The Big Dark Sky is a stand-alone sci-fi/horror/suspense novel set in Montana, about a mysterious being with a plan that threatens all humanity, and the disparate group of people summoned to stop it.
I hadn’t read any Koontz for at least ten years, having had very mixed results in the past. This one falls bang in the middle - I liked the premise, the characters (mostly), the beginning and the ending, but struggled through the middle, finding myself frequently distracted and frustrated by the choppiness of the story-telling and the absurdity of the writing. It’s hard to say too much without spoilers as this is a book which delays revealing what’s going on until about the last quarter, which I’ll confess added to my frustration.

Joanna Chase is a successful author who has led a life of isolation since losing both her parents in quick succession as a child. Then a voice from her past calls her back, through apparent control of her car’s electronic system, to the remote Montana ranch of her early years. Asher Optime is a man on a mission - he wants to become the last man on earth by beginning a revolution that will exterminate the human species - starting with a collection of strangers to build the necropolis he hopes will inspire others. Ganesh Patel is an extraordinary scientist at the head of a top secret project to find out who is killing specific individuals by internet, and what their objective is. When these and other unique characters converge on the idyllic lakeside homestead of Rustling Willows, will courage overcome madness to save humankind?

First off, it’s unusual to meet a Main Character who shares my given name (but please don’t call me Jojo!) Joanna, Wyatt, Ophelia, Colson and Kenny were likeable characters who were easy to root for, but they didn’t get enough time to be fully developed amongst the large cast of supports - some of whom were introduced as potential victims then never heard of again. The way each chapter moved between them was maddening, and completely disrupted the flow of the story - what I presume was meant to be mini-cliffhangers to keep you turning the pages just ended up disconnecting me from the plot. I therefore found this terribly slow for a suspense novel, until the action ramps up in the final 10% and the various players all come together for the last act.

The writing - oh my, purple doesn’t even begin to describe it! “Slowly sinking toward the great mountains in the west, the sun had for several minutes bathed the ghost town in a honeyed splendor that made some of the weathered buildings appear gilded.” gives you a taste. There are assorted pop culture references, some for the author’s own books, and others that would probably give serious sci-fi fans an early clue as to what’s going on but went over my head. You’re deliberately kept in the dark as to whether the evil antagonist is human, metaphysical, supernatural or alien - I didn’t work it out in advance. It did all make a bonkers sort of sense, and I’ll admit I did like the twist in the final sentence.

I also liked the way pompous ultra-malignant narcissist Asher Optime’s story plays out - he pretends his crusade is for the love of nature, but as one character calls him out: “your crusade is not about serving the planet or bringing a miscreated universe to an end. Instead, it’s about your ambition, your pride, your ego, your sadism.” The chapters from his hateful POV mean that you’ll cheer when his fate is revealed (maybe that’s a spoiler but you don’t expect any other outcome in this kind of book do you?) I was hoping for more of an explanation of the “synchronicities” which are repeatedly mentioned and would’ve liked a more comprehensive wrap-up than the very rushed ending we get, but them’s the breaks! All of my advance reviewing friends have rated this higher than me so I’d say if you’re a big Dean Koontz fan, go for it, but I won’t be rushing to read any more of his supernatural/sci-fi stuff - although I do plan to read the Jane Hawk books some day.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
The Big Dark Sky is published on July 19th.

Dean Koontz is a master weaver. He has the ability to take random threads of story line and beginning with a loose weave that doesn't seem to fit, he draws the threads tighter into a perfect pattern. By the time The Big Dark Sky ended I was amazed at the way those threads fit together.

The Big Dark Sky has a variety of well-drawn characters that each bring their own uniqueness to the plot. The real world is vivid enough to feel and the signature Koontz bit of horror makes perfect sense.

If you like classic Koontz, this is a great read for you. It's a world I didn't want to leave.

I received an advance copy of The Big Dark Sky from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own. #thebigdarksky #netgalley #deankoontz

The Big Dark Sky is not an easy book to read as the story has many characters, very strange situations, crime, a bit of romance, and a new FBI area that deals with the unknown. But once I could start to put things together I could not stop reading, Koontz's amazing use of the English language made the descriptions of people and places even more beautiful or frightening. This is not the usual sci-fi story or crime story, if enjoy reading the unusual, go for this book, it'll be worth your while.
I downloaded a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

You can never go wrong with a Dean Koontz novel and was happy to receive this one. Great, quick read.

Hmmm well I feel like you definitely need to be really paying attention to follow what is happening here. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but I felt a little lost at times.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

you are either gonna love or hate this book..i loved it...yes there are numerous characters and some you have to wonder at...why they were there, but the idea of being called back to your childhood home to help now that grabs your attention....

joanna chase for the first 8 years of her life lived on a ranch in montana, but after her parents died within two weeks of each other she is then brought up by her auntie elsewhere

but strange things are happening around joanna, strange phone calls that want her to go back home to help...and why does the tv and the car turn itself on.....spooky

as each new character is introduced a scene is being set with the ultimate showdown coming...and this book really reminded me of the stand by stephen king and i dont really know why, as i said before you are either going to love or hate this one...and my only bugbear with this book was the ending...it was such a build up to end just like it did....oh hum....

but he has a way of writing that stays with you long after you have finished the book

It has been a few years since I picked up one of Dean Koontz's novels, and The Big Dark Sky is a fantastic reminder to do so more often! It attracted my attention because it is set mostly in Montana, among the mountains , lakes and woods that I love so much, and while reading the book, I became a bit nervous that I will never see the Yellowstone area the same. This is one truly unsettling story!

I liked the way the author tells the story through multiple characters' experiences, all of which are drawing them to the Rustling Willows Ranch with varying motives. Supernatural events link them together in ways that unfold as the story progresses. The build up to the final scene is harrowing, and I had to set the book aside several times due to the tension.

The only criticism is that a few characters were introduced in the beginning of the book who are spirited away to witness protection never to be heard from again (at least in this book), and I felt the explanation for their involvement was a little vague. Overall, it detracted little from my enjoyment of the story, just a bit of a question as I reflect.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of The Big Dark Sky. The opinions in this review are my own.

Not my favorite Dean Koontz novel for sure, but an interesting horror/alien book. This featured an omniscent AI being that knew everything - seemed God-like. The writing style is clearly Dean Koontz with that lofty, intellectual prose that is quickly recognizable. The clues to the mystery are difficult to trace and I enjoyed following the investigation by Joanna.

Joanna was summoned back from her current life in Santa Fe to her childhood home at Rustling Willows ranch in Montana by an anonymous phone message begging for her help. She arrives once again in Montana and returns to face the strange childhood companion she had forgotten long ago.

The story is convoluted and difficult to follow so you have to pay attention. It did keep my attention, but I have to say I have enjoyed many other Dean Koontz novels much more.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published July 19, 2022.

Dean Koontz has been keeping me entertained, surprised, shocked, mystified, terrified, amazed, and in awe, since I first read his novel, Night Chills, back in 1976, and he's done it once again in The Big Dark Sky, which gets 5 stars from this reader.

As the novel opens, 24 years in the past, we're at idyllic Rustling Willows Ranch in Montana, home to 9-year-old, Joanna Chase, whose mother died 12 days earlier, and whose death will be the impetus that removes her from the ranch, to grow up elsewhere. In the years since then, she's become a novelist, seems to have writer's block, is still single, and is preparing her dinner when the first of the strange occurrences begin--from the garage, she can hear her car start by itself, and slowly but surely, more oddities occur, all of which seem to draw her back to her childhood home, of which she has a few fond memories, and one she's totally forgotten for reasons she can't begin to explain.

We next meet a less charming character, Harvey Spondollar, whose is outside his home urinating on his neighbor's rosebushes, when out of nowhere, his house suddenly disintegrates into tiny bits right before his eyes--and that's just for starters.

In a style somewhat reminiscent of one of the author's earlier novel, Strangers, this disparate cast of characters, the good, the bad, the damaged, the used, and the incredibly demented and evil--some human, some not, are all brought together at Rustling Willows, for a reason I suspected but was unsure of until I got there, perhaps the most evil one being Asher Optime, who is certifiably insane and in the process of writing his manifesto while trying to rid the earth of all its human inhabitants, capturing and killing one person at a time while holed up in a ghost town not far from Rustling Willows.

The reader cannot help but wonder what or whom is pulling these characters together in this place, and yet the answer is right there from the beginning, because Mr. Koontz tells us what it is--synchronicity, and what I feel is the author's true message for his readers, a warning about our slow but steady destruction of the earth and it's resources, senseless killings and wars where everyone loses in a long history of blood and violence, that must stop before the human race causes its own extinction.

This novel is at times gruesome, macabre, and sometimes at odds with the poetic nature of Mr. Koontz' writing style. He's even included an homage to the work of Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov's robot novels, which may give you a small hint as to what's in store for you in this novel. This reader found it both challenging and impossible to put down, and although the denouement seemed somewhat too abrupt, it's most certainly not a novel for the faint of heart, but it is a novel I highly recommend.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

As with a lot of books by this author, this was fantastical but makes you think. There are plenty of what-ifs to contemplate. It is also science fiction entertainment. As well as a story about triumph in extraordinary circumstances. Most of all the characters make this a book you can't put down. I was invested in them from the beginning. The resolution was a little anticlimactic but that ending was perfect!

This was my first Dean Koontz novel though I've wanted to read his books, especially during the early days of the pandemic, when one of his books became extremely popular because the plot involved a virus vaguely similar to the Coronavirus, and all sorts of claims were being made saying that he had predicted the pandemic years before. Although I couldn't read that book, I did put in a request for The Big Dark Sky in NetGalley when I saw it was available for early reading.

I have to say this book has a lot of bizarre events that at first seem disjointed but at about 30% in the book, you feel yourself getting pulled into the plot. It was like reading 3 or 4 short stories that initially seem unrelated but at the end the blocks all fit together to form a complete picture. There is a writer, Joanna Chase, from Santa Fe, who gets weird dreams about the Ranch from Montana where she grew up and a strange caller pleading her to come back to her old home as someone close to her needs her help. Then there is a serial killer who wants to obliterate entire humanity and is currently holding hostage two people in the basement of an old church in a abandoned town. There is also a brilliant hacker who is on the run from a malevolent force which can destroy building and people alike using devices connected to the internet. Then there is also an enigmatic agent(like in MIB) who is a genius and who is on a project to track down this alien force which has recently started to be more active and shown violent behavior. Yep, one cannot imagine how all these elements will come together in a grand finale, but it does.

I could feel my interest in the book ebbing and flowing, just when I thought that maybe I should just DNF the book, things would start getting interesting and I would go on to read couple of more chapters. I would definitely want to try more of Dean Koontz books because though reading this book was a weird experience for me, when I was done with the book, I felt Koontz was one hell of a storyteller. Only he could make this kind of a plot work.

I tried but this one went too many places with too many voices for me. I've read Koontz off and on over the years- I was a fan of the Jane Hawk series- so I had high hopes for this but it was missing something. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I DNF but I understand why others might like it.

I read 33% of this book, but it wasn’t for me. It is very descriptive, but I wasn’t interested in the topic. I found myself skipping over all of the description to try and get to the story.

I was anticipating the latest novel from Koontz, but for me, this one was a let down. I liked the general idea of the plot, but the portrayal of the disabled character left a bad taste in my mouth. I understand why the character was written this way (for the sake of the plot) but it just did not sit well for me. Side note, I may be a little more sensitive to this, since I am ND (autism, ADHD, OCD).
Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the advance copy to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Characters make or break a book for me and this one didn't hit the mark and was lacking depth.
At the start, I was just following along with the many different points of view waiting for them to come together. They did, but by the time they came together, I was already guessing what was going to happen.
All except for one character which right at the end I loved. With the teaser maybe Koontz will write more on them and I would read it!

This was a fun read! Creepy and chilling in the haunting ride as you try to figure out what’s happening and how it all comes together. Highly recommend if you enjoy other of his work!

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review. An interesting read, lots of plots, I needed to re-read some of the pages. I would like to see a sequel to this book.

The Big Dark Sky follows Joanna Chase and a huge cast of characters as they each embark on a journey back to Joanna.'s childhood home and a mystery set there that has spand over centeries. It is a scifi thriller that is complex and multilayered.

This book was nothing like I was expecting and I actually really enjoyed the plot once it got moving. The first 100 pages were a bit slow, but once all the pieces started to come together, I was hooked. However, I am a character focused reader and I found that the character development was lacking a bit due to the vast number of characters in the book.

Read an eARC courtesy of Netgalley; the publisher, Thomas & Mercer; and the author, Dean Kootz. Thank you for the opportunity.

Rating: 3 Stars

I had fun in reading this mix of paranormal and thriller. It's a honest, entertaining, and gripping story that kept me reading.
I don't it's right to compare Koontz to King as they are different authors with different strength and weakness.
This is a good book and I enjoy the plot, the storytelling, and the world building.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The best thing about this book was the Jane Hawk reference. This was a convoluted mess. The plot was absurd and hard to understand. The chapters were too wordy with nonsense detail which made it slow to read. There were so many characters, it was hard to keep track. And when the cast gathered for the big revelation, for the solution to the mystery, it fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Dean Koontz for a copy of "The Big Dark Sky" in exchange of an honest review.