Customer Reviews

The Voice of the Night

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

The Voice of the Night, by Dean R. Koontz is the best book I have ever read. I couldn't put if down from the minute I picked it up and started reading it. If you want an example of a page turner, then here's one for you. The book is about a young fourteen year old boy, Colin, who moves to a new little town in the 1990's. Right when Colin moves there, he becomes bestfriends with a boy named Roy, who is about the same age. The are inseperable. The boys are together all of time. Roy has become Colin's new bestfriend, which is something Colin has never had. He had been the outcast in his old school, but now he is friends with the most popular boy in his class. Roy has a deep secret that he desperatly wants to share with Colin, but he first has to test Colin to see if he is trustworthy. When Roy finally feels that Colin is trusted enough, he tells him his awful secret. Roy kills people for the fun of it. And he wants Colin to help him kill someone to prove their friendship. Colin cant possibly kill someone, but he doesnt want to lose Colin as a friend. He decides that their friendship is not worth what Roy wants it to be, so he says 'no' to Roy's offer. This angers Roy and he is out to kill Colin. But in the end..... well, i guess i'll just have to let you read and find that out! This is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to ANYONE. It has just the right sequence of events to make you keep wanting to turn the pages and never stop. Which is what I love about this book. I will read it many times.

It's unfortunate that I could not put 20 stars down- that's what it deserves for being such an amazing novel. I first read this book 3 years ago and still pick it up and look at it (skim the pages and read my favorite parts) almost everyday. Although this book's premise does not fit my definition of "horror," it is still scary because it could actually happen and and because Koontz is able to get you to feel for both the characters (near the end of the book I was relatively empathetic to Roy because of some issues he had and still has) and therefore it makes the prospect of something happening to them (for the most part it's Colin you worry about) daunting. It's an incredibly exciting book, with action and subtle clues of the suspense that is to come and it also has psychological elements to it that also interest me because I am fascinated by psychology and such things. I love this book! It's one of my favorites and my favorite of his. Feel free to email me to talk about the book, any of his other books (or other authors and their books) or anything in general.

I'm surprised that this makes so many people's least favorites list. This was Koontz number 18 for me and it looks like I'm going to have to add it to my top ten favorites! It's more teenager oriented than his other books, much as The Funhouse was. It should be refreshing for anyone who doesn't like Koontz's heavy descriptions, as The Voice Of The Night has much more dialogue and is lighter on the descriptions and metaphors. It has a RL Stine rated R feel much as The Funhouse did.

Colin Jacobs is a shy, akward, nerdy fourteen year old boy who recently moved to town. His father is a beer-guzzling, wife-beating redneck and Colin lives alone with his mother who is always working and never has time for him, nor does she ever trust him. Colin's only friend is Roy Borden, also fourteen. Roy sometimes likes to talk about sick things, but Colin just assumes he's putting him on. When Roy reveals that he's killed not only animals, but people, Colin doesn't believe him. But when Colin tries to force him into helping him cause a massive disaster in town, Colin must make the most important descision of his life. If he refuses, Roy will kill him. If he goes along with it, he'll be responsible for several lives.

The book was pretty disturbing at times. Roy is a pretty messed up kid. It's his reasons for being a messed up kid, revealed at the end, that made me shed a tear. And it's much more than you may think. You'd never think you could feel sorry for this twisted boy who likes to torture, maim, and fascinates about rape, but you do.

I highly recommend The Voice Of The Night, along with: Intensity, The Door To December, Watchers, Whispers, Darkfall, Hideaway, Shadowfires, The Funhouse, Twilight Eyes, and Phantoms.

This Koontz book, like many, focuses on an isolated main character -- Colin -- and the challenges he must face. There is also the usual potential "good woman" (sometimes a love interest, sometimes a child, sometimes a mother or aunt) who may bring hope and light into the main character's life. I believe much of Koontz' success as a character is the focus on such loneliness and the hope we can find in such places.

The formula was less effective for me in The Voice of the Night because, although I was not one of the popular kids in school, I had some good friends and understanding parents. Not so with the 14-year Colin. He's had no real friends and his divorced parents are too self-absorbed to relate to him. He retreats into his love of horror/sci-fi books and films until he finally finds the friendship that has eluded him. Roy is the coolest and most popular guy at school and he befriends Colin. Indeed, they become "blood brothers." Unfortunately, Roy is evil. He is fascinated with death, has murdered before, and plans to keep on murdering. He has befriended Colin with the intent of seducing him into his evil games. As the seduction progresses, it is to Koontz' credit that he does not tip his hand on which way Colin will go until the proverbial moment of truth is at hand.

A good book but not Koontz's best because it will not have as wide appeal as his others. For those whose childhoods resemble Colins' more than mine, however, I suspect it could be very meaningful.

This book differs from Dean Koontz's previous work in that the plot ceases from jumping from one scene and character to another for around two hundred pages until all the characters meet up. To my mind this is one of the most positive aspects of the novel and a reason for choosing it over his other books. His novels in the past seem to repeatedly use this tired template and simply inject a new carbon-copy protagonist, a dog or a new supernatural theme. The plot was certainly compelling and I enjoyed the psychological twists, though I just couldn't believe that the characters were so young; surely Dean Koontz should have realised that such depth of actions and conversation were more attributable to late-teens? Another criticism would have to be the ludicrous title. A short mention of the protagonist's fear of the dark was all the author felt necessary to base it on and it appeared to come almost as an after-thought. I wondered if the author had implied a deeper meaning, maybe concerning the chase scene in the field of rusting cars, but this seems doubtful. I enjoyed reading Voice of the Night and it is by no means a poor suspense thriller. However, it is no classic and certainly does not deserve the unconditional praise lavished on it by many reviewers on this page.

This is Dean Koontz's best book,and the best book ever!It is about two kids named Colin and Roy.Colin is very shy,Roy is very popular.The book starts off with Roy asking Colin if he has ever killed anything.Colin says that the only thing he has killed are bugs.They go to a train station and Colin learns that Roy kills people.Colin thinks this is a joke,until Roy tries derailing a train.Colin stops him,but then Roy tries to kill him.Colin figures out a way to stop him,but then learns something very shocking about somethiing Roy did.You are going to have to find out for yourself.I would recommend this book to any horrror fan.

3.5 stars...

I really enjoyed this book; however, I had a hard time fully connecting with the protagonist (Colin). There are parts in the book where the kid just irritates me. Nonetheless, Koontz still delivers a pretty suspenseful book, and while the plot is not as intricate as many of Koontz's other books, it is still strong enough to keep you interested. This book also goes really fast, as there is alot of dialogue, and while it is not one of favorite books from the author, it is definitely worth a read...

So far I have read ten different dean koontz novels, but this one, The Voice of the Night, skyrockets above all others in my opinion. It had me flipping pages from beginning till end, and had me interested the entire time. It is about a young boy, Colin, with a harsh childhood (typical Dean Koontz style) that moves to a new city where he astoundingly becomes friends with the most popular guy in school. This friend, Roy, starts off with a twisted and disturbing personallity right from the very beginning when he first reveals his interest in death and the joy he feels when killing things such as bugs, lizards, and alarming enough... cats. Though killing cats isn't his biggest secret, and Colin will find himself caught in the middle of a very horrifying and very real struggle with his newest "blood-brother."

Novels like this truly delve into the mind of a young killer "on the rise". You get a chance to see the mind of a killer being formed. You get to see a psychopath in the making. It often starts in childhood and Roy is a perfect example. He would have grown up to have been the next Jeffrey Dahmer or something.

This book was more scary than just about anything for which Koontz is better known. I loved it more than Watchers, Whispers and Mr. Murder combined.

This story was truly ahead of its time. Written years before Columbine and various other outbreaks of "childhood" violence.

In retrospect, perhaps it can stand as a warning. Truth is truly stranger than fiction. But this episode of fiction is pretty doggone strange!

I was never much for books that used kids as the main characters, but this one was pretty good none the less. It only took a few days to read since there is a lot of dialog compared to most novels. As usual, Koontz does a good job at describing everything from the important details to the basic surroundings. It is obvious that he puts time into most everything he says. There does seem to be one typical downfall to a lot of his books though and that is his love of sexual and sometimes perverse images and situations. To a point, this is important to this story, but it seems almost like something uncontrollable with Koontz. It's like he HAS to put something in there just to make the book sexual at some point. If was just this story I could understand it since it is used to convey the morality of a character, but it's not. Just who is he pandering to anyway? That and the fact that he rarely manages to write a story without some kind of romance makes it seem like he is putting forth a lot of effort to include something for every type of reader. Overall, there are better Koontz books out there, but this one is still worth the time. Just be prepared for a bit of perversion.