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Twilight Eyes
They're out there.
Waiting. Watching. Unseen by normal eyes, but all to visible to Slim MacKenzie, a young man blessed - or cursed - by Twilight Eyes...
They're out there.
Lurking in the darkest shadows of an eerie, moonlit carnival. Feeding their twisted needs with human suffering. And fiendishly plotting the downfall of the human race...
They're out there.
But don't scream.
They'll hear you...
Waiting. Watching. Unseen by normal eyes, but all to visible to Slim MacKenzie, a young man blessed - or cursed - by Twilight Eyes...
They're out there.
Lurking in the darkest shadows of an eerie, moonlit carnival. Feeding their twisted needs with human suffering. And fiendishly plotting the downfall of the human race...
They're out there.
But don't scream.
They'll hear you...
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Dean Koontz
947 books36.6k followersAcknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 640 reviews
May 6, 2021
"Maybe it is better not to know that the beasts are among us. Better than to see... then feel helpless, haunted, and outnumbered"
Looking back at a number of my reviews as a more experienced reader, I can see now that I was a tad over generous in my ratings with a few. It's like anything, the more experience you get the more perspective you acquire. One of those reviews was for Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz.
Don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic read particularly in the first half. The novel is split into two, the first part originally was released on it's own being called"The Land of Enchantment." It's set within a carnival, where the protagonist Carl Stanfeuss (who goes by the name of Slim Mackenzie) battles against a demonic force whilst on the run from the law. Slim has “twilight eyes” which give him the ability to see demons in other people that he affectionately calls "goblins". It's absolutely superb and definitely the best part, with brilliant description and some fantastic characters. It's very reminiscent of a movie called "Frailty" with Matthew McConaughey.
"Killing goblins was justified. I had no doubt about the sinlessness of it, and I did not avoid my reflection out of any fear of seeing guilt in my eyes."
The second part is not too shabby either, although nowhere near as good as the first. It provides a somewhat satisfying, if a tad anticlimactic, conclusion with a good bit of action. You can tell that Koontz did not devote as much love and attention here and it does show.
If there's one thing Koontz knows how to do it's pace his novels and he's absolutely on point in this one. There's very little fluff although Koontz does sprinkle in some beautiful passages where he reflects on relationships and the battle between good and evil. There's also some really intense moments that have you ripping through the pages like a maniac. One scene in a house with a basement had me on the edge of my seat. Great stuff!
"I longed to pluck a volume off a shelf and escape into its pages, for even the nightmare worlds of Lovecraft, Poe, or Bram Stoker would be more appealing than the real world in which we had to live."
So all in all, a very good Koontz novel and one of my favourites by him. Just not quite as good as I originally gave it credit for. When I look at some of the novels I've rated Five Stars (The Stand/Swan Song/Pillars of the Earth/Ghost Story) it's not in that bracket. So a solid four stars it is. I really need to start being more conservative with my ratings. However, if you're looking to get into reading some Koontz this is a perfect place to start.
December 20, 2015
Ok I'm finally finished....and I figured it out....Dean Koontz did not write this book.....it was a Goblin!!! This diabolical Goblin wrote this book to torture and harrass Dean's faithful readers. Bad goblin...bad..bad goblin!!!
So for the rest of you readers, don't read this book, your pain and suffering will only feed the Goblin!
So for the rest of you readers, don't read this book, your pain and suffering will only feed the Goblin!
June 24, 2022
This is one of Koontz's most atypical novels; if I had picked it up with no authorial credit, I might have suspected it was by Stephen King. It's split into two parts, the first one being set in a carnival in 1963 that's worthy of Bradbury or Finney. The second half of the book has a quite different and darker feel and is set in New York City. The carnival background is well set off by high fantasy tropes and the second half is more tinged with horror elements. The characters are very well developed and change sympathetically as the story evolves, and Koontz makes several references throughout to real-world events to ground the setting... the '60s were even weirder than we suspected. It's an uneven book, but in a pleasing way. Goblins!
July 16, 2022
I just love this book so much! The carny setting, the characters, the dilemma of our protagonist are all so perfectly portrayed. It's more like two books in one bc it is split into two parts, and both parts are equally important to tell the entire story. Twilight Eyes is in my top ten favorite books ever, and I do not give that title out lightly. 5/5 skulls!!
January 18, 2020
A very good read with strong symbolism. Goblins. Within us and among us. Powerful ending.
January 15, 2022
This could have been better with a good editor to remove the blight. 4 of 10 stars
August 8, 2012
Warning: there may be spoilers here and Caution: that last real post on this thread was long and rambling, this one is likely to be worse.
Why Twilight eyes? I mean, I frequently find that even amongst Kootz fans when I say this is my favorite, I get people turning heads and going "huh?"
Let me explain what about that book affected me.
The first thing that I picked up on were pieces like this worked into the opening of many chapters.
"Every hour the radio news told us of Kitty Genovese, who had been killed two days ago. 38 of her Kew Gardens neighbors had heard her terrified calls for help and watched as her attacker stabbed her, crept away, then returned to stab her again, finally killing on her own doorstep. None of the thirty-eight had gone to her aid. None called the police until a half hour after Kitty was dead. Two days later the story was still at the top of the news, and the whole country was trying to understand what the nightmarish events in Kew Gardens said about the inhumanity, callousness and isolation of urban man and woman.
"We just didn't want to get involved," the thirty eight onlookers said, as if being of the same speicies, and age, and society of Kitty Genovese, was not involvement enough to illicit mercy and compassion…."
The story is set around (just after) the assassination of President Kennedy (63/64). I doubt there was any intent on Koontz's part to artistically mirror another work of art in another media but this bit stuck in my memory and I can even recall it now almost verbatim. He did not invent this story
(http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/se...)
The Heroine Rya's words to the hero here are just as haunting.
"Not all of the evil in the world comes from the goblins."
It reminded me of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's "Silent Night." They recorded a wonderful version of the haunting, yet beautiful Christmas Carol with The Seven O'clock news playing in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63u8T3...
"Not all of the evil in the world comes from the goblins."
I cannot read this part of Twilight eyes, or listen to The Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night without recalling the other.
The same year I read this, I was stationed on the USS Mount Baker AE34, an ammunitions carrier. We'd just worked our butts off bringing beans bullets and gas to the fleet during the Libyan Crisis. Our deployment had been extended to past 8 months instead of the usual 6, and we had pulled into Rota Spain as the last port before returning to Charleston S.C., our home port. A sailor, off of the USS Jessie L. Brown, a Charleston Based Frigate returning with us, had come back to the ship the last night we were in port, drunk, fell off of the brow between the pier and the ship and drown before they could get him out of the water leaving a wife and two children behind.
"Not all of the evil in the world is caused by the Goblins."
In the book, the character "Jolly" a kindly man, nothing like the sailor off of the Brown save the senselessness of his death, was found dead on the merry go round. He wanted nothing in life but to bring joy to children and shared a child like infatuation with the ride.
The Goblins did this one.
My point is, that Koontz, without trying, had put words to that dark side of humanity and fate that nobody ever wants to acknowledge, but can't ignore, the object of our denial, "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator certain inalienable rights," we are equally capable of looking away instead of showing compassion and mercy and getting involved. Even then, sometimes ”shit happens.
That is another way of saying that not all of the bad things in life are caused by madmen like the crazed gunman in Phoenix who confronted Gabrielle Giffords. Anyone of us could have been Kitty Genovese?
You think I'm being over dramatic?
What about so many teens and young adults, driven to suicide or tragedy by bullies who teased them about being Gay, or picked on them because of who they liked as a boyfriend? IN HIGH SCHOOL! How many people, good teachers, good kids, good parents knew this was harassment was going on and did not want to get involved?
"Not all of the evil in the world is caused by the Goblins."
Looking away is sometimes as evil as perpetrating the act yourself. The gunman in Phoenix is legitimately crazy he needs and deserves proper medical attention as much as he needs to be held accountable for the acts that he committed. What's everyone else's excuse?
This dark side of our humanity is clearly exposed in Koontz early writing, particularly in Twilight eyes if you care to see it. In one discussion group people derided Koontz because he left people with a sense of hope in his writing. I appreciate that sense of hope.
By exposing us to ourselves, or our true nature, we can become aware and make choices, and, that's the first step to changing how we live. Are we really better off being left with Kitty Genovese and no hope of evolving to a higher form of ourselves?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not sure Koontz knew what he was putting in his early work. I bet he really just wanted to keep the royalty checks coming I'm simply glad it was there for me to see.
Good book, fast read, solid characters and maybe something else to think about, if you are willing to look for it.
There is more truth in fiction, than in most history books when it comes to saying what really needs to be said.
Why Twilight eyes? I mean, I frequently find that even amongst Kootz fans when I say this is my favorite, I get people turning heads and going "huh?"
Let me explain what about that book affected me.
The first thing that I picked up on were pieces like this worked into the opening of many chapters.
"Every hour the radio news told us of Kitty Genovese, who had been killed two days ago. 38 of her Kew Gardens neighbors had heard her terrified calls for help and watched as her attacker stabbed her, crept away, then returned to stab her again, finally killing on her own doorstep. None of the thirty-eight had gone to her aid. None called the police until a half hour after Kitty was dead. Two days later the story was still at the top of the news, and the whole country was trying to understand what the nightmarish events in Kew Gardens said about the inhumanity, callousness and isolation of urban man and woman.
"We just didn't want to get involved," the thirty eight onlookers said, as if being of the same speicies, and age, and society of Kitty Genovese, was not involvement enough to illicit mercy and compassion…."
The story is set around (just after) the assassination of President Kennedy (63/64). I doubt there was any intent on Koontz's part to artistically mirror another work of art in another media but this bit stuck in my memory and I can even recall it now almost verbatim. He did not invent this story
(http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/se...)
The Heroine Rya's words to the hero here are just as haunting.
"Not all of the evil in the world comes from the goblins."
It reminded me of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's "Silent Night." They recorded a wonderful version of the haunting, yet beautiful Christmas Carol with The Seven O'clock news playing in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63u8T3...
"Not all of the evil in the world comes from the goblins."
I cannot read this part of Twilight eyes, or listen to The Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night without recalling the other.
The same year I read this, I was stationed on the USS Mount Baker AE34, an ammunitions carrier. We'd just worked our butts off bringing beans bullets and gas to the fleet during the Libyan Crisis. Our deployment had been extended to past 8 months instead of the usual 6, and we had pulled into Rota Spain as the last port before returning to Charleston S.C., our home port. A sailor, off of the USS Jessie L. Brown, a Charleston Based Frigate returning with us, had come back to the ship the last night we were in port, drunk, fell off of the brow between the pier and the ship and drown before they could get him out of the water leaving a wife and two children behind.
"Not all of the evil in the world is caused by the Goblins."
In the book, the character "Jolly" a kindly man, nothing like the sailor off of the Brown save the senselessness of his death, was found dead on the merry go round. He wanted nothing in life but to bring joy to children and shared a child like infatuation with the ride.
The Goblins did this one.
My point is, that Koontz, without trying, had put words to that dark side of humanity and fate that nobody ever wants to acknowledge, but can't ignore, the object of our denial, "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator certain inalienable rights," we are equally capable of looking away instead of showing compassion and mercy and getting involved. Even then, sometimes ”shit happens.
That is another way of saying that not all of the bad things in life are caused by madmen like the crazed gunman in Phoenix who confronted Gabrielle Giffords. Anyone of us could have been Kitty Genovese?
You think I'm being over dramatic?
What about so many teens and young adults, driven to suicide or tragedy by bullies who teased them about being Gay, or picked on them because of who they liked as a boyfriend? IN HIGH SCHOOL! How many people, good teachers, good kids, good parents knew this was harassment was going on and did not want to get involved?
"Not all of the evil in the world is caused by the Goblins."
Looking away is sometimes as evil as perpetrating the act yourself. The gunman in Phoenix is legitimately crazy he needs and deserves proper medical attention as much as he needs to be held accountable for the acts that he committed. What's everyone else's excuse?
This dark side of our humanity is clearly exposed in Koontz early writing, particularly in Twilight eyes if you care to see it. In one discussion group people derided Koontz because he left people with a sense of hope in his writing. I appreciate that sense of hope.
By exposing us to ourselves, or our true nature, we can become aware and make choices, and, that's the first step to changing how we live. Are we really better off being left with Kitty Genovese and no hope of evolving to a higher form of ourselves?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not sure Koontz knew what he was putting in his early work. I bet he really just wanted to keep the royalty checks coming I'm simply glad it was there for me to see.
Good book, fast read, solid characters and maybe something else to think about, if you are willing to look for it.
There is more truth in fiction, than in most history books when it comes to saying what really needs to be said.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2023
3.7
Originally published as 'Land of Enchantment' and then expanded in 1987 by Berkley. It kind of reads like two books in one.
I read a lot of Koontz in my early 20s and now I'm in my 30s and it felt strange going back to his works.
The plot was very intriguing, entertaining and kept me wanting to know what would happen in the end.
The writing is top notch as usual but I felt some descriptions dragged on a tad bit. This book was 450 pages with very small font. Koontz could have cut this to 300 and it would have been a much better book.
The first half of the book is set at a carnival which I thought would be fun but it was kind of slow, boring, very similar to Tobe Hooper's 'The Funhouse.' (I love Tobe Hooper other movies)
The action scenes with the goblins were very good but the ending fell short. A real 80s ending like it was Die Hard, LOL.
Overall its a solid read but I preferred Odd Thomas, Intensity, The Good Guy, Velocity and Life Expectancy.
Originally published as 'Land of Enchantment' and then expanded in 1987 by Berkley. It kind of reads like two books in one.
I read a lot of Koontz in my early 20s and now I'm in my 30s and it felt strange going back to his works.
The plot was very intriguing, entertaining and kept me wanting to know what would happen in the end.
The writing is top notch as usual but I felt some descriptions dragged on a tad bit. This book was 450 pages with very small font. Koontz could have cut this to 300 and it would have been a much better book.
The first half of the book is set at a carnival which I thought would be fun but it was kind of slow, boring, very similar to Tobe Hooper's 'The Funhouse.' (I love Tobe Hooper other movies)
The action scenes with the goblins were very good but the ending fell short. A real 80s ending like it was Die Hard, LOL.
Overall its a solid read but I preferred Odd Thomas, Intensity, The Good Guy, Velocity and Life Expectancy.
June 28, 2023
In true Dean Koontz style is gets weird pretty much straight away, I did enjoy the descriptions at the beginning of this book especially about the Carnival and the people who preform/run it. The main character didn't read like a 17 year old at all he read like a 30 year old and I kept forgetting how young he was until it was mentioned again. Was Goblin sex really necessary?! I am not a fan of sex scenes as it is but this was just awful, even the normal sex scenes were weird and awkward.
Rya was a pretty interesting character, but she actually got boring and annoying as the book went on. The Impending doom/psychic visions were really well done, there was some good body horror too which was fun.
This book is kind of split into two parts and had a first and second epilogue which would of been fine except the two parts weren't separate enough so I felt like there was no point. It almost felt like Dean Koontz got lost and didn't know how to continue with the story, instead of doing a simple one year later he decided to do a part two - weird.
Of course there were dogs in this book it wouldn't be Dean Koontz without a dog as a characters, this wasn't done too badly though. The final right (if you can call it that) was weak. I have about five more Dean Koontz books on my physical TBR and I think after I have read those I will stop there. I was debating whether to pick up Odd Thomas but the older I get the less a gel with this author.
Rya was a pretty interesting character, but she actually got boring and annoying as the book went on. The Impending doom/psychic visions were really well done, there was some good body horror too which was fun.
This book is kind of split into two parts and had a first and second epilogue which would of been fine except the two parts weren't separate enough so I felt like there was no point. It almost felt like Dean Koontz got lost and didn't know how to continue with the story, instead of doing a simple one year later he decided to do a part two - weird.
Of course there were dogs in this book it wouldn't be Dean Koontz without a dog as a characters, this wasn't done too badly though. The final right (if you can call it that) was weak. I have about five more Dean Koontz books on my physical TBR and I think after I have read those I will stop there. I was debating whether to pick up Odd Thomas but the older I get the less a gel with this author.
May 25, 2013
A masterpiece.
Dean Koontz has written many great stories, but this may be his best ever. A haunting, chilling tale, following the journey of Slim MacKenzie. He's a drifter, but he's no ordinary man. With eyes the color of twilight, he's been blessed with a psychic gift: premonitions. He's also been cursed, for Slim can see the monsters hiding among us, feeding on our suffering.
And when Slim joins a traveling carnival seeking sanctuary, what he'll find is a hunting ground-with humanity as the prey.
What makes it even more compelling, are what he sees, the "goblins" hiding inside, the monsters wearing the perfect disguises, looking and sounding all too human, invisible to us, but not to him. And, look around, at some of the horrible things done to people by other people, it makes the idea of "goblins" hiding inside, all too real. Fiction, yes, but you never know.
This is a keep you up late, page turner, can't put it down kind of book. You'll be wrung out by the power of the story, and the characters who struggle against the monsters hiding inside.
Dean Koontz has written many great stories, but this may be his best ever. A haunting, chilling tale, following the journey of Slim MacKenzie. He's a drifter, but he's no ordinary man. With eyes the color of twilight, he's been blessed with a psychic gift: premonitions. He's also been cursed, for Slim can see the monsters hiding among us, feeding on our suffering.
And when Slim joins a traveling carnival seeking sanctuary, what he'll find is a hunting ground-with humanity as the prey.
What makes it even more compelling, are what he sees, the "goblins" hiding inside, the monsters wearing the perfect disguises, looking and sounding all too human, invisible to us, but not to him. And, look around, at some of the horrible things done to people by other people, it makes the idea of "goblins" hiding inside, all too real. Fiction, yes, but you never know.
This is a keep you up late, page turner, can't put it down kind of book. You'll be wrung out by the power of the story, and the characters who struggle against the monsters hiding inside.
November 15, 2021
4.25 stars
****This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS. Beware!
Spoilers ahead ...
In many ways, this may be the definitive carnival horror novel. Koontz really nails the setting and atmosphere in this one. I’m a huge sucker for carny stories, so naturally, I loved it. The horror elements are very effective and fit solidly within the context of the plot. The villains are top-notch: disgusting, powerful, cunning, menacing and brutal. Likewise, the character work (with one exception) is much better here than in Phantoms (the only other Koontz book I’ve read).
Now, there is one BIG gargantuan elephant in the room that prevented me from awarding this 5 stars, and this involves Rya. Um ... what happened with this character? First off, she has some ridiculously cringe-worthy dialogue at times that literally made me laugh out loud. In an attempt to be sexy (I think?) she says things that no human being has ever uttered in the history of the planet. She sounds like an alien attempting to mimic speech patterns she thinks a human male would be attracted to. It’s incredibly bizarre and sticks out like a sore thumb. Not a deal-breaker ... just extremely awkward.
Secondly, her personality is extremely inconsistent: shy, distant and uber professional one minute ... loose, outgoing and utterly reckless the next. She almost feels bi-polar (unclear if this is what Koontz was going for).
(Turn back if you don’t want ***SPOILERS)
And then, a bigger problem. Not only does she commit the ultimate betrayal by turning Slim over to the goblin police chief, she also tries to murder him and nearly succeeds by stabbing him in the gut. And then Slim just forgives her nearly instantly? Was it no big deal? “Just a flesh wound”?
Next thing you know they’re married and carrying on as if nothing happened. Not only that, now Rya is basically a soldier fighting the goblins and acting all self-righteous, as if we’re supposed to forget she is a massive traitor. C’mon, man. That’s just too much for me to swallow. It’s a glaringly inconsistent character arc that makes zero sense to include in the story. She goes from good to bad to good in the span of a few pages. It really bothered the hell out of me. She is never held accountable for her actions and this major plot point is basically brushed over. So frustrating!
That aside, this book was pretty awesome. I truly enjoyed it and will likely revisit this story again in a few years. Don’t let my complaints fool you. It was a very, very fun ride overall.
****This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS. Beware!
Spoilers ahead ...
In many ways, this may be the definitive carnival horror novel. Koontz really nails the setting and atmosphere in this one. I’m a huge sucker for carny stories, so naturally, I loved it. The horror elements are very effective and fit solidly within the context of the plot. The villains are top-notch: disgusting, powerful, cunning, menacing and brutal. Likewise, the character work (with one exception) is much better here than in Phantoms (the only other Koontz book I’ve read).
Now, there is one BIG gargantuan elephant in the room that prevented me from awarding this 5 stars, and this involves Rya. Um ... what happened with this character? First off, she has some ridiculously cringe-worthy dialogue at times that literally made me laugh out loud. In an attempt to be sexy (I think?) she says things that no human being has ever uttered in the history of the planet. She sounds like an alien attempting to mimic speech patterns she thinks a human male would be attracted to. It’s incredibly bizarre and sticks out like a sore thumb. Not a deal-breaker ... just extremely awkward.
Secondly, her personality is extremely inconsistent: shy, distant and uber professional one minute ... loose, outgoing and utterly reckless the next. She almost feels bi-polar (unclear if this is what Koontz was going for).
(Turn back if you don’t want ***SPOILERS)
And then, a bigger problem. Not only does she commit the ultimate betrayal by turning Slim over to the goblin police chief, she also tries to murder him and nearly succeeds by stabbing him in the gut. And then Slim just forgives her nearly instantly? Was it no big deal? “Just a flesh wound”?
Next thing you know they’re married and carrying on as if nothing happened. Not only that, now Rya is basically a soldier fighting the goblins and acting all self-righteous, as if we’re supposed to forget she is a massive traitor. C’mon, man. That’s just too much for me to swallow. It’s a glaringly inconsistent character arc that makes zero sense to include in the story. She goes from good to bad to good in the span of a few pages. It really bothered the hell out of me. She is never held accountable for her actions and this major plot point is basically brushed over. So frustrating!
That aside, this book was pretty awesome. I truly enjoyed it and will likely revisit this story again in a few years. Don’t let my complaints fool you. It was a very, very fun ride overall.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2021
I first read this novel when I was in high school or college—one of the first of Koontz books I encountered. Like many of his novels, many of the images have stayed strongly in my memory for the interceding thirty-plus years and I wanted to know if the novel was as good as I remembered it being. So I picked it up again in audio format and thoroughly enjoyed getting back into the carnival that is the focus of the first half of the book.
Twilight Eyes is the story of a young man (Slim) who has discovered (due to a minor psychic ability) that monsters masquerading as humans (he calls them goblins) live among us and while they pretend to be very concerned about their families and neighbors, they actually revel in torturing (both physically and emotionally) everyone around them. Over the course of the novel, we learn that Slim has come to this carnival seeking work because he has murdered his uncle (a goblin) to keep him from killing his cousin—but Slim does occasionally doubt his own sanity, which makes him an even more empathetic character.
The carnival is the heart of the first half of this story. It’s set in 1963 and unlike a modern preference to make the carnival a place of horrors, Koontz has made it a refuge from the horrible world dominated by the goblins. We travel with Slim as he fits into the community and begins to really like his new neighbors. And we feel for him as he tries and fails to protect the carnival from the goblins. There are triumphs and betrayals in the first half of this story as Slim tries to figure out how he and his new friends can get by.
The second half of the novel was fascinatingly motivated by news of the murder Kitty Genovese, a young New York City woman who was stabbed to death to death in a New York City parking lot over a 30-minute period while 38 of her neighbors watched or listened and didn’t call the police or intervene to help her. Slim, and his girlfriend, decide that they can’t be like those neighbors and ignore the goblins and so they go on the attack in the very tense and exciting second half of the book.
While not one of Koontz best novels, it has a lot of the characteristics that make his stories so great. There are compelling characters struggling with issues of morality—when is it necessary to intervene and how much do concerns for one’s personal safety counter that necessity. It also deals with the strength that comes from a healthy loving relationship. If you want a good adventure yarn in a horror setting, or if you just like Dean Koontz’ other books, you’ll like Twilight Eyes.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
Twilight Eyes is the story of a young man (Slim) who has discovered (due to a minor psychic ability) that monsters masquerading as humans (he calls them goblins) live among us and while they pretend to be very concerned about their families and neighbors, they actually revel in torturing (both physically and emotionally) everyone around them. Over the course of the novel, we learn that Slim has come to this carnival seeking work because he has murdered his uncle (a goblin) to keep him from killing his cousin—but Slim does occasionally doubt his own sanity, which makes him an even more empathetic character.
The carnival is the heart of the first half of this story. It’s set in 1963 and unlike a modern preference to make the carnival a place of horrors, Koontz has made it a refuge from the horrible world dominated by the goblins. We travel with Slim as he fits into the community and begins to really like his new neighbors. And we feel for him as he tries and fails to protect the carnival from the goblins. There are triumphs and betrayals in the first half of this story as Slim tries to figure out how he and his new friends can get by.
The second half of the novel was fascinatingly motivated by news of the murder Kitty Genovese, a young New York City woman who was stabbed to death to death in a New York City parking lot over a 30-minute period while 38 of her neighbors watched or listened and didn’t call the police or intervene to help her. Slim, and his girlfriend, decide that they can’t be like those neighbors and ignore the goblins and so they go on the attack in the very tense and exciting second half of the book.
While not one of Koontz best novels, it has a lot of the characteristics that make his stories so great. There are compelling characters struggling with issues of morality—when is it necessary to intervene and how much do concerns for one’s personal safety counter that necessity. It also deals with the strength that comes from a healthy loving relationship. If you want a good adventure yarn in a horror setting, or if you just like Dean Koontz’ other books, you’ll like Twilight Eyes.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
October 24, 2023
Twilight Eyes is a tale of two halves if I've ever read one in my life. It tells the story of Slim MacKenzie, a carnie gifted with a psychic gift called Twilight Eyes, which allows him to see members of a murderous goblin race that are disguised as human beings and walking among us. On the lamb for killing his uncle, who was one of the goblins, in another town, he joins the Sombra Brothers Carnival, falls in love with fellow carnie Rya, and wages his silent war against the goblins at night, while trying to live a normal, relatively happy life during the day.
As I alluded to earlier, this book is split into two parts. If Koontz had simply written 5-10 pages more to tie up Part I and give it a decent ending, and that was the end of the book, this would be a four-star book without a doubt, because Part I was excellent. Unfortunately, Part II: Dark Lightning is part of this book, and is a totally unnecessary, overwritten, 200-page slog that adds nothing to the story other than two interesting new characters in elderly Horton Bluett and his charming dog Growler.
It's complete filler and I considered DNF'ing this book several times during it. Billed as the part of the book that would showcase "the war against the goblins", the second part is spectacularly disappointing, and is basically just 200 pages culminating in a disappointing, trivial raid on an underground mine with a few hundred goblins (Koontz says in Part I that there could be millions of goblins spread across the entire world) in a middle-of-nowhere town. That part could have been written in like 50 pages; it's so overwritten and dull and just plain terrible.
There are other problems that pervade the book as a whole though, such as the annoying insta-romance between Slim and Rya. They're madly in love after a week, and all they ever do is have sex like every two pages for the entire first part of the book, which is 250 pages long. The origin story given for the goblins is also laughable, and completely flies in the face of the entire history of the evolution of life on this planet, which is well documented. I understand this is fiction, but you have to suspend so much disbelief to buy that origin story. There are also constant cringe-worthy religious references throughout this book, lines like:
Blackness as deep as that in the bottom of God's boot.
Ugh. Huge eye roll. And there's the issue of Slim's "magic knowledge"; he's just a seventeen-year-old kid, but he has knowledge and wisdom decades beyond his years in virtually every conceivable area of life, and he even has advanced knowledge in weapons and plastic explosives. So that was pretty ridiculous as well.
For me, Twilight Eyes is a microcosm of Koontz's entire career, because every Koontz book I've read can be summarized in the same way: great, thought-provoking idea, but horrible execution. A tragic collapse for what started out a great (though heavily flawed) book, I can only recommend you read the first part (the first 250 pages), come up with whatever you think would be a good ending to that part in your mind, and walk away without reading Part II. It will be a much more enjoyable reading experience, and it's what I wish I had done.
Part I: 4 stars
Part II: 2 stars
Overall: 3 stars
As I alluded to earlier, this book is split into two parts. If Koontz had simply written 5-10 pages more to tie up Part I and give it a decent ending, and that was the end of the book, this would be a four-star book without a doubt, because Part I was excellent. Unfortunately, Part II: Dark Lightning is part of this book, and is a totally unnecessary, overwritten, 200-page slog that adds nothing to the story other than two interesting new characters in elderly Horton Bluett and his charming dog Growler.
It's complete filler and I considered DNF'ing this book several times during it. Billed as the part of the book that would showcase "the war against the goblins", the second part is spectacularly disappointing, and is basically just 200 pages culminating in a disappointing, trivial raid on an underground mine with a few hundred goblins (Koontz says in Part I that there could be millions of goblins spread across the entire world) in a middle-of-nowhere town. That part could have been written in like 50 pages; it's so overwritten and dull and just plain terrible.
There are other problems that pervade the book as a whole though, such as the annoying insta-romance between Slim and Rya. They're madly in love after a week, and all they ever do is have sex like every two pages for the entire first part of the book, which is 250 pages long. The origin story given for the goblins is also laughable, and completely flies in the face of the entire history of the evolution of life on this planet, which is well documented. I understand this is fiction, but you have to suspend so much disbelief to buy that origin story. There are also constant cringe-worthy religious references throughout this book, lines like:
Blackness as deep as that in the bottom of God's boot.
Ugh. Huge eye roll. And there's the issue of Slim's "magic knowledge"; he's just a seventeen-year-old kid, but he has knowledge and wisdom decades beyond his years in virtually every conceivable area of life, and he even has advanced knowledge in weapons and plastic explosives. So that was pretty ridiculous as well.
For me, Twilight Eyes is a microcosm of Koontz's entire career, because every Koontz book I've read can be summarized in the same way: great, thought-provoking idea, but horrible execution. A tragic collapse for what started out a great (though heavily flawed) book, I can only recommend you read the first part (the first 250 pages), come up with whatever you think would be a good ending to that part in your mind, and walk away without reading Part II. It will be a much more enjoyable reading experience, and it's what I wish I had done.
Part I: 4 stars
Part II: 2 stars
Overall: 3 stars
December 30, 2015
For my extended review and a parody of the writing, please visit Casual Debris.
Twilight Eyes fails on every level: conception, plot, character, development, character development, setting delineation and writing. Even the title is weak: a misplaced 1980s pop tune. The novel focuses on a seventeen year-old boy who has the inexplicable natural ability to see through the disguises of certain "people" and recognize them for what they truly are: porcine creatures bent on exterminating the human race, driven by their predisposed hatred of humankind. The boy, Slim MacKenzie (as he has aliased himself), is on a journey to destroy these evil creatures which he randomly refers to as "goblins." The novel opens with Slim sneaking onto the closed lot of a travelling carnival, which is the setting for the first half of the novel. The second half of the novel is set in a small town that has become a hive for these monsters.
The narrator of his own story, Slim MacKenzie is a seventeen year-old drifter from Oregon, who is athletic, sensitive, morally upright and older than his years, traits that we are constantly being reminded of as though Koontz is trying hard to convince us of their accuracy. But as Slim sees through the goblin mask, I can see through Koontz and am blatantly aware that Slim is instead uninteresting and unbelievable, as flat as his prose and with less charm than the ink that was wasted in printing the text. The narration itself is immediately marred by the fact that the narrator is ageless, seventeen or a hundred and two, leading me to suspect that it is not Slim himself narrating but someone pretending to be him, and I am left with the notion that Koontz has merely immersed himself in what is essentially a juvenile male-driven fantasy.
Throughout my reading I kept wondering about narrator Slim's vantage point and his motive in telling the story. The events occur in 1963, but it is unclear at what stage in his life Slim is currently in and how distanced he has become from the events he is relating. The voice is ageless and remote, trance-like and devoid of personality, not seventeen but neither forty, which is likely what impels Koontz to keep reminding the reader that Slim is only seventeen. Koontz takes it for granted that this is even an issue, but while we don't require actual details of Slim's present circumstances, we do need to be somewhat grounded with narrator and narrative. The story should have been written in the third person. This would have eliminated the need for the grounding that Koontz is unable to deliver, and would have made Slim so much more interesting. I believe Koontz chose to write the story in the first person in order to allow for some dull moralizing that weighs the book down as heavily as a building would sink a rubber dinghy.
With such an elusive narrator we can only guess as to what inspired Slim to tell his story. The reader is expected to believe the narrator's every word; Slim doesn't even attempt to convince us that these goblins are real, and he proceeds with the presumption that we automatically believe him. Moreover, he is not trying to warn us of the danger of these hell-bent goblins, as he tells his story in a fairly casual way, withholding key pieces of information and revealing them at seemingly random points of the narrative. Slim is not even focused on these goblins and their threat to humanity, as he wades in a swamp of unimportant particulars. The emphasis on the most personal details of his sexual relationship with lover Rya Raines leads me to question his sensitive and moral nature, for he ends up coming off as an immature and overly-sexed man-child, bragging about giving Rya two orgasms before he even enters her, gushing embarrassingly over her perfectly rounded breasts, and then describing in odd detail his own orgasms: "through the medium of my sperm I passed my own heartbeat into her, the two now thumping as one." (p. 143) Perhaps this description is supposed to contrast the "spurting" blood of the goblins in the following paragraph, with "its thick warm jets of thick crimson serum," the serum in contrast with the semen, one giving life while the other steals it away (though this fails not only because of awful execution, but because Rya cannot have children and hence the life-giving aspect is moot). I don't believe any contrasts are attempted here; it is all part of a juvenile male fantasy.
Story-wise very little happens. Over the course of 451 pages we are given very little in the way of story and plot, with a rambling narrative that lacks direction. Instead of story we have naïve Christian moralizing and philosophizing (I don't mean that Christian moralizing and philosophizing itself is naïve, just that Koontz's own practice of it is less than insightful). Throughout the narrative Koontz/Slim reminds us that some people are good, while others are bad. Some are so bad that they may as well be evil "goblins," though overall humankind is filled with more good than bad and we should not harm the good because there is some bad in the flock. Destroy bad and maintain good; such is the purpose of life. Koontz tries to add ambiguity by illustrating extreme scenarios of "real" humans who act as though they are goblins, trying to drown us with the notion that the creatures may have a valid point in their desire to destroy humanity.
Furthermore, just like these goblins some "real" humans act friendly but are manifestations of evil and wear their friendliness as a disguise to allow them to perpetrate more acts of evil. These attempts at uniting story with base morality fall flat, as though Koontz was desperate to add some other dimension to the text in order to save it from its inherent uselessness. Amid this mess Koontz repeatedly uses Christian imagery or reference in everything from his similes and metaphors to the moralizing itself. Slim hears a scream that sounds like the voice of God (is it not sinful to assume that a mere man can imagine the voice of God?), and my personal favourite, Slim's statement near the end of Part One that love is the cross on which he was crucified. Each page is seemingly filled with such allusions that the practice is quickly tiring, and eventually more than irritating.
The novel is written with an agonizingly grating stream of repetition. Not only do scenes repeat themselves, but descriptions from death to sex are essentially reformatted every few chapters. We are plagued by constant repetition of how evil these "goblins" are, beaten over the head with overused adjectives such as "evil," "dark," and so forth, and are told over and over when and where Slim and Rya make love, and just how his semen intermingles with Rya's inner self, or some such nonsense.
This repetition is not reserved for descriptions and scenes, but the narrative is approached with a single, lackluster technique. Koontz begins each scene with a statement, either an idea, the introduction of a character or a single event, and he then proceeds to analyze that statement, however mundane. Koontz sticks to this pattern so avidly that I was able to survive the final hundred and fifty pages by reading only the first sentence of each paragraph, while reading in full those few scenes that manage to progress the limited plot. Perhaps aware of the repetitive structure, Koontz breaks off once in a while to gives us a series of brief sentences that are supposed to heighten tension, but that come across as dry and lazy.
Twilight Eyes fails on every level: conception, plot, character, development, character development, setting delineation and writing. Even the title is weak: a misplaced 1980s pop tune. The novel focuses on a seventeen year-old boy who has the inexplicable natural ability to see through the disguises of certain "people" and recognize them for what they truly are: porcine creatures bent on exterminating the human race, driven by their predisposed hatred of humankind. The boy, Slim MacKenzie (as he has aliased himself), is on a journey to destroy these evil creatures which he randomly refers to as "goblins." The novel opens with Slim sneaking onto the closed lot of a travelling carnival, which is the setting for the first half of the novel. The second half of the novel is set in a small town that has become a hive for these monsters.
The narrator of his own story, Slim MacKenzie is a seventeen year-old drifter from Oregon, who is athletic, sensitive, morally upright and older than his years, traits that we are constantly being reminded of as though Koontz is trying hard to convince us of their accuracy. But as Slim sees through the goblin mask, I can see through Koontz and am blatantly aware that Slim is instead uninteresting and unbelievable, as flat as his prose and with less charm than the ink that was wasted in printing the text. The narration itself is immediately marred by the fact that the narrator is ageless, seventeen or a hundred and two, leading me to suspect that it is not Slim himself narrating but someone pretending to be him, and I am left with the notion that Koontz has merely immersed himself in what is essentially a juvenile male-driven fantasy.
Throughout my reading I kept wondering about narrator Slim's vantage point and his motive in telling the story. The events occur in 1963, but it is unclear at what stage in his life Slim is currently in and how distanced he has become from the events he is relating. The voice is ageless and remote, trance-like and devoid of personality, not seventeen but neither forty, which is likely what impels Koontz to keep reminding the reader that Slim is only seventeen. Koontz takes it for granted that this is even an issue, but while we don't require actual details of Slim's present circumstances, we do need to be somewhat grounded with narrator and narrative. The story should have been written in the third person. This would have eliminated the need for the grounding that Koontz is unable to deliver, and would have made Slim so much more interesting. I believe Koontz chose to write the story in the first person in order to allow for some dull moralizing that weighs the book down as heavily as a building would sink a rubber dinghy.
With such an elusive narrator we can only guess as to what inspired Slim to tell his story. The reader is expected to believe the narrator's every word; Slim doesn't even attempt to convince us that these goblins are real, and he proceeds with the presumption that we automatically believe him. Moreover, he is not trying to warn us of the danger of these hell-bent goblins, as he tells his story in a fairly casual way, withholding key pieces of information and revealing them at seemingly random points of the narrative. Slim is not even focused on these goblins and their threat to humanity, as he wades in a swamp of unimportant particulars. The emphasis on the most personal details of his sexual relationship with lover Rya Raines leads me to question his sensitive and moral nature, for he ends up coming off as an immature and overly-sexed man-child, bragging about giving Rya two orgasms before he even enters her, gushing embarrassingly over her perfectly rounded breasts, and then describing in odd detail his own orgasms: "through the medium of my sperm I passed my own heartbeat into her, the two now thumping as one." (p. 143) Perhaps this description is supposed to contrast the "spurting" blood of the goblins in the following paragraph, with "its thick warm jets of thick crimson serum," the serum in contrast with the semen, one giving life while the other steals it away (though this fails not only because of awful execution, but because Rya cannot have children and hence the life-giving aspect is moot). I don't believe any contrasts are attempted here; it is all part of a juvenile male fantasy.
Story-wise very little happens. Over the course of 451 pages we are given very little in the way of story and plot, with a rambling narrative that lacks direction. Instead of story we have naïve Christian moralizing and philosophizing (I don't mean that Christian moralizing and philosophizing itself is naïve, just that Koontz's own practice of it is less than insightful). Throughout the narrative Koontz/Slim reminds us that some people are good, while others are bad. Some are so bad that they may as well be evil "goblins," though overall humankind is filled with more good than bad and we should not harm the good because there is some bad in the flock. Destroy bad and maintain good; such is the purpose of life. Koontz tries to add ambiguity by illustrating extreme scenarios of "real" humans who act as though they are goblins, trying to drown us with the notion that the creatures may have a valid point in their desire to destroy humanity.
Furthermore, just like these goblins some "real" humans act friendly but are manifestations of evil and wear their friendliness as a disguise to allow them to perpetrate more acts of evil. These attempts at uniting story with base morality fall flat, as though Koontz was desperate to add some other dimension to the text in order to save it from its inherent uselessness. Amid this mess Koontz repeatedly uses Christian imagery or reference in everything from his similes and metaphors to the moralizing itself. Slim hears a scream that sounds like the voice of God (is it not sinful to assume that a mere man can imagine the voice of God?), and my personal favourite, Slim's statement near the end of Part One that love is the cross on which he was crucified. Each page is seemingly filled with such allusions that the practice is quickly tiring, and eventually more than irritating.
The novel is written with an agonizingly grating stream of repetition. Not only do scenes repeat themselves, but descriptions from death to sex are essentially reformatted every few chapters. We are plagued by constant repetition of how evil these "goblins" are, beaten over the head with overused adjectives such as "evil," "dark," and so forth, and are told over and over when and where Slim and Rya make love, and just how his semen intermingles with Rya's inner self, or some such nonsense.
This repetition is not reserved for descriptions and scenes, but the narrative is approached with a single, lackluster technique. Koontz begins each scene with a statement, either an idea, the introduction of a character or a single event, and he then proceeds to analyze that statement, however mundane. Koontz sticks to this pattern so avidly that I was able to survive the final hundred and fifty pages by reading only the first sentence of each paragraph, while reading in full those few scenes that manage to progress the limited plot. Perhaps aware of the repetitive structure, Koontz breaks off once in a while to gives us a series of brief sentences that are supposed to heighten tension, but that come across as dry and lazy.
March 20, 2024
As most Koontz novels, Twilight Eyes 👀 starts out promising. And for a time, the first half of the book that is, it kept me in suspense. However, I feel the author has missed out on a great opportunity to explain the protagonist’s visions and unique ability to see grotesque psychopaths in human disguise. I thought scientific explanations , perhaps even hallucinations could have served well, here. Instead, Koontz choose, rather untypically, a rather naive and cliched background story to the mystery, that when finally exposed also asked me to suspend disbelief. What saves the story is the complex interaction between the two main characters which really picks up in the second half of the book, after the unsatisfactory exposition of the enigma. In sum, even though I did not enjoy this quite as much, I would say it is worth the time. 😀
November 20, 2018
3 на релси :)
Не останах особено очарована от " Отвъдни очи". Имах по- големи очаквания относно развитието на историята и персонажите, а всъщност се натъкнах на много излишни и натоварващи описания. Основната идея се върти повече около уродливостта, която някои хора носят в себе си, отколкото в злото като външен фактор. По- лесно е човек да прехвърли отговорността за действията си върху нещо или някой друг, отколкото върху неговия съзнателен избор. Точно такова беше усещането ми, докато четях " Отвъдни очи". Не ми допадна начинът, по който стана въвеждането в самата история- доста прибързано и повърхностно. Забелязах тенденция към протяжна повторяемост в книгата. Преходът между първата и втората част ми се стори много наивно- не��огичен, но явно авторът се е опитал да награди история, която вече е била завършена.
Любовно--романтичните сцени бяха толкова завоалирани, че човек може да се чуди за какво въобще става въпрос. И определено се забавлявах с описанията, все едно чета емоционалните фантазии на тинейджър:
" Когато дълбоко в нея коприненото ми семе внезапно започна да се разгръща на гъвкави течни панделки, ми се стори, че те ни съшиват заедно, пришиват ни тяло за тяло и душа за душа."
Може би не започнах с най- подходящия избор за първа среща с автора. Първата част ми беше доста досадна, но поне към края историята се отприщи, стана по- интересна, а с втората част, действието престана да буксува на едно място и тръгна в по- вълнуваща посока. Набелязала съм си още няколко книги на Кунц, така че засега не го отписвам отписвам. Надявам се следващите му творби да ми допаднат повече.
Не останах особено очарована от " Отвъдни очи". Имах по- големи очаквания относно развитието на историята и персонажите, а всъщност се натъкнах на много излишни и натоварващи описания. Основната идея се върти повече около уродливостта, която някои хора носят в себе си, отколкото в злото като външен фактор. По- лесно е човек да прехвърли отговорността за действията си върху нещо или някой друг, отколкото върху неговия съзнателен избор. Точно такова беше усещането ми, докато четях " Отвъдни очи". Не ми допадна начинът, по който стана въвеждането в самата история- доста прибързано и повърхностно. Забелязах тенденция към протяжна повторяемост в книгата. Преходът между първата и втората част ми се стори много наивно- не��огичен, но явно авторът се е опитал да награди история, която вече е била завършена.
Любовно--романтичните сцени бяха толкова завоалирани, че човек може да се чуди за какво въобще става въпрос. И определено се забавлявах с описанията, все едно чета емоционалните фантазии на тинейджър:
" Когато дълбоко в нея коприненото ми семе внезапно започна да се разгръща на гъвкави течни панделки, ми се стори, че те ни съшиват заедно, пришиват ни тяло за тяло и душа за душа."
Може би не започнах с най- подходящия избор за първа среща с автора. Първата част ми беше доста досадна, но поне към края историята се отприщи, стана по- интересна, а с втората част, действието престана да буксува на едно място и тръгна в по- вълнуваща посока. Набелязала съм си още няколко книги на Кунц, така че засега не го отписвам отписвам. Надявам се следващите му творби да ми допаднат повече.
February 25, 2022
This has still got to be my all-time favourite Koontz novel. I have re-read it numerous times, and will no doubt continue to do so. I still feel like there should be a sequel to it!
Slim McKenzie and Rya Raines are two of the coolest characters in the world of fiction. And this book actually made me want to run and join the carnival.
Slim McKenzie and Rya Raines are two of the coolest characters in the world of fiction. And this book actually made me want to run and join the carnival.
April 3, 2020
Хич не съм очарована, поради редица причини. Бясно започнах да въртя очи в стил "Оф, как можа да измислиш тая идиотщина" още към страница 200. Сериозно, ама наистина сериозно... Ще бъда силна и няма да разкажа всички падения, за да не разкажа книгата.
Може пък просто темата да е остаряла. Предвид това, че романът е от 80-те би следвало идеята, "плашещото" и прочие неща в него вече да нямат същия заряд. Мда, нямат го. Пък и като цяло лично на мен идеята за таласъми не ми е била страшна и като дете. Разбира се, тук фокусът е малко изместен към това, че сред нас има и хора, които не са съвсем хора, базирайки се на "изначалното зло" в тях. Обаче причината за наличието на таласъми сред нас - господи, как я измисли тая тъпотия?
Да не говорим, че двете половини на книгата не се връзват съвсем логически. В първата част Слим беше "ще избия всичкото зло на света", във втората половина - коренно различно отношение към нещата. Вероятно защото половинките са писани по различно време?
Но, да не забравяме, героят е "само на седемнайсет" (след десетия път, когато го повтори, щях да откача вече) и има свръх яките парапсихични способности (всеки път споменаването на това изглеждаше като надувка, също ме дразнеше). Той ще отложи унищожението на света (като най-якия американски терминатор, много ясно!!) след всяка своя ваканция , през която ще ни разкаже в стил "Арлекин" за креватните си приключения с Рия... За жалост, иначе добронамерената и нелоша мисъл зад историята в "Отвъдни очи" рязко се губи от начина, по който е разказан романът.
Може пък просто темата да е остаряла. Предвид това, че романът е от 80-те би следвало идеята, "плашещото" и прочие неща в него вече да нямат същия заряд. Мда, нямат го. Пък и като цяло лично на мен идеята за таласъми не ми е била страшна и като дете. Разбира се, тук фокусът е малко изместен към това, че сред нас има и хора, които не са съвсем хора, базирайки се на "изначалното зло" в тях. Обаче причината за наличието на таласъми сред нас - господи, как я измисли тая тъпотия?
Да не говорим, че двете половини на книгата не се връзват съвсем логически. В първата част Слим беше "ще избия всичкото зло на света", във втората половина - коренно различно отношение към нещата. Вероятно защото половинките са писани по различно време?
Но, да не забравяме, героят е "само на седемнайсет" (след десетия път, когато го повтори, щях да откача вече) и има свръх яките парапсихични способности (всеки път споменаването на това изглеждаше като надувка, също ме дразнеше). Той ще отложи унищожението на света (като най-якия американски терминатор, много ясно!!) след всяка своя ваканция , през която ще ни разкаже в стил "Арлекин" за креватните си приключения с Рия... За жалост, иначе добронамерената и нелоша мисъл зад историята в "Отвъдни очи" рязко се губи от начина, по който е разказан романът.
July 8, 2014
An absolute classic and first one he wrote in the first person. Five stars all the way!
March 14, 2018
One of my Koontz favorites and also one of the first few of his I read. Nightmares but I was in county jail (my violent ex said I hit him too so I would go to jail too) so between my wariness of carnies, the bizarre plot and my just-as-bad reality, mind bending. Even the CO asked if I was alright when I would wake up. Honestly, I finished it at a much later date. But recommend it HIGHLY.
February 26, 2007
This book is utter shit, but when I read the sex scene near the beginning as a self-exploring man-child of 14 years of age, I couldn't help but think, "Now THERE'S something that'll happen to me painfully infrequently as an adult!"
Don't worry, this was my one and only Koontz book; I tried to read more and they were just fucking awful. I blame my mother for interests in these types of novels.
Don't worry, this was my one and only Koontz book; I tried to read more and they were just fucking awful. I blame my mother for interests in these types of novels.
September 17, 2011
While an excellent read I find it difficult to describe. At the time it was quite original material. I do believe it's a topic that has been copied since then but never mastered quite as well. Again Mr. Koontz walks that thin line between believable scifi/thriller without going over the edge into the unbelievable. good read, fast paced without being hurried or forced along. Worth picking up.
October 26, 2016
Well, there's nothing quite like re-reading a favorite book only to discover that it's no longer a favorite...
I honestly think that this book is the reason that I love supernatural horror so much. It's been a favorite for many, many years. Unfortunately the writing is merely average, which is good normally, but I've gotten so spoiled on Koontz's later writing that average wasn't quite good enough this time. It's really amazing to see how much his writing has changed over the years. The things that I think of as trademarks are completely absent in this book. Mainly it's humor and hope that is missing. And without humor and hope Koontz is just another author to me. Albeit one who writes some totally cool and terrifying stories. But it's the humor and hope that gives Koontz "Favorite Author" status in my mind. Anyway, it's still actually a good story.
At the start of this book we have a 17 year old boy named Slim sneaking into a carnival in the dead of night (couldn't resist saying that), intending to get some sleep and try to join up the following day. He's been on the run for six months because he killed his uncle who was systematically murdering Slim's extended family. His uncle was what Slim calls a "goblin" . Goblins are creatures that can mask themselves as human but live to rain pain, destruction, and despair down on humans.
He makes friends at the carnival - and actually, he's attacked by a zombie goblin at one point. I haven't seen that one before. So he makes friends at the carnival and falls madly in love with Rya Raines. Unfortunately, with his psychic mojo, he can also tell that there's going to be a goblin attack on their ferris wheel. In order to help his new friends he travels into Yontsdown to help grease the wheels for the upcoming carnival stop. In Yontsdown he finds a terrifying number of goblins and comes to realize that they're more organized than he realized.
The attempt at a sci-fi explanation didn't work for me so I shall forever consider this to be supernatural fantasy horror, my favorite theme. Despite the demotion from my favorites shelf, this is actually a first rate tale and is entirely responsible for my love of supernatural horror stories. I've read it many times and I'll read it many more.
I honestly think that this book is the reason that I love supernatural horror so much. It's been a favorite for many, many years. Unfortunately the writing is merely average, which is good normally, but I've gotten so spoiled on Koontz's later writing that average wasn't quite good enough this time. It's really amazing to see how much his writing has changed over the years. The things that I think of as trademarks are completely absent in this book. Mainly it's humor and hope that is missing. And without humor and hope Koontz is just another author to me. Albeit one who writes some totally cool and terrifying stories. But it's the humor and hope that gives Koontz "Favorite Author" status in my mind. Anyway, it's still actually a good story.
At the start of this book we have a 17 year old boy named Slim sneaking into a carnival in the dead of night (couldn't resist saying that), intending to get some sleep and try to join up the following day. He's been on the run for six months because he killed his uncle who was systematically murdering Slim's extended family. His uncle was what Slim calls a "goblin" . Goblins are creatures that can mask themselves as human but live to rain pain, destruction, and despair down on humans.
He makes friends at the carnival - and actually, he's attacked by a zombie goblin at one point. I haven't seen that one before. So he makes friends at the carnival and falls madly in love with Rya Raines. Unfortunately, with his psychic mojo, he can also tell that there's going to be a goblin attack on their ferris wheel. In order to help his new friends he travels into Yontsdown to help grease the wheels for the upcoming carnival stop. In Yontsdown he finds a terrifying number of goblins and comes to realize that they're more organized than he realized.
The attempt at a sci-fi explanation didn't work for me so I shall forever consider this to be supernatural fantasy horror, my favorite theme. Despite the demotion from my favorites shelf, this is actually a first rate tale and is entirely responsible for my love of supernatural horror stories. I've read it many times and I'll read it many more.
September 22, 2011
This is the first book I read from Dean Koontz. I had a long bread between clients one day and decided to go find something to read since I had finished another book. I had a very hard time putting this book down and I kept thinking to myself "Is this real?" that is how he writes. He talkes about real places and inputs a bazaar idea into real life. Scared me to death. Great writer.
September 11, 2011
Twilight Eyes is a very good novel concerning goblins that very few people are aware of. Without a pyschic ability, most people are unaware of the hordes of goblins out to destroy the world. Nonstop suspense kept me reading until I finished!
January 8, 2022
Read this as a teenager and really enjoyed it at the time.
December 30, 2023
Classic Koontz from the 1980s and one of the best.
May 27, 2010
"Twilight Eyes" was originally published as a limited edition in 1985. In 1987 Koontz expanded the story by writing the second part and published it again...which unfortunately shows.
Part 1 is interesting: Slim McKenzie, A 17-year old boy who sees monsters he names "goblins" wanders into a carnival to find peace. These Goblins aren't your ordinary monsters - they hide under a human guise. But Slim has Twilight Eyes, a powr which allows him to see through the curtain and kill the wicked creature beneath.
I usually don't care for Koontz's characters, but this book is a bit different that his others. Slim sounds like someone I could possibly believe is 17, and his love interest is interesting and mysterious. There are cheesy love scenes and corny dialogues between the two (the girl climbs a stairway of climaxes. Get it ? A stairway of climaxes. Shame on you Led Zep) but overall the atmosphere is engrossing enough to make you turn the page.
I liked the fact that Slim was presented as unreliable, and it all could have happened inside his head - making him a bloody murderer. However, since this is a Koontz book it's obviously not the case and we have a god guy battling the evil monsters. Part 1 ends in an extremely anticlimatic way, but still the ride is interesting enough to guarantee at least some degree of satisfaction.
Part 2 sucks balls. Koontz strips his characters from the shreds of personality he gave them, takes away their voices and insserts his own political mumbo jumbo. Obviously some writers use express their views in their novels, but he is so obvious that it hurts. An example follows:
"As the news ended, Rya switched off the radio and said, "Not all the
evil in the world comes from the goblins."
"No."
"We're capable of our own atrocities."
"Very capable," I agreed.
She was silent for a moment, listening to distant cries of sea gulls
and to the gentle waves breaking softly on the shore.
At last she said, "Year by year, through the death and suffering and
cruelty that the goblins produce, they force goodness and honesty and
truth into an ever smaller corner.
We live in a world that grows colder and meaner all the time, Mostly though not entirely-because of them, a world in which most of the examples of behavior for younger generations are increasingly bad examples. Which guarantees that each new generation will be less compassionate than the one before it. Each new generation will have a greater tolerance for lies and murder and cruelty. We're less than twenty years removed from Hitler's mass murders, but do most people seem to remember or care what happened? Stalin killed at least three times as many as Hitler, but no one speaks of it.
Now, in China, Mao Tse-tung is killing millions and grinding millions more to dust in slave-labor camps, but do you hear many cries of outrage? The trend won't be reversed until
"Until?"
"Until we do something about the goblins.""
Amd other stuff like this, including the emphasis of love and friendship, something hedoes all the time in most blalant ways. Part 2 is long, drawn out, boring as hell with another anticlimatic ending which is forced and unsatysfying.
When you can tell that the author speaks through his puppet, it means it's a bad book. But I have a soft spot for most of Koontz's books, so I give this one three stars. If you want to read it, you can safely skip part two - it took me three days to get through part one and seven to finish the second.
Part 1 is interesting: Slim McKenzie, A 17-year old boy who sees monsters he names "goblins" wanders into a carnival to find peace. These Goblins aren't your ordinary monsters - they hide under a human guise. But Slim has Twilight Eyes, a powr which allows him to see through the curtain and kill the wicked creature beneath.
I usually don't care for Koontz's characters, but this book is a bit different that his others. Slim sounds like someone I could possibly believe is 17, and his love interest is interesting and mysterious. There are cheesy love scenes and corny dialogues between the two (the girl climbs a stairway of climaxes. Get it ? A stairway of climaxes. Shame on you Led Zep) but overall the atmosphere is engrossing enough to make you turn the page.
I liked the fact that Slim was presented as unreliable, and it all could have happened inside his head - making him a bloody murderer. However, since this is a Koontz book it's obviously not the case and we have a god guy battling the evil monsters. Part 1 ends in an extremely anticlimatic way, but still the ride is interesting enough to guarantee at least some degree of satisfaction.
Part 2 sucks balls. Koontz strips his characters from the shreds of personality he gave them, takes away their voices and insserts his own political mumbo jumbo. Obviously some writers use express their views in their novels, but he is so obvious that it hurts. An example follows:
"As the news ended, Rya switched off the radio and said, "Not all the
evil in the world comes from the goblins."
"No."
"We're capable of our own atrocities."
"Very capable," I agreed.
She was silent for a moment, listening to distant cries of sea gulls
and to the gentle waves breaking softly on the shore.
At last she said, "Year by year, through the death and suffering and
cruelty that the goblins produce, they force goodness and honesty and
truth into an ever smaller corner.
We live in a world that grows colder and meaner all the time, Mostly though not entirely-because of them, a world in which most of the examples of behavior for younger generations are increasingly bad examples. Which guarantees that each new generation will be less compassionate than the one before it. Each new generation will have a greater tolerance for lies and murder and cruelty. We're less than twenty years removed from Hitler's mass murders, but do most people seem to remember or care what happened? Stalin killed at least three times as many as Hitler, but no one speaks of it.
Now, in China, Mao Tse-tung is killing millions and grinding millions more to dust in slave-labor camps, but do you hear many cries of outrage? The trend won't be reversed until
"Until?"
"Until we do something about the goblins.""
Amd other stuff like this, including the emphasis of love and friendship, something hedoes all the time in most blalant ways. Part 2 is long, drawn out, boring as hell with another anticlimatic ending which is forced and unsatysfying.
When you can tell that the author speaks through his puppet, it means it's a bad book. But I have a soft spot for most of Koontz's books, so I give this one three stars. If you want to read it, you can safely skip part two - it took me three days to get through part one and seven to finish the second.
February 25, 2015
This book is about a teenage boy, Slim, who has a psychic ability. It allows him to see goblins who have been around for a long time and are disguised as humans. Slim who is looking for anonymity joins a carnival as he continues his mission to destroy goblins.
This was a reread for me as I read it many years ago. When I read it for the first time it did not stand out like it did this time (funny how that happens). This was actually two novellas pressed into one novel. The first novella describes Slim and his new life at the carnival. I loved this part of the story as it had a horror feeling to it. I believe fans of the Odd Thomas series will enjoy this part of the novel as there are many similarities. In the first half, we get eccentric characters and a sense of intimacy with the main character. These are typical features one expects from a Dean Koontz book. The second novella was likeable but was a step down from the first novella. This part is more sci-fi than horror and Koontz portrays the goblin manifestation as a global problem than the intimate setting he used previously. I think when this happened I wasn't connected as much to the storyline. Also, the descriptions in this half were much longer and lost its effectiveness as I wasn't held in suspense like the first half.
This was a solid read and the first half was fantastic. I did think the second half was a little too much. That being said I enjoyed the characters of Slim and the carnies and it was very interesting to read a similar concept to his Odd books that was written many year ago.
This was a reread for me as I read it many years ago. When I read it for the first time it did not stand out like it did this time (funny how that happens). This was actually two novellas pressed into one novel. The first novella describes Slim and his new life at the carnival. I loved this part of the story as it had a horror feeling to it. I believe fans of the Odd Thomas series will enjoy this part of the novel as there are many similarities. In the first half, we get eccentric characters and a sense of intimacy with the main character. These are typical features one expects from a Dean Koontz book. The second novella was likeable but was a step down from the first novella. This part is more sci-fi than horror and Koontz portrays the goblin manifestation as a global problem than the intimate setting he used previously. I think when this happened I wasn't connected as much to the storyline. Also, the descriptions in this half were much longer and lost its effectiveness as I wasn't held in suspense like the first half.
This was a solid read and the first half was fantastic. I did think the second half was a little too much. That being said I enjoyed the characters of Slim and the carnies and it was very interesting to read a similar concept to his Odd books that was written many year ago.
September 8, 2022
October 2018 Group Read
In this read, I find the descriptive "lovemaking " scenes & chapters more intense. Making the Goblin's hunts less important to Carl & Rya as they love & protect each other. I find the love episodes described are written well.
My August 2016 read
Main characters are Carl MacKenzie (Slim/book's first person, "I") and Rya Rains (runs Sombra Brothers Carnival in YortSlim). Slim has no where to go, Rya becomes his boss and lover (love episodes described in detail). They are hunted by Goblins; monsters with clawed hands giving torment, horror and bloody murders to others.
Many Goblins have hidden identities such as: Chief Lisle Kelso of Yontsdown & Patrolmen.
Goblins and Slim/Rya have great escapes and hand-to-hand body attacks. But then trapped by Goblins in the Lightning Coal Company's Labyrinth (maze) of caves, can anyone escape unharmed?
You need to keep flow of the story, I had to re-read some chapters.
YouTube reading #1 Page 1-to-230
YouTube reading #2 Page 231-to-452
Koontzland - Group Home
In this read, I find the descriptive "lovemaking " scenes & chapters more intense. Making the Goblin's hunts less important to Carl & Rya as they love & protect each other. I find the love episodes described are written well.
My August 2016 read
Main characters are Carl MacKenzie (Slim/book's first person, "I") and Rya Rains (runs Sombra Brothers Carnival in YortSlim). Slim has no where to go, Rya becomes his boss and lover (love episodes described in detail). They are hunted by Goblins; monsters with clawed hands giving torment, horror and bloody murders to others.
Many Goblins have hidden identities such as: Chief Lisle Kelso of Yontsdown & Patrolmen.
Goblins and Slim/Rya have great escapes and hand-to-hand body attacks. But then trapped by Goblins in the Lightning Coal Company's Labyrinth (maze) of caves, can anyone escape unharmed?
You need to keep flow of the story, I had to re-read some chapters.
YouTube reading #1 Page 1-to-230
YouTube reading #2 Page 231-to-452
Koontzland - Group Home
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