Customer Reviews
WONDERFUL CHARACTERISATION - By: Adam Jackson, 09 Aug 2008 
Read this nearly 20 years ago & never forgotten!
Fantastic plot & characters - indeed the BEST characterisation I've ever readin SciFi/Horror. Really good pace, atmospherics & set pieces with more than enough horror BUT never crossing into gore for gore's sake.
Einstein the dog is a wonderful creation & a genuine main character - & The Other is a truly terrifying presence always lurkingin the shadows.
I rate this as Koontz's best alongside the excellent Midnight.
(incidentally there have been a few Watchers movies - please avoid as they are awlful films, that do the novel no justice. If you have already seen them, please don't allow them to put you off!)
Fantastic!!!!!!! - By: Sarah Fletcher, 15 Apr 2008 Watchers is my faveorite Dean Koontz book, no doubt because, as a dog lover, i was immediately drawn into the book & felt like i wasin the story with them, what i wouldn't give for an Einstein of my own. His writing even made me start to sympathize with The Outsider. I have lent this book to a freind today and, as i was waiting for her, read the last page (JUST the last page) & it still made me cry!
A wonderful book that gives hope to dog lovers everywhere & gives a warm gooey feeling at the end (if you can manage to read it through the tears!)
Genuinely Terrifying - By: Liamo, 19 Feb 2008 I've read 20+ of Koontz's books, & this has got to be one of, if not THE best of his works. The moments of suspense are likein no other book I've read. There're some truly terrifying moments that left me pretty scared to go to sleep! The action is well paced & all leads to a thrilling climax, that forms a satisfying conclusion. Maybe that's the only slight criticism of Koontz's writing - everything does usually end up neatly wrapped up by the last page. Still, excellent read.
One of my favourites - By: Craig, 27 Jan 2008 Having just come away from reading "The Darkest Evening of the Year", I thought it'd only be fair to offer up my opinion of what I consider to be Mr Koontz's best book to date.
Watchers is one of the books that made me want to be a writer. Yes there are going to be elements of it that are dated now (to one of the earlier reviewers here) - it's what 20 years since it was written? But at its simplest, it's a story of outcasts, some of whom manage to find solace & love with each other; others... not so much.
The stories of Travis & Einstein & particularly Nora really resonated with me, & unlike "Darkest Evening", they manage to solve their problems for themselves.
Thoroughly recommended.
One of Koontz's best books to date - By: L. Williams, 04 Oct 2007 I've always been a big fan of Dean Koontz, & I got this fairly recently. I have to say it's one of my favourite books to date.
Dean Koontz lends his signiture bledn of thriller & sci-fi to bring you the story of two genetically engineered aniamls & how they shake the lives of the people around them.
Sound cushy? It isn't, this has some of the most graphic gore I've read so far, & the 'villan' of the 'outsider' is superbly imagined & frightening- appealing to your most base instincts to fear of devourment. The monster-under-the-bed made real & very, very intelligent.
The hero of the piece is undoubtedly 'einstien' the intelligent dog, & koontz lies on plenty of emotion to have you adopting him into your own heart. koontz loves dogs, & no more is it appearent here, but again you begin to love him not as a pet, but as a new intelligent life.
But this isn't all about the animals. In signiture style Koontz brings you multiple characters, all very layered & well written. The protagonists are expecially sympathetic & despite the number of characters, & how each threatens the others, you seem to want to root for them all.
An interesting point here, I think, is that Koontz seems to take two sides with hsi villans (of which I counted 3in this books, although they make varying apearances). The outsider is the big mutant baddie, but you also get a hitman & a sexual predetor. And while the outsider is hideously violent, koontz seems to make you fear the humans even more. the outsider is rage personified, driven by jealosy & hatred, & yet at the end we sympathise with it.
The Frankenstien story & more all wrapped upin one hell of a read.
Koontz fans, or any reader, should check this out.
