As teenagers in the idyllic town of Maple Grove, social outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie become inseparable friends in response to the grim reality of their day-to-day lives. Growing up, the ‘Four Amigos’ are there for each other no matter what, until three of them leave Maple Grove to pursue lofty dreams, leaving Ernie behind. Even when Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer achieve stratospheric success in their chosen fields, they remain as loyal to one another as ever, and to dear Ernie, still in Maple Grove.

Years later, when Ernie falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. They have the strangest feeling that they remember people lapsing into comas before. And those people always woke up… didn’t they?

Returning after two decades, they find that not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer begin to remember things – a hulking, murderous figure and other weird and disturbing memories that they were somehow made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange and deadly awaits any friend who tries to save him.

Having read fairly recently After Death and The Bad Weather Friend, I was back in the gloriously strange world of Dean Koontz, the well-blended mixture of excellent storytelling with elements of thriller, paranormal horror and suspense. There are plenty of references to literature, film and popular culture, as well. As always Koontz creates a plot that is both impeccable and surprising but I will not dive into analysing what’s going on in the novel. You’ve got to read it – and the bloggers who joined this blog tour will whet your appetite. Instead I want to mention what I also enjoyed about Going Home in the Dark: the omnipresent narrator who gives updates on the writing process and the context of various situations. I’m certain this would work in other books, too, as long as it fits with the overall stylistics. Here it’s playful and fun, and sometimes eye-opening. Koontz seems to genuinely care for his main characters Four Amigos – artistic creative souls: actress, writer, painter and songwriter – and so explains things behind the scenes, to some degree. Of course this doesn’t mean that the reader must agree with everything but it allows for a moment of reflection. Additionally it gives plenty of space for dark humour. Here’s an example which perfectly shows the thinking of both the plot and the mechanisms of writing:

As Rebecca settled behind the steering wheel and pulled the door shut, she had the disturbing feeling that something was about to happen that would change the course of her life, something worse than an exploding lithium battery.

[The previous sentence is a flagrant example of foreshadowing, a plot device that creates a pleasant anticipation in the reader. However, as the author, I feel the need to be honest with you, even at the cost of this intrusion, and I’m compelled to acknowledge that besides contributing to a building atmosphere of menace, Rebecca’s “disturbing feeling” also serves as an effective way to end Chapter One before it grows too long. Studies indicate that modern readers prefer shorter chapters. Before purchasing a novel, they conduct a “flip-through” to sample the prose, consider the readability of the typeface, and be sure the number of chapters promises a quick read. Because Rebecca is rich and glamorous and one of the film-business elite, we expect her to be an insufferable narcissist, but she is a likable, vulnerable person whose “disturbing feeling” concerns us and whose fate matters to us just enough to propel us to Chapter Two, which is shorter than Chapter One.]

I will finish with a quote that resonates with me: ‘Friendship is a kind of love, and even on nights when one of the amigos is alone, they live in the light of their friendship.’ If you have friends, then you’re not afraid of monsters of any kind.

Going Home in the Dark is available now and I would like to thank Katrina Power and FMcM Associates for a chance to read this scary and delightful novel.