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Dean Koontz returns to some of his favorite themes in The Big Dark Sky, letting his obsessions, fears, and hopes all come through loud and clear. And in doing so creates one of his most effective and memorable novels in years. Although Koontz came close with his wonderful novel Devoted, published in 2020, The Big Dark Sky is a better, more nuanced book in many ways. It is also much darker.
The plot: A group of people from different backgrounds has converged at a remote ranch in Montana. Each person has a reason to go there, from facing painful childhood memories, to investigating a series of strange phenomena, to escaping from a seemingly omnipotent killer. Each one of them is haunted, seeking answers to questions they can no longer ignore. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the ranch, a disturbed visionary works on completing his manifesto of terror and mass murder, unaware that his fate is also connected to the ranch and the people headed there.
With echoes from some of his earlier books, especially Phantoms, Strangers, and Demon Seed, Koontz delivers a tale that is compelling, wondrous, and disturbing. It has a questioning, marveling quality and a nasty, darkly witty edge that have been missing from his books for years.
It isn't a perfect book, though, with a number of slow-going chapters near the beginning of the book, and a short slump around the middle section. But for the most part, the writing is crisp, the main concept fascinating, and the characters likable. And the villain is one of the most terrifying creations of Koontz's career. Highly recommended for fans and newcomers alike.
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Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.
Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast
