a master?

Reading this book feels like that to me. Watchers has elements that are in most of what I read, but here, they are done better. Quite a bit better. This isn’t dessert: this is mousse handwhipped by a three star chef.

The bones of this book astound me. Starting with pacing. Even my usual books that I really like that rely on pacing have little dips here and there. You forgive those dips because you like what is there in the main. You can’t imagine how you wouldn’t have a dip here or there. You tell yourself that that’s just real life!

For instance, when a new character is described. Sure, you can do it long or short and of course, you need to do it. And yeah, the action stops for a bit. That’s cool.

But Koontz sails in a different author boat than most. The pace is interesting, involving, doesn’t pull back or need to – every page worth reading. It feels like you are reading this amazing suspense novel and also being taught by a master teacher about how to write a suspense novel at the same time.

Pacing is great, characters all involving and worthy of rooting for. No one perfect. Mystery lurks around the corner. It lurks so successfully that you don’t need any unnecessary drama added. Besides, as a master teacher and writer, he set up all the elements perfectly at the start. Tense from the start and heart-filled from the start.

Since this book revolves in part around the love story of a man, a woman and a very special dog, I know that I’m going to have to see what happens to the dog before I can specifically recommend it to some of my sensitive dog friends. I’ll be pissed if the dog dies too, but whatever happens, I’m in for the ride.

One last element that might go pretty far in explaining why Koontz is such a big seller…. For someone as flighty recently as I have been – it never takes me more than a paragraph to know where I am in this story and where I left off. That, for me right now, is a full fledged miracle. There aren’t a million characters. There are around six – and only three of those matter.

At least till the end of this book and most likely beyond, I am a devoted Koontz reader and fan.

8/16/30 – DONE.

Well. What can I say? Never again will I sit by and let anyone diss Dean Koontz. Ever. Well, okay, that has never happened and probably won’t ever happen. But if it does, I’ll be prepared!

In his afterward to the book, Koontz says that even if he is still writing when he wears pajamas and drools all the time, he will still be receiving comments about this particular book. It is clearly his masterpiece. People who haven’t read any of his other stuff, like me, have read this. And any one who reads any of his stuff has quickly found this one.

I loved Monte Cristo. I’ve been moved by many of these books. And it’s stupid to pick a favorite while I’ve only read 20 of these (and especially when my first and second favorite books of all time are still on this list for me to read again!).

But I loved this! A 600-page book in which you are in solid suspense the whole time. Characters that you care about more than almost any characters you have read about in your adult life.

Superbly written and amazingly sparse, with a through line that stays with you when the book is in your hands and after you close the pages for good, this book will stay in your mind and heart.

I’m so grateful that this project brought this book to me. It was so good that I’m nervous about the next one. Seems like I’m due for a dud!