Door to December [Paperback]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1993

Six years ago, Laura McCaffrey's three-year-old daughter Melanie was kidnapped by Laura's estranged husband, Dylan, and seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. Now, Melanie has been found, a nine-year-old wandering the Los Angeles streets with blank eyes and a secret in her soul she will not or can not reveal. Dylan has been found too -- or at least his mangled remains. Melanie is home again. But can she ever truly be safe -- as the floodgates of terror open and the bloody torrent comes pouring through!? This book was originally published under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published pseudonymously in 1985, Koontz has revised this thriller portraying a pediatric psychiatrist's attempts to unravel the mental trauma suffered by her estranged nine-year-old daughter.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Dean Koontz was born into a very poor family and learned early on to escape into fiction. His novels have sold over 200 million copies worldwide and more than thirty have appeared on national and international bestseller lists. He lives in southern California with his wife, Gerda and a vivid imagination.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Headline Feature (April 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747237050
• ISBN-13: 978-0747237051
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 1.4 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,672,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania where I graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University). When I was a senior in college, I won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and have been writing ever since. My first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where I was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. During my first day on the job, I discovered that the previous occupier of my position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and I was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. I wrote nights and weekends, which I continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, my wife, Gerda, made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "and if you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never make it." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of my writing career. Gerda and I, along with our dog, Trixie, live in southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Door To December, March 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Door to December (Paperback)

The Door To December

Nathan Fuller 510 pages

The book, Door To December, is a suspenseful novel. Dean Koontz does a remarkable job in explaining the detailed events of the story. The story is about a little girl named Melanie who was kidnapped by her father at the age of three. During her time with her father, Melanie was subject to tortures beyond imagination. The story takes place the morning of three brutal murders at the house where Melanie and her father were residing. Melanie's mother, Laura, had just been notified of the homicides and had arrived at the house. There, a police officer named Dan Haldane informed her of what had happened. He also told her that a girl, around the age of nine, had been found wandering the streets nude and oblivious to world around. Melanie's mother told the officer to take her immediately to the place where she was after they were finished at the house. While there Melanie's mother identified her brutalized husband and toured the house until she came to the Gray Room. This room was filled with a sensory deprivation chamber, an electric chair, and other forms of torture. After the house, Laura went to the place where Melanie was and was reunited with her. One thing was wrong though, Melanie was in an autistic, almost catatonic state. From there, Laura, Dan, Melanie and a bodygaurd named Earl, search for the truth behind Melanie's lost past. Along the way, they are being chased by an invisible creature that has been committing all of these murders. They soon find that the answers to this troubling mystery lies within the unknown Door to December.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Above-Average Early Novel by Koontz, January 25, 2007

By 

Thriller Lover (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Door to December (Paperback)

THE DOOR TO DECEMBER, published in 1985, is one of the last books written by Dean Koontz under another name ("Richard Paige"). This psychological suspense novel was written a few years before Koontz became a major superstar in the book world. This book was re-released and updated in the 1990s under Koontz's own name; this re-released version is what you will find on the shelf.

This book is an enjoyable one. Koontz is fond of the topic of mind control, and there is a lot of interesting subject matter here about psychology and even the occult. My major criticism about this book is that it's too long and drags a bit in the middle. The big revelation toward the end is also somewhat predictable. Still, THE DOOR TO DECEMBER is well written and very suspenseful toward the end.

I would rank this novel in the top half of Koontz' body of work. Enjoyable, but not one of his best.

If you like this novel, you may want to try THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT, which deals with a somewhat similar theme. If you've never tried Koontz before, I would strongly recommend trying some of Koontz's best books first, such as WATCHERS, ODD THOMAS, PHANTOMS and INTENSITY.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting tale about telepathy, destroying a little girl..., September 21, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Door to December (Paperback)

This book was very good.. it was the best I have ever read byDean Koontz. Never have I read another book by him with the amount of suspense like _The Door to December_. I was basically bolted to my seat for 2 days while reading the 800 page book. This is also the fastest I have ever read a book over 500 pages. That is to say, I was so engrossed in the book that I was able to finish it in record time! The suspense and thrills of the action kept me reading until all hours of the day and night. Highly reccommended from this corner of the web. :)