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Matthew's Reviews > The Taking
The Taking
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Matthew's review
bookshelves: dean-koontz, 2020, audio, library, horror, mystery, supernatural, sci-fi, monsters, least-favorite
Sep 04, 2020
bookshelves: dean-koontz, 2020, audio, library, horror, mystery, supernatural, sci-fi, monsters, least-favorite
2 to 2.5 stars
I find that about 1 in every 3 Koontz books does not click with me. I can’t think of another author where I’ve Ioved so many of their books that I have tried, but also don’t care for so many of their books that I have tried.
The Taking has an interesting premise and some of the gruesome descriptions and suspenseful action scenes are pretty good, but overall the book just did not work for me. And, the flow of the narrative was stilted so that each transition was somewhat jolting and confusing. Often there really was no explanation for what was happening other than it seemed like it was the thing to do.
And, while I know Koontz loves his dogs, this was another one where I felt like he forced them into the narrative. He has had some where they made perfect main characters, but this one just felt like “I love dogs � deal with it!� Maybe this is an aspect that will not bother you, but it is something that gets kind of old for me and my experience with Koontz.
Finally, the resolution was somewhat intriguing, and it probably saved a half a star on this rating. I was glad it was, because the climax was kind of blah!
Of course, this is a must read for Koontz completists. But otherwise I don’t really recommend this Koontz to you. Instead try Lightning, Hideaway, or, if the dog thing really does intrigue you, Watchers.
Side note on audiobook: I did not much care for Ariadne Meyers as the narrator. Just not quite as smooth as some of the other narrators I have listened to and when she tried to give voices to the characters it ended up sounding kind of silly.
I find that about 1 in every 3 Koontz books does not click with me. I can’t think of another author where I’ve Ioved so many of their books that I have tried, but also don’t care for so many of their books that I have tried.
The Taking has an interesting premise and some of the gruesome descriptions and suspenseful action scenes are pretty good, but overall the book just did not work for me. And, the flow of the narrative was stilted so that each transition was somewhat jolting and confusing. Often there really was no explanation for what was happening other than it seemed like it was the thing to do.
And, while I know Koontz loves his dogs, this was another one where I felt like he forced them into the narrative. He has had some where they made perfect main characters, but this one just felt like “I love dogs � deal with it!� Maybe this is an aspect that will not bother you, but it is something that gets kind of old for me and my experience with Koontz.
Finally, the resolution was somewhat intriguing, and it probably saved a half a star on this rating. I was glad it was, because the climax was kind of blah!
Of course, this is a must read for Koontz completists. But otherwise I don’t really recommend this Koontz to you. Instead try Lightning, Hideaway, or, if the dog thing really does intrigue you, Watchers.
Side note on audiobook: I did not much care for Ariadne Meyers as the narrator. Just not quite as smooth as some of the other narrators I have listened to and when she tried to give voices to the characters it ended up sounding kind of silly.
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Reading Progress
January 8, 2013
– Shelved
September 13, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
dean-koontz
August 30, 2020
–
Started Reading
August 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
2020
August 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
audio
August 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
library
August 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
horror
August 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
mystery
August 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
supernatural
September 3, 2020
–
Finished Reading
September 4, 2020
– Shelved as:
sci-fi
September 4, 2020
– Shelved as:
monsters
September 4, 2020
– Shelved as:
least-favorite
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Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows�
(last edited Sep 04, 2020 10:31AM)
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Sep 04, 2020 10:31AM
So when I was younger I read a lot of Stephen King, and because of this people used to give me a lot of used Dean Koontz books which I still have. But I was so unimpressed by the one I read that I’ve never picked one up again.
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("I find that about 1 in every 3 Koontz books does not click with me" ) - same here 👍👍
Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows� wrote: "So when I was younger I read a lot of Stephen King, and because of this people used to give me a lot of used Dean Koontz books which I still have. But I was so unimpressed by the one I read that I�..."Do you remember which you tried? There are some great ones, but randomly picking one of his and hoping for a winner is like hoping to walk through an unmaintained dog park with your shoes unscathed!
Matthew wrote: "Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows� wrote: "So when I was younger I read a lot of Stephen King, and because of this people used to give me a lot of used Dean Koontz books which I still have. ..."It was Midnight. And a lot of my friends gave it 4 and 5 stars but I just saw trope after trope after trope. I think I had maybe read or started to read something by him when I was younger but I don’t remember it. I was thinking I would try Odd Thomas since it seems distant from the “class B movie world domination technology is baaad� themes I hated about the former
Nels wrote: "("I find that about 1 in every 3 Koontz books does not click with me" ) - same here 👍👍"I feel like I have encountered several people who feel this way - we are not alone! :)
.... most of his early work (pre-Toupee') were some of his best works. I think the toupee smothered his great ideas. Though, Frankenstein was actually pretty good.
Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows� wrote: "It was Midnight. And a lot of my friends gave it 4 and 5 stars but I just saw trope after trope after trope. I think I had maybe read or started to read something by him when I was younger but I don’t remember it. I was thinking I would try Odd Thomas since it seems distant from the “class B movie world domination technology is baaad� themes I hated about the former"Oh no! Midnight is one I have wanted to read for years! Now, I dunno - I will approach with caution.
The Odd Thomas series is okay. It has some of my favorite and least favorite Koontz. I haven't quite finished the whole thing yet - probably because I am worried if the next will be one of the good or one of the bad . . .
Matthew wrote: "Jess ❈Harbinger of Blood-Soaked Rainbows� wrote: "It was Midnight. And a lot of my friends gave it 4 and 5 stars but I just saw trope after trope after trope. I think I had maybe read or started to..."A lot of my friends enjoyed Midnight. I will say that I enjoyed the theme of it very much but the way he wrote it came across as very Class B horror movie.
Alondra wrote: ".... most of his early work (pre-Toupee') were some of his best works. I think the toupee smothered his great ideas. Though, Frankenstein was actually pretty good."Ha! I like that! I will now think of Koontz as pre and post toupee!
I did like the Frankenstein series. Jane Hawk was good, too.
Lisa wrote: "I quit buying Koontz maybe 15 years ago. I did mostly like his Jane whatever series. Never enough to make me want to read anything else. They were free on Netgalley. The Door to December. That's th..."I definitely enjoy trying his books from time to time, but I have learned to accept the occasional disappointment. Even Butt Reynolds had a few stinker movies! 😉😄😄😄🤣🤣🤣
I really have not thought much about his appearance and denial of aging until the comments on this review! 😁
Fluke by Herbert. I’m not a huge fan of dogs but the movie fried me to tears on one occasion. I haven’t read the book.
Alondra wrote: "Yeah, its the little things...."Always! 🤣🤣🤣
Beartla O Conghaile wrote: "Fluke by Herbert. I’m not a huge fan of dogs but the movie fried me to tears on one occasion. I haven’t read the book."
I felt a bit teary eyed during The Art of Racing in the Rain. Some dog stories do still hit me right in the feels even though I am not a dog person.
I was like that with Hitchcock movies. He experimented so much; some of the results are genius and some not so much.
The first and only book I've read from Koontz is Darkfall. I read it when I was 12-13 years old and then it was sooo scary.
Audrey wrote: "I was like that with Hitchcock movies. He experimented so much; some of the results are genius and some not so much."I know what you mean - I don't have a wide experience with Hitchcock, but I am aware that while they do have some similar Hitchcock-isms, they tend to differ enough that it is nearly impossible to have the same experience with each. They say variety is the spice of life, but sometimes it doesn't work.
Ville wrote: "The first and only book I've read from Koontz is Darkfall. I read it when I was 12-13 years old and then it was sooo scary."I remember Darkfall! That was a pretty good one.
Back in the early 90s, I actually preferred Koontz to King. It was pre-internet, so I would comb used book stores looking for books published under Koontz many aliases. I read pretty much everything I could find up to 1996's TickTock. Then I moved on to other things.I've tried a few novels since then, and have not particularly liked any of them: The Taking, False Memory, The Good Guy and Odd Thomas (this one was the best of the 4, but still not worth more than 3 stars).
Honestly, I don't even try anymore.
Dichotomy Girl wrote: "Back in the early 90s, I actually preferred Koontz to King. It was pre-internet, so I would comb used book stores looking for books published under Koontz many aliases. I read pretty much everything I could find up to 1996's TickTock. Then I moved on to other things.I've tried a few novels since then, and have not particularly liked any of them: The Taking, False Memory, The Good Guy and Odd Thomas (this one was the best of the 4, but still not worth more than 3 stars).
Honestly, I don't even try anymore."
I jump around a lot with Koontz - read a recent one . . . read and early one. Also, I do some audio and some physical - whatever is most convenient at the time. Someone gave me their Koontz collection of books to store a couple of years ago so I have about 30 of his books on my shelf.
Whats interesting is that I know all of King's books and his bibliography feels somewhat "solid" whereas it feels like everyday I find a Koontz book I have never heard of! I would be interested in finding out if others feel that way.
I think the problem with Koontz is that his books are not particularly memorable. I've read a few and cannot for the life of me remember what they were about.
Pauline wrote: "I think the problem with Koontz is that his books are not particularly memorable. I've read a few and cannot for the life of me remember what they were about."I can agree with that - I probably only really remember one out of every three of his that I read; this to the extent that I have almost read the same one twice by accident.
Also, I am pretty sure he has republished the same books under different titles before.
Can't believe you didn't enjoy the evil sperm-rain! ;)
mark wrote: "Can't believe you didn't enjoy the evil sperm-rain! ;)"I mean . . . it did have it's highlights . . . 😉🤣
