A pleasant surprise

Most sophisticated horror fans don't like Dean Koontz, saying that his books are mindless, badly written, and have no character development. But they don't look at his books as enjoyable, if cheesy, thrillers.

I actually really like his books. Of course they're embarrassingly written, and cheesy, and formulaic. (Look, for example, at the proliference of wise animals and protagonists who grew up in bad homes.) But when reading them, I look beyond all that, to the enjoyable stories and interesting ideas. A critical intelligence isn't a good thing to have if you want to enjoy reading Koontz.

"The Bad Place" is a surprisingly enjoyable read. Featuring characters for whom you have a little sympathy, a pretty good villain (in spite of his being practically the same one we see in "Dragon Tears", "Hideaway", and several others) with weird genetic mutations, and an intriguing plot, it's better than Koontz's usual stuff. He has written some tripe, but this is much better.

The main characters are a dewy-eyed young couple of private eyes, Bobby and Julie. Julie has a retarded brother, Thomas. Bobby and Julie get a client - Frank Pollard - to whom lots of bizarre things are happening...he falls asleep and disappears, experiences amnesia, is able to get valuable jewels and lots of money. But he's being stalked by a menacing villain, who's causing lots of trouble. All of this is pretty standard Koontz material. But what I like about this book is that it's surprisingly dark. There's a very bleak ending, and lots of really screwed-up stuff that I won't describe so as not to ruin it.

The book definitely deals with standard Koontz themes - bodily mutation, people on the run, psychic intelligence. But it treats them in a manner that makes them much more interesting than usual.

The characters here are also a lot better than the ones we usually see in Koontz's books. The two PIs are an endearing couple who we more-or-less care for, and a few other good characters. The problem is that the character of Frank Pollard isn't very well-developed - we're terrified and fascinated by what's happening to him, but we don't really care about him. The writing is okay, though. It's Koontz's usual style, but contains less of the manipulative devices that are so irritating in his books. The best part of the book by far is the plot. The plot is quick-moving, and keeps your attention.

All in all, "The Bad Place" isn't a great work of literature, but it's an entertaining book that's one of Koontz's better efforts. If you're looking for disposable entertainment that won't insult your intelligence, read it.