In my collection of garage sale paperbacks, I came across this book, another by “Dean R. Koontz” as he was known at the time of this book’s publication. I like Dean Koontz, as a general rule, but I also find his stories to be hit or miss. To his credit, he has written so many stories with such a high level of discipline to his craft that he can’t possibly hit a home run every time he steps up to the plate. I began Darkfall (also released as Darkness Comes) with this in mind.
The story presented within the pages of this book is interesting enough, we’ve got good guys that include a cop named Jack, his kids Penny and David, his partner Rebecca and a voodoo shop owner (and priest) who practices ‘good magic’ named Carver. At the opposite end of the spectrum we have a horde of demonic golems controlled by a sinister voodoo priest, Baba Lavelle, from Haiti who is bent on taking revenge for his brother’s death. The plot is simple enough: Lavelle is on a rampage of epic destruction against the Carramazza mafia family who are responsible for the death of his brother, a reporter who undertook a crusade of investigative journalism to expose the mobsters. When Jack and Rebecca get in the way, Lavelle takes special exception to their meddling and turns his hatred against Jack and his family, as well.
With a suspense novel like this you definitely expect surprises and there are a few spread throughout the book which is pretty impressive considering that we’re dealing with enough fantasy that it’s hard to make anything truly surprising. Koontz does a sound job of making the monsters hellacious and seemingly invulnerable, you get the feeling that the protangists might not wind up victories and, again, this is difficult to do in a book of this sort.
Another strong point is that relationship between Jack and his fellow officer Rebecca really is interesting to read, a nice relief as the book progresses. At the point in Koontz’s career when this book was released, he remains less chaste than he seems to be today. The book has a bit more graphic violence and sexual imagery than he tends to utilize these days. I think this helps make it more authentic, but that’s purely personal preference. Baba Lavelle is shown a bit more three dimensionally than some of Koontz later villains and this helps him be someone you might despise, but can still relate to on some level. A big help when you’re dealing with a guy who’s literally opening the gates of Hell itself.
While I didn’t particularly find a lot to adore within the pages of Darkfall, I did enjoy it as a brief escape. It’s certainly a cool scenario to read about, but I wouldn’t go so far as to insist that it’s highly imaginative. If you are already a fan of Koontz work then this book won’t be anything that shocks you, but it’s a solid story with well made characters and enough tension to keep the story entertaining as it moves along. Since the book doesn’t linger, I was motivated to finish it quickly, but it’s not one of those books that will be forever in my mind like The Watchers, Intensity or Demonseed.
Basically, Darkfall will satisfy if you’re looking for easy entertainment that’s not entirely run of the mill in terms of its concept.
Visit Dean Koontz’s website to find out more about his books: http://www.deankoontz.com/
Click here to get your hands on “Darkfall”
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14/01/2010 at 9:08 pm Permalink
Another great review, Wolfgang.