Koontz at his best. (Fear Nothing - Dean Koontz)

Member Name: Dipsticks

Product:	Fear Nothing - Dean Koontz
Date:	03/11/08 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast-paced and original

Disadvantages: Not really.

'On the desk in my candlelit study, the telephone rang, and I knew that a terrible change was coming'.

The opening line of 'Fear Nothing' greets you with a heavy sense of foreboding which continues unceasingly throughout the novel. You join Chris Snow as he tries to prepare himself for the inevitable death of his Father. Chris lives in the night, and only the night. He suffers from a rare genetic disorder which means his skin and eyes cannot be exposed to sunlight. As you begin to learn how his life has unfolded in perpetual darkness you begin to see the light that he sees. In the people around him, in his dog, and in the small joys and freedoms that many would overlook. You cannot help but be drawn into his world, which is like our world, and yet different. Somehow deeper, more permanent and undeniably more mysterious.

This has to be one of the best Dean Koontz novels. He has created a world so convincing, so engaging and so utterly compelling that this is a 'read in one night' tale. The sense of suspense and foreboding is at times unbearable. The temptation to 'just find out' and skip to the end is compelling, but well worth resisting.

Few authors can create people and places that remain in your imagination for as long as these do. The themes of loss, loneliness, suffering and hope permeate this book to it's very core. And they are neither trivialised nor romanticised. This definitely deserves a place on any thriller lover's bookcase.

Summary: Superbly written and wonderfully imaginative.