It's been a while since I actually read and reviewed a Dean Koontz book that was not part of his Odd Thomas series. I used to love to read Dean Koontz when I was younger and devoured Strangers, Watchers, The Servants of Twilight, Ticktock (which was more adventure/funny than scary and I loved it), and a collection of short stories that I mentioned yesterday, Strange Highways.

Then I don't know what happened. I started to find myself not loving all of his more recent fare and then just outright not liking them. I finally stopped buying his books because I felt like I was reading the same plot over and over again with new character names. I was tired of reading about this super women that seemed to have no flaws and only existed to further along the hero's plot.

I decided to take a gamble on this short story since hey it was .99 cents and clocked in at 33 pages. I have to say. I am very glad that I did.

This short story really reminded me of old school Dean Koontz. What I mean by that is that you have the story building to a climax and there are no international organizations out to destroy the world, there are no aliens, and most importantly there are no dogs.

There is just a story of 12 year old Malcolm who loves his sister Amalia the most in this world since they were dealt a crappy hand and have two parents who treat them like slaves.

So what would be the worse thing to have happen to this boy? What do you think?

This short story explores that and more. We actually have an interesting tale of a neighbor who was just a man who also was more than he appeared. And this story reminded me again that sometimes people who are truly evil can live next door.

I highly recommend!