Constantly Moving the Bookmark

The house is called the Pendleton now and it was built as the dream home of a tycoon in the 1800’s. The original family was plagued with tragedy and ever since there has been a cycle of tragic events … coincidentally every 37 years. In the 1970’s it was remodeled as luxury apartments inhabited by the rich and famous, the rich and not so famous and the downright notorious. The curse of tragedy, however, seems to have stayed on despite the renovations and now ghostly images, disembodied voices and glowing mold haunt the residents of 77 Shadow Street.

In my on going quest for a good ghost story I thought of all people Mr. Koontz would deliver. I hate to say this, but not so much! I’ll admit to being a long time Koontz fan, and although lately there have been some hits and some misses I always look forward to reading his books. This one was definitely on the “miss” side of the column. There are so many characters in this book … obviously the inhabitants of a luxury condo building … and the story progresses as each tells a part of the action. Sometimes this works, but in this case it is like watching a movie with too many fast cuts. Instead of adding to the drama and action it actually takes away from it. By the end of the book I didn’t care about the characters and was a little tired of the lengthy reflection on the bleakness of the world and the “darkness” of humankind. Would not recommend this one, even to a Koontz fan.