Cons: Could be too strange for some people. One scene with many snakes
The Bottom Line: Shadowfires by Dean Koontz was a very good book that I really enjoyed. It is a bit strange, but it is worth reading. Fans of Koontz should enjoy it.
dragonfire88's Full Review: Dean R. Koontz - Shadow Fires
Several years ago, a friend suggested I read some Dean Koontz books. I headed off to the library and got a few and was hooked before I finished the first one. Since then, I read every Koontz book I could get my hands on and I own several. My friend suggested a few titles for me to look for. Shadowfires was one of those books. I never did find it at the library, but I did end up finding it in the bookstore about a month after I started to read Koontz. This was either the second or third Koontz book that I bought. I’ve read the book several times since then, and I still really enjoy it.
Before Dean Koontz became a successful writer, he wrote books under several different names. Since he has been well known, some of those books have been reissued under his own name. Koontz did some updating to many of those books, and included some new author notes in some of them. Those are very funny and I love finding a book with one of those. Shadowfires was originally published under the name of Leigh Nichols. I’m not sure how much editing, if any, he did to this one since there was no author’s note in it.
My copy of Shadowfires is a paperback. The book is also available as an audio book. Koontz books are in the fiction section of my local bookstore - though my bookstore recently rearranged the shelves, so it took me a while to find them when I was looking recently at his books. I’ve seen Koontz books in the fiction section of other bookstores as well. There have been a few three in one collections of Koontz books released that contain three complete novels. Shadowfires is included in one of those with two other books as well.
Rachael Leben had been married to Eric for several years. They have been separated for a year. Eric owned a company that did genetic research that was worth millions. Eric did some of the research as well. The company had some contracts with the government. They kept their research top secret and many people that worked for the company didn’t know exactly what they were doing. Projects were broken up into small sections and given to different people to work on. The company had been working on one big project that most people who worked there didn’t even know about. Eric had bragged all about it to Rachael.
Eric was worth millions, most of which he made during his marriage to Rachael. She was entitled to a large portion of that money, but she didn’t want it. She didn’t want the divorce to be long and drawn out. She had no interest in fighting Eric over the settlement. That made him mad because he’d been looking forward to a long, drawn out, messy divorce so he could drag her reputation through the mud. She only wanted her car and a rather small settlement considering what she could have gotten. Eric was furious that he couldn’t control her any longer. After a meeting with his lawyers and Rachael, he confronted her outside about how she was humiliating him. Then he stormed off to his car, not watching the traffic. He was hit by a garbage truck and killed.
Rachael no longer loved Eric, but she hadn’t wanted him dead. She wasn’t really sad about his death though. She started to take care of the arrangements that had to be taken care of. After she got home, she seemed to be scared of something and she was carrying a gun around the house with her. She was jumpy about something. She met a man, Ben Shadway, several months before, after she left Eric, and they had been dating. Ben heard about Eric’s death and he went to Rachael’s to make sure she was all right. He was shocked to see her walking around the house carrying a gun. She wasn’t acting like herself and he was concerned. Rachael was being evasive and wouldn’t answer his questions. She received a phone call with disturbing news. Eric’s body had vanished from the morgue.
Rachael didn’t seem surprised by the news. She went to the morgue, and Ben insisted on going with her. After that, Rachael was heading to Eric’s house and then the company. She tried to get Ben to go home and let her do that alone but he wouldn’t. He was still worried about her and what was going on, especially when he discovered that she had taken the gun with her. She reluctantly let him go with her, but she still refused to explain anything. Eric’s home was trashed. There was a strange car in the garage with blood around. At the company, Eric’s office was trashed as well. Rachael and Ben ran into some trouble there that Ben took care of in a way that surprised Rachael. He wouldn’t explain how he was able to do what he did. Rachael finally told Ben what was going on and what she was afraid of. Ben later told Rachael about the years he spent in Vietnam as a Marine.
Someone was after Rachael and it was connected to Eric’s work with genetics. A woman was found dead in a dumpster. Another woman that resembled Rachael, was found dead in Rachael’s house. Eric’s mistress was discovered badly beaten. Anson Sharp of the Defense Security Agency showed up to take over the case concerning Eric’s missing body. He was an arrogant man that not many people liked. Anson knew exactly what kind of genetic research Eric had been doing. Anson already knew what was going on, and he planned to do anything to keep it quiet. He was happy to hear that Ben was involved someway because the two men had served in Vietnam together. Anson hated Ben and saw this as a way to get back at him.
Shadowfires was a very good book. It was one of the first Koontz books I ever read and I really enjoyed it. The book, like all books by Koontz, was unique. It was downright strange at times. Koontz books aren’t for everyone since they are a bit different and can be rather strange. Some people will find his books entirely too strange. Some of his books are more normal than others. Shadowfires was not one of those books. His books are horror books, which don’t appeal to a lot of people. Some very bizarre things happen in his books. I love his books, but I do like some strange books and movies. People need to keep an open mind to enjoy his books.
Shadowfires was a long book, at 509 pages, that had a lot of things going on in it. The plot was unique and complicated. The events in Shadowfires took place over a short time of only about a day and a half. Since the book covered a short time span, it was fast paced with many things happening in that short time. I didn’t feel like the book was rushed since there was a lot of detail provided about what was going on. There was time for the reader to absorb what was going on before the next thing happened. The book was very well written and very descriptive. Koontz is known for being very descriptive about the things that were going on in his books. I’ve heard that some people don’t like how descriptive some of his scenes are and they find them boring. I don’t feel that way. The vivid descriptions made the characters and what was going on come to life to me, even the unrealistic things that happened. Nothing about the book bored me.
Shadowfires was suspenseful and had some mystery in it. There were suspenseful moments throughout the book. I never knew what would happen next, even after some things were explained. The mystery part of the book wasn’t too complicated, but that was ok with me. The mystery dealt with why Eric’s body disappeared from the morgue and just what type of genetic research his company had been doing. Rachael knew exactly what Eric had been doing because he liked to brag about his research to her, but Ben was in the dark about it and what was going on for a while, just like the reader was. The reader learned what was going on at the same time that Ben did.
There was some swearing by some characters in Shadowfires, but it wasn’t excessive. The word that rhymes with luck was only used once or twice in the whole book by a character when they were really upset about something. Overall, there wasn’t much swearing at all. I don’t think anyone would be offend by the language used in the book unless they can’t stand to read some of those words at all, even if only once or twice in a book.
There was violence described throughout Shadowfires. Eric’s accident and the condition of his body after the accident was described in detail. The body was in bad shape after the accident, and it wasn’t that pleasant to read. Some women were brutally murdered and their bodies were described in detail once they were found, though the murders weren’t described at all. Eric’s mistress was badly beaten, and her condition was described. There were a few shoot outs in which some people were injured in the book. Other people were brutally murdered, and some of the murders were described when they happened. Those scenes could be too descriptive for some readers. There were some other things that happened in the book that were violent, but I’m not going into specifics about those things because I don’t want to say too much about the plot and ruin it for people who haven’t read the book yet. This book could be too violent for some readers. A lot of people had guns, and a few characters got more guns during the course of the book without any trouble. Reading how easy it was for them to get guns could be upsetting to some people.
I thought that Shadowfires was a scary book. There were some strange things that happened in the book, and many of those things were scary. What happened wasn’t realistic, but I still thought it was scary. Anson Sharp was a very nasty man who would do anything to further his own agenda. He had a high level job with the DSA. I thought it was rather scary that someone like him could be in a position of power with a government agency. There was a scene later in the book that had snakes in it. That was really scary to me because I have a huge phobia about them. I’m terrified of them. What was happening with the snakes was very disturbing and disgusting to me. I’m not going into specifics because that would be telling too much about the book. When I read the book again and get to the part with the snakes, I skip over it.
Rachael and Ben had been dating before the events in Shadowfires. They were the main characters of the book, and they spent the majority of the book together. Their relationship provided a little bit of romance for the book. There were a few moments between them that helped to lighten the mood. There were a few sexual scenes between Rachael and Ben in the book. There were only two of those scenes, and they weren’t extremely descriptive. Koontz left most of what was going on between them to the reader’s imagination. I don’t think those scenes would offend anyone.
CHARACTERS
Rachael Leben - She was married to Eric for seven years, though they had been separated for the last year. She was very reasonable about the divorce, settling for a mere fraction of what she had been entitled to. She thought she might open some kind of store, but she hadn’t made any definite decisions about her future. She wasn’t sad when Eric was killed, though she was afraid of something. She was an independent woman who was determined to make it on her own and take care of herself. She thought her life was in danger, and she tried to get Ben to go away so he wouldn’t be dragged into what was going on too.
Ben Shadway - He had been seeing Rachael for a few months. They met after she left Eric. He owned a very successful real estate business. He liked old movies, cars, and music. He had a few secrets of his own. He realized right away that something was bothering Rachael. He wouldn’t let her drive him away. He was determined to stay with her. He was worried about her. He’d been in the Marines during Vietnam. He had been in a special unit, Marine Reconnaissance, which is where he learned several things that helped him in the situations he and Rachael found themselves in.
Eric Leben - Rachael’s husband. He was not a nice man. He was older than Rachael and he had very young girlfriends throughout their marriage. The girlfriends kept getting younger. His current one was still a teenager. He owned a company that did top secret genetic research. He was worth millions. When Rachael left him, he’d been sure she would come crawling back to him. It ticked him off that she didn’t. He was also mad about that fact that Rachael didn’t want to fight for a huge settlement in the divorce. After a meeting when the settlement was finalized, he showed Rachael another side that she’d never seen before. He could be cruel. He liked to control people and got very upset when he wasn’t able to control someone.
Anson Sharp - He worked for the DSA. He was a high level agent. He had plans to become the director in a few more years. He was willing to do anything to get what he wanted and to protect himself. He enjoyed inflicting pain on other people. He made decisions about the case and claimed that they came from higher up. He had made several enemies over the years.
Peake - He was another agent with the DSA that was working with Sharp. Peake wanted to be a good agent. He started out looking up to Sharp and how he did his job, but something opened his eyes to Sharp’s true nature. Peake didn’t want to go along with Sharp’s plans, but he wasn’t sure what he should do.
I really enjoyed Shadowfires. It was different and strange at times, but it is a good book. It isn’t for everyone though. People who like horror books, books that are different, or have liked other books by Koontz may also enjoy Shadowfires.
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