The Darkest Evening of the Year

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Kirsten Kairos

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

With each of his number-one New York Times best-sellers, Dean Koontz has displayed an unparalleled ability to entertain and enlighten listeners with novels that capture the essence of our times, even as they bring us to the edge of our seats. Now he delivers a heart-gripping tour de force he's been waiting years to write - at once a love story, a thrilling adventure, and a masterwork of suspense that redefines the boundaries of primal fear and of enduring devotion.

Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to the Southern California organization she founded to rescue abandoned and endangered golden retrievers. Among dog lovers, she's a legend for the risks she'll take to save an animal from abuse. Among her friends, Amy's heedless devotion is often cause for concern. To widower Brian McCarthy, whose commitment she can't allow herself to return, Amy's behavior is far more puzzling and hides a shattering secret.

No one is surprised when Amy risks her life to save Nickie, nor when she takes the female golden into her home. The bond between Amy and Nickie is immediate and uncanny. Even her two other goldens, Fred and Ethel, recognize Nickie as special, a natural alpha. But the instant joy Nickie brings is shadowed by a series of eerie incidents: An ominous stranger. A mysterious home invasion. And the unmistakable sense that someone is watching Amy's every move, and that, whoever it is, he's not alone.

Someone has come back to turn Amy into the desperate, hunted creature she's always been there to save. But now there's no one to save Amy and those she loves.

From its breathtaking opening scene to its shocking climax, The Darkest Evening of the Year is Dean Koontz at his finest.

©2007 Dean Koontz (P)2007 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With a magician's expertise, Koontz sets his multiple story lines spinning forward, jumping from one cliffhanger to the next....[T]his is a compulsively readable book that inexorably pulls the reader along." ( The Boston Globe)

Fantastic

This is the first audio book That I have listened to. The story seemed slow to me and hard to concentrate. I drive for a living and once I got to know the characters it was very hard to pause the audio to do my deliveries. Nikkie was a fantastic Dog. How a person can come up with a story with so many different characters then tie them all up at the end was beyond belief. Thank you for a wonderful story.
George

never a dull moment

kept my interest until the last work. Has alotof supernatural stuff in it and edge of your seatstuff. I appreciate any bood where the dog is made the hero he really is. you will not be disapointed in this one

Ahhh

I have read Lots and Lots of Dean Koontz books. This one was ok. It was a bit over done ever for Dean Koontz and the ending was realy far fetched. It is almost like it should have had a bad ending but it was forced a bit in the hole "Most be happy ending" of the Dean Koontz world.

I have liked alot of Koontz better.

Dean Koontz does it again

Absolutely loved this book. I found it very different from his other books. I think that was because at the center of the story there was a love story. However the dogs are always amazing in his books. Absolutely recommend this book!!!

If my dog could read...

Amateur authors are sometimes ridiculed for writing books about their mystery-solving cats, and these do tend to be pretty silly books. Yet Koontz writes with the same love and respect for dogs, and it works - kind of. This was a good book, not great, written in memory of the author's Golden, Trixie. Sweet, sentimental, but not his best work.

Very good

I really enjoyed this book. Yet another great book by Dean Koontz. I look foward to getting another and another in the future.

Confusing to me!

Bit of a struggle to finish.3 story lines that didn't really mesh for me until the very end. Good but not one of his best, IMO.

edge of my seat

there were times that made my heart and breathing race and other times i cried. few authors can tell a story that makes you feel like you're there. Dean Koontz is a true master of story telling

AWESOME BOOK.

GREAT BOOK! VERY TOUCHING AND HEART WARMING. ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE.
THE NARRATION WAS EXCELLENT!!! NEED MORE LIKE THIS.

Just okay

I’ve enjoyed Koontz’s books for decades but this one wasn’t very good.

The story was slow and often bogged down by tedious minutiae and meaningless detail.

While the plot was tied up at the end, the majority of the story felt random instead of building on information that led/showed the reader where it was heading.

The narrator was okay but the voice she gave to the lead woman childish and unintelligent.

I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I wouldn’t have finished it except I am recovering from surgery and have nothing else to do.