I’ve never been a huge Dean Koontz fan but got this anthology at a library sale and here’s my breakdown:

  1. Strange Highways - one of the two long stories and it starts off good but kind of goes down the tubes the longer it goes on

  2. The Black Pumpkin - way better, I actually liked this one a lot and it’s a Halloween story so it gets bonus points

  3. Miss Attila the Hun - another banger, cheesy as all hell but in a good way

  4. Down in the Darkness - probably my favorite of the bunch, it’s like House of Leaves but like, readable

  5. Ollie’s Hands - kind of a fumble. This is a 90s horror collection so it was going to get weird eventually. This is the calm before the storm

  6. Snatcher - kind of forgettable but it’s not bad

  7. Trapped - another good one, probably my second favorite. Animal horror needs to make a comeback

  8. Bruno - Weird but almost in an endearing way

  9. We Three - oh, oh noooooooooooo.

  10. Hardshell - Dean Koontz is so hot for Noir Detectives it’s almost funny, this one is good even if it goes off the rails.

  11. Kittens - this one is pretty cruel but it’s over quick. Probably the only one that actually creeped me out (in a horror way, not in a why were the 90s like this way)

  12. The Night of the Storm - this one was kind of cool, I could see this as a full novel

  13. Twilight of the Dawn - cheesy, but in a bad way.

  14. Chase - I was vibing with this one but quit pretty early because it gets super pervy with one of the teenage characters. Stephen King would be proud.

Overall - Skip Strange Highways, We Three, Ollie’s Hands and Chase and this is a pretty solid little collection that might be worth a look if you want some older horror stories