77 Shadow Street

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Enter the world of the Pendleton: The original owner became a recluse - and was rumored to be more than half mad - after his wife and two children were kidnapped in 1896 and never found. The second owner suffered a worse tragedy in 1935, when his house manager murdered him, his family, and the entire live-in staff....

Craftsmen and laborers working on renovations disappear or go mad....

For years, the Pendleton is a happy place, until a bad turn comes again....

Voices in unknown languages are heard in deserted rooms, everywhere and nowhere....

Disturbing shadows move along walls but have no source....

Images on security monitors show strange places that exist nowhere in the building or its grounds....

A young boy talks of an imaginary playmate - who turns out to be terrifyingly real....

A figure like a man but clearly inhuman is glimpsed in the courtyard gardens at night and in other locales, perhaps a hoaxer of some kind, seemingly oblivious of those who see it - until it suddenly takes an interest in one of them....

©2011 Dean Koontz (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Too draggy

I had to start over on this a few times before I finally got the gist of most of the story. It drug on in too many parts and I found myself lost because I forgot to listen.

Like The Taking set in an apartment building.

I remember liking this book a lot the first time I read it, but the 2nd time around left me feeling a bit disappointed. The performance is great. Peter Berkrot does a great job giving each character a unique voice. No complaints there.

As for the story, there were some excellent moments with thrills and chills, that reminded me of another Koontz book, The Taking. A lot of the imagery is very similar. Sadly I found there was also a lot of filler that just bogged the story down. Most of the characters were interesting, but I found myself skipping “The One” blurbs, and the scenes with a conspiracy theorist character, which were so unforgivingly boring and long, and added no real value too the story.

a little to complex

not his best to complex and to many characters to follow. Gard to follow in places

Dean Koontz at his best

This book should be mandatory listening and/or reading for everyone. On the surface, it's a creepy, but engaging story, with well developed characters and non-stop suspense. But it's so much more than that! Like all good stories, it entertains and passes along wisdom at the same time. Well worth a listen, or two, or as in my case, maybe 10 or more.

Pretty Good Koontz

There are a lot of characters in this novel, perhaps too many to develop with the best of Koontz excellence. Most of the characters are developed adequately, some better, some worse. This Koontz does not focus on pseudo-family and relationship (and dogs) as much as his best, yet I was more than satisfied. It was a bit difficult to determine the primary characters but those ended up interesting. What I like about Koontz (and not King) are the sentences ??? Koontz has many excellent sentences in this novel. It is not Koontz???s best work, but well above his average (which is pretty good). I like the semi-science and the semi-politics.

OK, but Not Dean Koontz's Best

Is there anything you would change about this book?

There was to many characters. It felt like most of the book was focus on introducing characters, but didn't really focus much on any of them. Thus, I didn't feel any emotional attachment to any of them and didn't have any sense of peril or emotions for them when they were endangered.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was to simple and felt rushed. It did not meet my expections of the grandeur of the events taking place in the Pendleton that lead up to the end.

Which scene was your favorite?

Winny and Iris hiding from one of those creapy monster things. And then Winny ultimately deciding he had to fight it to protect Iris. To me, Winny and Iris saved this book.

Do you think 77 Shadow Street needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No...I did not become invested in any of the characters and have no desire to revisit them.

Any additional comments?

I think Dean Koontz should write more about Crispin and his dog Harley from his Novella: "Moonlit Mild". One of the main reasons why I picked up 77 Shadow St was in the hopes that the story somehow interweave with "Moonlit Mild", since they are both in the same world, and brought Crispin and Harly back again, and I was greatly disapointed that 77 Shadows St had nothing to do with Moonlit Mind.

Different, but I enjoyed it!

I am totally mesmerized by anything and everything to do with time travel, so I really liked the premise of this story. I like to think that's Mr Koontz is also a Doctor Who fan based on the Exterminate reference. Nice!
There were a lot of characters to keep up with, and at times I was a little confused. But overall I liked it very much. Very fast paced during the second half of the story which I enjoyed & the narrator did well keeping the suspense level going.

Interesting story concept

in the beginning it seemed like a lot of charactors to keep track of but then it all comes together it does feel a bit underdeveloped but it was still a good listen

fear

you took my concerns and unscrambled them into cohesive and entertainment. You should make a movie

Wow!

Dean Koontz is one of the best storytellers I's ever read. I've listened to this book at least four times, and I only put it down because there were other books I wanted to get to. I love the way he combines the personal stories of the characters with the science fiction or supernatural elements of the stories. Simply great.