LatinosUSA

By Olga Nuñez

Hi, all:

First of all, and before sharing my new review, I wanted to invite you to visit a post by one of my favourite authors and fellow bloggers, who has often featured here. She was kind enough to invite me to participate in a new series he was planning to feature, and although I haven’t been joining in many things recently, due to time constraints and other issues, the topic was so relevant to my current circumstances that I couldn’t let it pass. And it gave me a chance to think about important things as well.

Click here to check her post.

And now, the review. Today I’m sharing my review of a novel by a very popular author, but one that I hadn’t read before (and if I had, it was so long ago that I can’t remember it).

The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz

A group of strangers bound by terrifying synchronicity becomes humankind’s hope of survival in an exhilarating, twist-filled novel by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana until tragedy upended her life. Now thirty-four and living in Santa Fe with only misty memories of the past, she begins to receive pleas—by phone, through her TV, in her dreams: I am in a dark place, Jojo. Please come and help me. Heeding the disturbing appeals, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana, and to a strange childhood companion she had long forgotten.

She isn’t the only one drawn to the Montana farmstead. People from all walks of life have converged at the remote ranch. They are haunted, on the run, obsessed, and seeking answers to the same omniscient danger Joanna came to confront. All the while, on the outskirts of Rustling Willows, a madman lurks with a vision to save the future. Mass murder is the only way to see his frightening manifesto come to pass.

Through a bizarre twist of seemingly coincidental circumstances, a band of strangers now find themselves under Montana’s big dark sky. Their lives entwined, they face an encroaching horror. Unless they can defeat this threat, it will spell the end for humanity.

About the author:

Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirits of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.

My review:

This is the first novel by Dean Koontz I’ve read. I had this author on my list for quite a while, and when I saw this book on offer and read a sample, I was suitably intrigued.

The book is classed as dystopian science fiction, and it is a label that works. I can’t think of a better one, although there are elements of horror, thriller, speculative fiction, and more.

I cannot compare it with other novels by the author, and this is a pretty recent one (from 2022), in case you’re wondering. I have checked out some reviews, and many of the fans say this is not one of his best, but as I am new to him, all I can say is that he writes well and the story is interesting and even gripping in parts, although I found it a bit disconnected, the pacing somewhat irregular, and the ending slightly underwhelming (with an interesting hint of more menace to come).

This is a complex novel, with multiple narrators and points of view. If I had to choose, I’d say that what attracted me to the story was Joanna Chase (known as JoJo when she was a little girl), and the strange events she starts to experience. Things around her (cars, TV, phones) start to do pretty weird things, she receives strange messages, and she realises that she suffers from a very bizarre memory gap. Although she remembers with affection her childhood at a Montana ranch (despite two major tragedies that turned her into an orphan and totally changed her life), she discovers that there is an important part of that experience that has completely disappeared from her mind, and she cannot work out why. She is a writer, but the strange events have affected her writing, and she decides to investigate further.

As I said, there are many narrators, and although Joanna is pretty likeable and easy to identify with, there are others that are not. We have what appears to be a pretty deranged serial killer, convinced he is on a mission to improve the world. There is a private detective who is sent by the new owner of the ranch to investigate some bizarre happenings. There are some random people who are victims of somebody or something beyond usual understanding. There are members of a secret organization/government agency who are trying to figure out who is behind everything that is happening. There is a young boy on an excursion with his father who meets a woman whose sister died many years back, and they join forces to try and save themselves and the world from the maniac. There is an IT expert whose simple mission to check what is going on with the communications at the range gets him and his female friend into trouble. There is even an AI working for the same agency, trying to decide what she feels… And some local characters who are also affected by the events.

Although the story follows (roughly) a chronological order, there are moments akin to flashbacks and memories of things that have happened before, and there is a fair amount of speculation, discussions of interesting philosophical concepts, and a lot of talk of synchronicity, because people come together under pretty strange but auspicious circumstances.

The book touches upon a lot of themes: loss; megalomania; obsession; synchronicity: cults; conspiracy theories; history and its versions and interpretations; loss, grief; friendship; artificial intelligence, its ethics and possible roles; Carl Jung and his theories; technology and its uses; nature and the way humans have exploited it… Of course, I won’t mention everything and won’t go into a lot of detail to avoid spoilers.

The writing is beautifully descriptive at times, with gorgeous imagery of the lake, the natural environment, and some deep insights into the psychology of the characters and the way their brains work. Although the story is told in the third person (in the present tense for the ‘philosopher/killer’, in the past for all the rest of the characters), the author does a great job of putting us inside the minds of the characters and making us feel their unease, fear, doubts, confusion, and determination. Despite the seriousness of most of the themes, there are plenty of touches of humour, with references to other books by the author, popular culture, and comments about Agatha Christie and the way the characters all end up coming together for the big reveal.

This novel kept me reading as I wanted to know, at first, what the connection might be between all the characters, and later out of my curiosity to know how the author would solve the plot and bring the novel to a conclusion. As I have already mentioned, I wasn’t totally convinced by the pacing of the story or by the ending, but overall, I enjoyed the read, and it has convinced me that I should try to check out some of Koontz’s previous novels in the future.

Thanks to Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene, first of all, for her kindness, invitation, and for featuring me in her new series (she is looking for contributors, so feel free to get in touch with her!), thanks to the author for his book, and thanks to all of you for your continued support, for reading, liking, sharing, and for always being here. You’re stars. Keep smiling!