Novella Review: Darkness Under the Sun by Dean Koontz

Once upon a time, I was a huge Dean Koontz fan. I mean, he was up there with Stephen King in my opinion. That's how much I loved his books. Books like Darkfall, Twilight Eyes, Strangers and so many of his old classics, I pounded through them one after the other. Then, Mr. Koontz entered a phase where a lot of his books got a little too new-agey for my tastes and he sort of fell off my reading map for a while. But, I have to say I never did give him up completely. I still picked up a book or an audiobook of his from my local library just to check in with him to see how he's doing.

So, the other day I'm cruising around online and I discover this novella he's written, Darkness Under the Sun. I saw it was only $1.99 for the Kindle so I decided to give old Dean another whirl and man, am I glad I did!

Darkness Under the Sun is sort of a precursor to his novel, What the Night Knows. In this short tale, we are introduced to the horrific serial killer, Alton Turner Blackwood and this guy is one sick bastard - and one of Koontz's all-time best character creations! Alton befriends a young boy who is also disfigured and the two seem to share a bond. Unbeknownst to young Howie, Alton has some very sinister ideas, which will all too soon become realized.

Without giving too much away, Darkness Under the Sun is one of the very few stories I've read that actually works its way down your spine and into your gullet. This is a seriously creepy tale and one of Koontz's best. I couldn't stop reading this thing and once I was finished, needless to say, I went ahead and picked up What the Night Knows just to make sure Alton Turner Blackwood isn't seen in my neck of the woods. Yeah, he is that creepy. I give Darkness Under the Sun an enthusiastic ***** out of *****.

This is short story writing at its best and since Halloween is right around the corner, there's no better time to pick this one up, so do yourself a favor and order it by clicking the link below.