Krishna
We have definitely reviewed some of this authors book before. For a sample, see Intensity, What The Night Knows or Velocity.
Earl Brandon the “senator” (he really was a senator before being forced to resign in disgrace) lives in an exclusive building and Norman Fixxer is the concierge there. Earl does not trust him. When he gets into the elevator to go back to his house, the elevator plunges to non existent ten floors below ground level and unspeakable horror confronts him when the elevator finally comes to a stop ‘ten floors’ below.
Devon Murphy is on guard duty and he watches the tenant go into the elevators. And something strange happens where he loses site of the senator suddenly.
Bailey Hawkes, an investment banker, is swimming in the pool on Friday night after a tense day’s work when he sees another form underwater.
Silas Kinsley, a retired attorney feels the rumble in the walls of his apartment at the Pendleton as well. He is an investment banker and he even sees a slithery, sinuous shape in the window. In his investigations, he discovers that horrific events have happened in Pendleton throughout its history in a frequency of every 38 years. One is due now.
Twyla Trahern, a singer, lives in an apartment with her daughter. She is a single mom. Her son Willie is adorable, precocious and self doubting.
Mickey Dime is a killer who killed Jerry, who is his brother.
The sisters who live with two cats (Edna and ??) are stumped when the housekeeper says she saw ‘the devil in the kitchen’. She describes a smoke-like form whizzing past her and solidifying into something horrible.
We also learn that every 38 years a portal opens to this world and the inhabitants of the site where Pendleton is situated pay a very heavy price.
Meanwhile security chief Logan goes to investigate the Senator’s apartment. Not only does he find the Senator inexplicably missing (he has nowhere to go from the elevator but to his apartment or out through the east side to his garage but his car was still there) and had not even slept in but suddenly has visions of the apartment transformed into a dying and decaying structure. He is then assaulted by a room full of mushroom like appendages which seem to release spores in a closed room.
Sparkle Sykes is a diva in another apartment. She is scared of thunderstorms too. She lives with her autistic child, Iris. She meets a spider-like creature.
Silas meets an old contractor in Pendleton who also, several years ago, experienced a hallucinatory experience of a spider like creature talking to him in the voice of an employee who was working late. After this man left, that employee was never seen again.
In the meanwhile the maid who saw ‘Satan’ goes back to her apartment which is also in Pendleton at a lower floor (given to her by Cupp sisters to help) and she is attacked by a vile creature which spews a vile liquid into her.
Vernon Klick, an evil blackmailer with a huge grouse against everyone, is collecting evidence among the residents for a scandalous book and website that will make him a millionaire.
Logan escapes last minute from the spore-like thing and the mansion seems to flash back and forth to both an earlier century decoration (with people of the original Pendleton family) and some weird alien landscape.
My problem with this author is that his imagination is not logical (within the illogical assumptions that horror writers make) but goes fast and loose. Stephen King would not write a novel like this where random mutations appear for no reason at all. Dean Koontz has an excellent turns of phrase and his prose is very enjoyable but the ‘steel’ in the plots are missing many times.
Moving on, Silas knows that there is something terribly wrong with the building but stays, knowingly risking his life to save the others.
When Twyla and Willie team up with Sparkle and Iris. They also experience weird phenomena.
More characters follow : There is Fielding Udell and there is also a man paranoid about shadowy people (The Ruling Elite) controlling the earth and going to extreme lengths to stay away from mind numbing substances (cola for example).
After wrapping his dead brother in a rug, Micky runs down to kill the security guard. But Silas finds him out and has seen him, while hiding. Before he can dispose of the bodies, a blue light erupts. By this time you are tired of the author describing the same theme of transformations, however well he dresses them up with words. The story seems to stagnate fully. Then there are a morning radio couple, sitting in a restaurant across from Pendleton and gossiping about all the inhabitants there. (Yawn…)
The recurring themes of a brave woman (in this book, not a man as in other books) supporting a person with a disability (autism) and a precocious kid (Winny) going through adult stuff is all there. Which is why, in addition to the aimless plot, it feels like re-reading his many earlier books. (Another yawn…)
It has its interesting moments, the description of Sally’s transformation is great. However the explanation (I prefer for you to find out by reading because that is a major twist) is a major cop out and rings hollow for anyone who even knows elementary biology.
However, there are some interesting moments in the story and a lot of folks do not make it to the end. Nice storytelling style, weak premise and weak plot.
However the descriptions are good. The explanations of pseudo science are good except for their implausibility, and the story grows on you.
There are some really frightening scenes where Winny and Iris get lose and Winny tries to be brave and ‘do the right thing’.
Towards the end the pace accelerates and there are some genuinely Koontz moments where you cannot turn the pages fast enough. The ending is spectacular.
No, I have not forgotten the gripes: they are still true but this book has an interesting premise and great narration that almost makes up for it.
7/10
– – Krishna (August 2019)