By: Dean Koontz
ISBN: 978-1542019927
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 07/19/2022
Format: Audiobook 🎧
Brilliance Audio
Narrator: Fajer Al-Kaisi
My Rating: 4 Stars
A group of strangers bound by terrifying synchronicity becomes humankind’s hope of survival in an exhilarating, twist-filled novel by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.
As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana until tragedy upended her life. Now thirty-four and living in Santa Fe with only misty memories of the past, she begins to receive pleas—by phone, through her TV, in her dreams: I am in a dark place, Jojo. Please come and help me. Heeding the disturbing appeals, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana, and to a strange childhood companion she had long forgotten.
She isn’t the only one drawn to the Montana farmstead. People from all walks of life have converged at the remote ranch. They are haunted, on the run, obsessed, and seeking answers to the same omniscient danger Joanna came to confront. All the while, on the outskirts of Rustling Willows, a madman lurks with a vision to save the future. Mass murder is the only way to see his frightening manifesto come to pass.
Through a bizarre twist of seemingly coincidental circumstances, a band of strangers now find themselves under Montana’s big dark sky. Their lives entwined, they face an encroaching horror. Unless they can defeat this threat, it will spell the end for humanity.
Praise
“A nonstop actioner with cosmic overtones painted in consistently broad strokes.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Another A-plus thriller from a writer on a serious winning streak.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“A twisty, mystifying, suspenseful, expansive and, ultimately, entertaining read.”
―CultureFly
My Review
A group of strangers bound by terrifying synchronicity becomes humankind’s hope of survival in a complex, multi-layered exhilarating, twisty-filled Stephen Kingish novel by the prolific bestselling talented author Dean Koontz in THE BIG DARK SKY.
A mysterious being with a plan that threatens all humanity and the disparate group of people summoned to stop it.
Told from the perspective of different characters in the third person, starting with the main character Joanna Chase. Joanna is one of several people who all converge on a ranch in Montana as she hears the voice of her long-dead mother calling her back to the place where she grew up.
An entire cast of diverse and strange and wacky characters. I liked Joanna Chase the best (Jojo). She grew up on the Rustling Willows ranch in Montana. She had a friend, Jimmy Two Eyes, with disabilities and physical deformities and non-verbal except with Jojo.
When she was nine years old, her parents died within two weeks, and she moved to New Mexico to live with her aunt. She then becomes a successful author and enjoys her solitude.
She must return to Montana.
Many characters will face their future—The ensemble cast includes Jimmy Two Eyes, Ganesh Patel, Colson Fielding, Ophelia Poole, Wyatt Rider, Kenny Deetle, Leigh Ann, and the AI intelligence, and Artimis Selene.
There is darkness, evil, and horror. A deranged killer, Asher Optime, stores his victims under an abandoned church and wants to rid the world of all humanity except himself.
At Rustling Willows Ranch, a group of disparate people fights for survival—their own and that of the entire humankind—against a mighty opponent unlike any other.
Ganesh Patel, the endearing man who holds the key to the mystery, is also intriguing.
Like many other Koontz works, The Big Dark Sky explores more metaphysical subjects like intelligence, compassion, and synchronicity. Crossing several genres, a mix of dystopia, fantasy, supernatural, sci-fi, horror, literary, and techno!
Many may wonder what I am doing reading this book, since I dislike supernatural, fantasy, sc-fil, horror, etc. However, this is Dean Koontz, and his writing is always spellbinding. Not a novel for the faint of heart. I knew this would not be a 5-star for me; however, I wanted to wait until it came out and purchased the audiobook.
The narrator, Fajer Al-Kaisi, gave an outstanding performance for all voices.
Classic Koontz, quirky and idiosyncratic, THE BIG DARK SKY is more for entertainment, but I would not recommend taking it too seriously. Koontz also references his own Jane Hawk and other literary sprinklings, and his writing is clever, lyrical, vivid, and captivating.
I wonder if Dean will bring over some of these characters in his new book, "The House at the End of the World," coming Jan 24, 2023? Soon no one on Earth will have a place to hide in this novel about fears known and unknown by #1 NYT bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: July 19, 2022
About the Author
International bestselling author Dean Koontz was only a senior in college when he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition. He has never stopped writing since. Koontz is the author of Quicksilver, Elsewhere, The Other Emily, Devoted, and seventy-nine New York Times bestsellers, fourteen of which were #1, including One Door Away from Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street. He’s been hailed by Rolling Stone as “America’s most popular suspense novelist,” and his books have been published in thirty-eight languages and have sold over five hundred million copies worldwide. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he now lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirits of their goldens Trixie and Anna. For more information, visit his website at www.deankoontz.com.
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