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)

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.

okay, not his best work

The book starts slow, a lot of synonyms used at nauseum really slows the story down at first. The story picks up and becomes really interesting and starts to tighten up and speed up as the book progresses. The ending is rediculous. King and Koontz, masterfull storytellers, have of late seem to have lost the ability or have not put much effort into good endings.

was a bit too mushy for my taste

What did you love best about The Darkest Evening of the Year?

I loved the quirkiness of this book. Even the bad guys of this book were interesting in their own totally messed up way.

What did you like best about this story?

for me when reading sometimes one character really makes a story great. Hope was that character for me. the way she cleverly preservers in her precarious circumstances really caught me. in contrast other main characters seemed to be blessed with supernatural guidance-blessed with special foresight

Which scene was your favorite?

the potato salad scene. Hope is one special little girl.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

not really. while it was a good listen the book didn't capture my attention as completely as some of Koontz's other works.

great read but struggeled with the beginning

l enjoyed this book. love most dog books, but struggled with the beginning. almost gave it up, but glad I did not.

Another excellent take

I really enjoyed this take of the power of good, of love and dogs. It was a very spiritual story.