Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strange, exciting, and deeply appealing., February 21, 2001
When I was reading this book, I had contradicting thoughts about it. Sometimes I was extremely impressed, sometimes deeply disappointed. To get the worst out of the way, let me state the disappointing factors first: Dean Koontz needs to read 'The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes' and take a good look at the chapter labeled 'Don't Lecture Your Reader'! I cannot totally attack Koontz though, because sometimes the information he lingers on is important for the story, but for God's sake be brief because it disrupts the flow of events!Now this book is about a gifted young man who can see the evil presence lurking beneath a human disguise. This evil is a physical being - not something of spiritual nature - 'goblins' as he calls them. He stalks them, kills them, and he can also see the misery that they had brought over the earth. Like in all of Dean's books, the story is enhanced by several very real, very compelling characters. And as usual, you'll love and admire the characters. You'll be surprised too, because things will be turned upside down quite a few times, which is what makes this book exciting. I wouldn't say that it is particularly very scary. It is gripping, yes. Thrilling, yes. Even bizzarre. But not enough to classify it as horror. It can be slow at times, which is why it occured to me to give it 4 stars instead of 5, but the way it ended made it worthy of more than 5 stars. It takes a very emotional turn and suddenly you may find yourself so tuned in that time and place seize to exist. I was touched so deeply by this story, deeper than many of the other books I have read for him. Dean is also a great thinker. In a way, he carries a message in this book that is close to saying that he wished he could blame all the misery in the world on the 'goblins'. That we, humans, cannot be entirely blamed on the destruction of our world... wishful thinking of course, but an idea on which he built this book.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new species just under the skin of everyday people, December 22, 2006
Carl Stanfeuss was born with Twilight Eyes, a color his grandmother said foretold of psychic abilities. After murdering his uncle Denton at the tender age of seventeen, Carl flees Oregon, shedding his name to become Slim MacKenzie, and join up with the Sombra Brothers Carnival. Of course, it wasn't bad that he murdered his uncle ... because his uncle was one of Them. The goblins.
From his psychic abilities, Slim can see the piggish, doggish faces of the goblins hiding underneath the façade of normal humans. They live off the pain and suffering of others, gathering with glee at fires, accidents, shootings, and disasters.
Once with Sombra Brothers, Slim goes to work for concessionaire Rya Raines running the High-Striker, and falls in love with the icy beauty. Among the others he meets is enigmatic freak Joel Tuck (the most compelling character in the book), and after discovering both Joel and Rya can see the "goblins" also, they set a plan in motion to infiltrate one of the horrid monster's nests in the town of Yontsdown. Unsure if they can actually rid the world of the beasts, Slim and Rya plan to extract vengeance from them for the death of Jelly Jordan, one of their friends.
The book has an explosive culmination that won't leave you disappointed. The "goblins" are all too easy to imagine from Koontz's descriptions, and the depictions of carnival life well fleshed out without being overdone. Joel Tuck is my favorite character, Koontz describing the freak's appearance as "God having a bad day" or, worse, "fun with molding flesh".
Koontz doesn't usually write in first person, which makes this a unique novel among all the others he's done. Its also an earlier novel of his, written before he developed a 'Stephen King' predilection for 'verbal diarrhea', overwriting his stories to the point where prose overcame the actual story. 'Twilight Eyes' is an adventuresome novel with a unique storyline and well written enough to keep you up all night long. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Carnie war against the goblins, February 8, 2004
This is one of Koontz's best books. Although not my all time favourite of his work, this is a masterpiece and Koontz at his most brilliant. Other five star quality brilliant Koontz novels which you definitely have to buy as well are Watchers, Intensity, Night Chills and Mr Murder. In Twilight Eyes the setting takes place in the era of JFK's death and the prelude of the Vietnam war where a young man under the alias of Slim Mackenzie is fleeing authorities who want him for the murder of his uncle. Only Slim killed him for a reason, as Slim has the gift of Twilight Eyes that give him visions of the future and past as well as allow him to see the through the human disguises that the evil goblins are using to reap terror, murder and mayhem against the human race. His uncle was one of those goblins. Becoming a carnie and joining the nomadic Sombra Brothers Carnival is the only place he can safely hide. His boss the beautiful Rya is impressed with the way he gets every cent out of the marks, Jelly the manager of the carnival knows his faith in hiring him will pay off and the side show freaks and other carnies know he is a great worker and trustworthy guy. He only knows he has seen visions with Rya and Jelly both covered in blood and that the goblins have a major attack planned for the ferris wheel which he must stop. The war against the goblins will rage on unless he can work out how to stop them all. Sensational novel!
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