Darkness Under the Sun

I recently read the novella Darkness Under the Sun by Dean Koontz. I've long been interested in exposing myself to some literature by Koontz because he is constantly being compared to Stephen King. I am a conditional fan of King: some things I love, some things I hate, some things I just don't care about. After reading this novella by Koontz, I do not quite understand the similarity many people see between the two (besides the obvious fact that they are men with last names starting with the letter "K" who write in the same genre).

This novella was very easy to read. It was fast-paced and never ever stalled. This is a huge plus for me because I have a short attention span and I get distracted easily. I purchased this novella for my Kindle, so I read most of it in various hallways, waiting for my university classes to begin. The story, about a serial killer, was not the same tired cliche that surrounds most serial killers, but it wasn't anything astonishing either. Basically, this novella is an introduction into the characters that appear in Koontz's novel What the Night Knows. Most novellas that tie into novels are nothing more than marketing ploys, and that seems to be the case here. The story was much too tidy for my tastes. Things developed too easily. This entire book was a prop to get people to buy the actual book that Koontz spent time writing.

If you want a brief, light read with a bit of suspense and a minimal amount of horror, then maybe this is a good novella for you to read. I'd like to talk about plot, characters, and other such technical things, but there just wasn't much there to analyze. I'm sure if I took the time to actually read What the Night Knows, I would have a much more developed opinion, but alas, this novella did not leave me wanting more. It didn't grasp my emotions with enough intrigue to convince me that I want to continue investing time in this world. I wasn't gripped by any of the characters, especially the serial killer. The topic in general wasn't unique enough for me. However, the writing style was rather nice, so I'll probably try a different Dean Koontz book in the future.