Western View

I have been lucky and fortunate enough over the past couple months to have been selected to receive Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of Dean Koontz’s “What the Night Knows” and Brian James Freeman’s “The Painted Darkness”. I am currently reading “The Painted Darkness” and will be posting a review once I have finished it. So far, it has been a decent read. I am highly anticipating “What the Night Knows” since Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I first discovered him in the early 90′s when I was a member of a book of the month club and received “The Bad Place” as a monthly selection. I was hooked from the start. I practically read it cover to cover and it left me wanting more, so I purchased “Cold Fire” next and also read it over the course of a few days. That summer, I ended up buying and reading all of the books that Koontz had published to date, which was 21 or 22 books I believe. I couldn’t get enough of his writing. Since then, every time he has published a new book, I have bought it as soon as it is released in paperback. My Dean Koontz collection now encompasses an entire bookcase next to a bookcase with all of my Stephen King books. I appreciate how much of a master Dean Koontz is with language. His stories are vivid and nearly life-like. Reading his books is like watching a movie in my head. I admit that I have had to pull out a dictionary once in a while, but I enjoy doing that as it helps me to expand my vocabulary as a writer. His work has inspired me to be better as a writer. So I simply cannot wait until “What the Night Knows” arrives.

Cheers!
~ Peter West