the other a malformed but powerful humanoid
creature who pursues the dog and his protectors.
Although there are hints of the supernatural
in Whispers(1980), which was also filmed, it is
more properly described as psychological suspense,
which is also the case with The Mask(1981), origi-
nally published as written by Owen West. Koontz’s
novels from this period were quieter and less ambi-
tious, and it seemed as though he was searching for
a new voice. Two somewhat stronger novels ap-
peared under the name Leigh Nichols. In The Eyes
of Darkness(1981) a woman grieving over her dead
child is startled when she begins receiving enig-
matic messages that might be from beyond the
grave. The House of Thunder(1982) is similarly
ambiguous, this time involving the survivor of a
hazing who loses several friends to mysterious fatal
accidents and then barely escapes her own death.
Koontz had by now acquired a wide following, and
he dropped most of his pseudonyms soon after-
ward, eventually reissuing most of the earlier nov-
els under his own name.
Phantoms(1983) is significantly better than
any of his previous book-length fiction, the story of
an age-old creature that lives deep beneath the
Earth and rising periodically to graze on surface
life. Its own personality is transformed when it en-
counters humans and acquires elements of our in-
telligence. The novel is relentlessly suspenseful,
but the recent film version stumbled early and
never regained its momentum. Darkfall(1984, also
published as Darkness Comes) is one of the few
Koontz novels to openly use supernatural ele-
ments, in this case a sorcerer who has literally
opened a gateway to hell. Strangers(1986) and
Lightning(1988), although marketed as horror, in-
volve peaceful alien visitors and a time traveler
from the future, but Twilight Eyes(1987) returns to
the supernatural. The protagonist in this case is
the only person in the world who can see the true
form of goblinlike creatures who are living secretly
among normal humans.
Shadowfires(1987), the last novel to appear
under the Leigh Nichols name, is a rationalized
werewolf story. The protagonist desperately flees
her abusive husband when he unwisely submits to
an experiment that alters his physical body.
Koontz uses this device even more effectively in
Midnight(1989), which involves several human
subjects whose transformation into shape-shifting
creatures has unforeseen and unpleasant psycho-
logical consequences. Servants of the Twilight
(1984, also published as Twilight) is a variation of
the devil’s child story. The protagonist helps a
woman and a young boy elude a religious cult
whose members are convinced the boy is the son
of Satan. He succeeds, only to discover that they
were right. The subsequent film was reasonably ef-
fective this time.
Cold Fire(1991) has a fascinating premise.
The heroic protagonist always seems to defeat evil
at a critical moment, but is he, in fact, somehow
willing his enemies into existence? Koontz explores
this theme again in Dragon Tears(1992), this time
with a villain who can apparently generate dupli-
cates of himself as allies. Hideaway(1992) is a
rather disappointing variation of the psychic link-
age plot, and Ticktock(1996) is an occasionally
amusing but very minor supernatural story that ac-
tually pokes fun at some genre conventions. Sev-
eral of Koontz’s novels from this point onward are
entirely nonfantastic, including the very effective
thriller Intensity(1996).
Koontz introduced Snow, a recurring charac-
ter who has a violent allergy to daylight, in Fear
Nothing(1998). When his father’s corpse disap-
pears, Snow investigates and uncovers a major bio-
genetic conspiracy. The entire story takes place
over the course of a single night. Snow returns in
Seize the Night(1999), discovering even stranger
aspects of the secret project when he investigates
the disappearance of several children. Although
From the Corner of His Eye(2000) is a disappoint-
ing chase story involving another psychic connec-
tion and some abstruse scientific theories, Koontz
is at the top of his form in The Face(2003), in
which a supernaturally enhanced serial killer stalks
the son of a famous actor. The young boy is one of
the author’s most fully realized characters. Odd
Thomas(2003) deals with a man who can literally
communicate with the dead and cleverly mixes
suspense with quiet humor. The Taking(2004) is
another story of alien invasion, a very bizarre vari-
ety in this case that includes animation of the
dead, but his most recent novel, Life Expectancy
(2004), employs the supernatural, in this case a196 Koontz, Dean R.