Watchers [Import] [Paperback]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Headline Review; New Ed edition (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755330811
• ISBN-13: 978-0755330812
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (588 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684,525 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

90 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous! May Be Addictive!, September 13, 2002

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watchers (Mass Market Paperback)

This is Dean Koontz at his finest. The man is first and foremost a storyteller par excellence, and "Watchers" reels you in just-like-that---zip! All of his favorite elements are in play: the hulking government-sponsored lab, the super dog, the pathetic monster, the burnt out protagonist and redemption. It may be a formula, but then so is the chef's masterpiece. When it's done right, it's a work of art. The dialogue is Koontzian stiff (the dog has the best lines), but with such strong characterizations, it is but of small moment.

Travis Connell is a man in bleak despair. He has lost everyone who meant anything to him and is convinced he is a jinx. With great serendipity he meets an extraordinary golden retriever and one of life's misfits, Nora Devon. The dog and Travis meet and mutually support one another in a wilderness area where something unknown is threatening them. They in turn meet the sheltered, totally repressed Nora and save her from a sexual predator who is insinuating himself into her life. The three are inexorably drawn to one another and each almost miraculously strengthens the others.

The story shifts among the trio, a workaholic NSA agent, and a particularly repellent professional hit man with a God complex. The hit man Vince is wonderfully rendered and, unfortunately for the reader, we understand all too well his skewed logic. Lemuel Johnson, the NSA agent, has too much personal baggage and sometimes retards the story. The golden retriever, subsequently named Einstein, is a perfect realization of a dog that has been genetically engineered for high intelligence. He thinks, he reasons, he communicates (no, he can't talk, thank God!), but he remains very much a dog with all the traits we human dog lovers treasure. Somehow the author keeps him from ever being cute or a circus wonder; he has dignity and gravitas.

This is a great, fast read that will leave you with something to think about and makes the reader face some moral ambiguities. Mr. Koontz flawlessly pushes all our buttons in this, possibly his best, novel.

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best You Can Get, January 19, 2000

By 

Donald Brickeen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watchers (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first novel I ever read written by Koontz, and to this day I must confess that it is still my favorite. Indeed, it may very well be my favorite book of all time.

The strength of the story, of course, lies with "Einstein", and his interaction with the other characters in the story. I'm not a dog lover by any stretch of the imagination, but I fell for this dog deeply. Koontz does a brilliant job of describing Einstein's feelings (read the book and this statment will make more sense, I assure you), so as you begin to view the dog as a human. It happens so gradually through the novel that you don't even realize it till it's too late.

The main theme of this book is LOYALTY. Not just with Einstein and the other characters, but more so with the humans he comes into contact with. I'm not sure if Koontz is a dog lover or not, but he sure made one out of me!

I have read this book more times than I care to mention, and each time I am still filled with the same emotions at the same incerpts on the same pages...This novel is indeed THAT powerful. Regardless of whether you enjoy pets or not, do yourself a favor, and read this novel.

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Koontz, September 10, 2001

By 

Brandon Massey (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watchers (Mass Market Paperback)

In WATCHERS, Dean Koontz weaves some of his most powerful, recurring themes into a story so compelling it demands to be read again--and again! Dangerous government experiments run amok; characters tortured by terrible childhoods and fears of losing those they love most; and the redemptive power of love and hope. These themes serve to give this novel an emotional punch that few thrillers can match these days.

Perhaps Koontz's greatest accomplishment with this novel is that the story succeeds on so many levels. Readers who appreciate finely-tuned phrases and scalpel-clean, lyrical prose can delight in the prowess of a master wordsmith. Other readers, seeking only a story that delivers an entertaining plot, will be riveted by the twists and turns and "Oh, My God" moments that this story delivers. Lastly, those readers who have followed Koontz's career for many years can read WATCHERS simply to appreciate the spectacular progression of this author's skill.

I've read WATCHERS many times, and every time, I pick up a technique that I can apply to my own suspense novels. Needless to say, this book has gained the "must read, then re-read" status on my personal reading list!