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77 Shadow Street: A Novel [Hardcover]

Dean Koontz
2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Dec 27 2011
I am the One, the all and the only. I live in the Pendleton as surely as I live everywhere. I am the Pendleton's history and its destiny. The building is my place of conception, my monument, my killing ground. . . .
 
The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill at the highest point of an old heartland city, a Gilded Age palace built in the late 1800s as a tycoon’s dream home. Almost from the beginning, its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of  madness, suicide, mass murder, and whispers of things far worse. But since its rechristening in the 1970s as a luxury apartment building, the Pendleton has been at peace. For its fortunate residents—among them a successful songwriter and her young son, a disgraced ex-senator, a widowed attorney, and a driven money manager—the Pendleton’s magnificent quarters are a sanctuary, its dark past all but forgotten.
 
But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge  into unknown depths. With each passing hour, a terrifying certainty grows: Whatever drove the Pendleton’s past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again. Soon, all those within its boundaries will be engulfed by a dark tide from which few have escaped.
 
Dean Koontz transcends all expectations as he takes readers on a gripping journey to a place where nightmare visions become real—and where a group of singular individuals hold the key to humanity’s destiny. Welcome to 77 Shadow Street.

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Review

PRAISE FOR DEAN KOONTZ

“One of the master storytellers of this or any age.”—The Tampa Tribune
 
“Koontz writes first-rate suspense, scary and stylish.”—Los Angeles Times
 
 “A rarity among bestselling writers, Koontz continues to pursue new ways of telling stories, never content with repeating himself. He writes of hope and love in the midst of evil in profoundly inspiring and moving ways.”—Chicago Sun-Times
 
“A master at spinning dark tales . . . Koontz knows how to dial up the terror.”—Associated Press
 
“Koontz is a superb plotter and wordsmith. He chronicles the hopes and fears of our time in broad strokes and fine detail, using popular fiction to explore the human condition [and] demonstrating that the real horror of life is found not in monsters, but within the human psyche.”—USA Today
 
“Koontz . . . is a master storyteller and a daring writer. . . . He gives readers bright hope in a dark world.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“Dean Koontz . . . has the power to scare the daylights out of us.”—People
 
“Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler.”—The Times (London)

About the Author

Dean Koontz, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Anna, and the enduring spirit of their golden, Trixie.

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great for this reader Dec 27 2011
By Luanne Ollivier #1 HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
3.5/5

I remember begging my parents to buy The Exorcist for me to read when I was 11 or 12. They did - not really realizing what it was about. I devoured it in the hammock at the cottage in a few days. It's easy not to be frightened in a sunny place! That was the beginning of scary books for me. Dean Koontz quickly found a place on my list of horror authors that I faithfully followed. But my tastes evolved over the years and it's been quite awhile since I've read one of Koontz's books, so I thought I would give his latest book 77 Shadow Street, a shot.

The Pendleton is a luxury apartment building - in its' former life it was the private home of the well to do Pendleton family. The book opens with a great scene - one of the residents hops on the elevator to ride up to his apartment, but when the doors open - definitely not his floor. Other residents of the building start seeing shadows and more - creatures, ghosts and .....

We are introduced to a myriad of characters in the beginning. I enjoyed the many different players and wondered how they would fit into the plot. Koontz has included floor plans of the building in the opening flyleaves. I found myself studying the floor plans as the action progressed. The detail provided added much to bringing the story 'alive' in my imagination.

One of the residents, a retired lawyer, is also a expert amateur historian. As events progress, he realizes that events from 38 years ago are repeating themselves. Something is very, very wrong in their building.

What is frightening? To everyone it's a little something different. I think the shadow seen flitting by out of the corner of your eye or the television watching you is much more terrifying than blatantly grotesque 'creatures'. Subtlety works better for me.

Koontz cuts in and out with short narratives from a being who calls himself The One. I found his pronouncements a bit cheesy and found myself skimming over them.

The second half of the book moves much more quickly and caught my interest more when the residents start taking action. Although there is a large cast of characters, for me, it is the two children who stand out the most. Koontz has done a fantastic job with young Winny, brave beyond his years. I found myself rooting for him time and time again.

In the second half of the book Koontz also throws a spanner into what I had initially taken as a run of the mill horror book. He has presented an interesting background and reason for the happenings in the Pendleton that I didn't see coming.

My only complaint is some of the overly long (and a wee bit boring) rhetoric from some of the characters. More action, more thrills, more spookiness, less thought provoking diatribes on post humanism.

Publishers have mounted a pretty spectacular website for the book. You can enter The Pendleton and explore the various apartments.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Not a Haunted House Story Mar 21 2012
Format:Hardcover
First things first: this isn't a haunted house story. The characters are trapped in a weird time paradox that's caused by electromagnetic activity or something.

How do we know this? Well, the characters don't get to find out for themselves. The reader is straight up told by the narrator, and that's the main problem with this book. There is way too much telling and not enough showing. There are long stretches in the book without any dialogue. In addition, there are places where Koontz gets on his soapbox and rants (chapter 28 is probably the worst of these).

Incidentally, Koontz goes for the gross here. The book may be a spiritual successor to "The Taking" in that it too contains lots of disgusting creatures, mushrooms, and fungi.
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1.0 out of 5 stars Boring - don't waste your money or your time. Mar 9 2013
By ksaxton
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've always been a Dean Koontz fan but I couldn't even bring myself to actually read the entire thing. I skimmed over a lot of parts just to get to the end. It's drawn out and repetitive. Didn't bother to lend it to anyone after. It went straight into the recycle bin.
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