March 22, 2020

Review: THE EYES OF DARKNESS by Leigh Nichols (Dean Koontz)


Despite the hype surrounding this book, Koontz, whilst a decent writer, isn’t a prophet; he didn’t predict the COVID-19 pandemic in The Eyes of Darkness, but he did produce an entertaining, if somewhat too thriller-focused book nonetheless.

In the 1982 edition (the book was first published in 1981), Wuhan isn’t at the center of the deadly virus, rather, Soviet Russia – a change obviously occurred in new editions of the book. However, this component of a broader story doesn’t really come in to play until the later stages; there’s a whole lot of scares before getting to that part.

In the early stages of the book, there’s a Stranger Things vibe going on which fuses the thriller and horror elements to form a well-rounded read about a young woman making a (rather successful) living in Las Vegas who is trying to get on with her life following the unexpected death of her 12yr old son; the deceased who may or may not be responsible for some truly scary poltergeist activity.


As the story progresses, the ghostly theme steadily declines in favor of a Hollywood-like thriller with action sequences aplenty relegating the more enjoyable horror aspect an after-thought.

I didn’t mind The Eyes of Darkness but would've liked the horror to be more prevalent.  

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