77 Shadow Street (with bonus novella The Moonlit Mind): A Novel (Pendleton)

by Dean Koontz

2012

Status

Available

Publication

Bantam (2012), Edition: Reprint, 720 pages

Description

Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   Welcome to the Pendleton. Built as a tycoonâ??s dream home in the 1880s and converted to luxury condominiums not quite a century later, the Gilded Age palace at the summit of Shadow Hill is a sanctuary for its fortunate residents. Scant traces remain of the episodes of madness, suicide, mass murderâ??and whispers of things far worseâ??that have scarred its grandeur almost from the beginning.   But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. With each passing hour a terrifying certainty grows: Whatever drove the Pendletonâ??s past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again. And as nightmare visions become real, as a deadly tide begins to engulf them, the people at 77 Shadow Street will find t… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jbemrose
I could not put the book down.I like the unusual supernatural story. Every 38 years for a couple of days very odd thing and people disappears or come up dead. The residents of the Pendleton deals with madness, mass murder, Shadows, and whispers of things that scarres most humans.
LibraryThing member glinfoot
Terrible, gross descriptions. I only finished because I was curious about the plot, not worth it.
LibraryThing member FCAHS1954
Not very convincing to me; too many characters and too much skipping from one to character to another character. No character (not even the two children) elicits special reader involvement. The included novella "The Moonlit Mind" compels a bit more reader interest. I will happily pass it along to
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most anyone who might want it.
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LibraryThing member Brenda63
I didn't enjoy this book at all. It was supernatural with the future of humanity extinct. Long.
LibraryThing member dd196406
Very interesting and sometimes terrifying book by the horror master, Dean Koontz. Love the spookiness of this book, even though it is not a ghost story. Loved it! Great beach read.
LibraryThing member bohemiangirl35
Seems like Koontz is trying to go back to his old style and the stuff I really liked when I was a teen (aka Phantoms>). Some of twists surprised me, and Koontz' imagination for weird creatures and worlds is amazing. Every 38 years, time shifts at the Pendleton and whoever is on it's grounds is
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transported. Not everyone returns. And not everyone who returns lives.

If the characters weren't so "straight off the shelf," I would have liked it more. The One was not scary; it's little passages between chapters were more irritating than anything else because I'm sure I've read every sentence in another book. (Was it supposed to be the horror version of Skynet from the Terminator movies?)

The ending was hokey, but this is such a step up from the massively disappointing Frankenstein series, that I have to give Koontz two thumbs up! (The first two are awesome, but book 3 of the Frankenstein series is one of only 3 books on my hated it list, and I refuse to read the rest.)
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LibraryThing member gopfolk
Enjoyable story with a terrible ending.
I loved the story and the story line. It was fantastic right up until the last few chapters and then well lets just say I dont care for stories that are all nice and tidy in 4 pages. it took nearly 200 pages to build up the idea...then another 200 pages to
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lead us to the culprit and the theme behind it all and then it just closes all the loose ends wrap up?!?

The additional story was entertaining as well with the same pitiful ending.
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LibraryThing member Vinbert
I didn't think this was well written at all. It seems like he wrote a nightmare he had, and then had to scrabble to find an explanation for it. I found a lot of things left unexplained, and made no sense.
LibraryThing member Vinbert
I didn't think this was well written at all. It seems like he wrote a nightmare he had, and then had to scrabble to find an explanation for it. I found a lot of things left unexplained, and made no sense.
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
In the beginning of 77 Shadow Street, I was really sucked in. The characters and the atmosphere were gripping, and I couldn't put the book down. Atmospherically, it was right on pace with what I'd hoped for, and the characters were so engaging that I couldn't believe it took me so long to pick it
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up.

And then, unfortunately, it stalled. About midway through the book, things simply slowed down. Too much jumping around with not enough depth made me feel like I'd rather lost touch with both the creepy atmosphere I'd been enjoying and the characters who I'd been most engaged with. In a way, it rather felt like the book lost focus, moving almost from horror into sci-fi territory, but also--really simply--losing focus and sort of wandering. I lost interest, and ended up not even bothering to take it with me on vacation, opting instead to start something else.

In the end, I finished this today, but compared to how I felt in the beginning, it ended up being a somewhat disappointing read. The ending picked up a bit, and I was glad to read through the resolution, but I think Koontz just tried to pack in too many ideas and twists into this one. Oddly, it was both sort of predictable and sort of confusing at different moments, which I have to attribute to a lack of focus, and a really off-kilter pacing.

All told, this likely isn't one that I'd find reason to recommend, I'm afraid.
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LibraryThing member CarmenMilligan
To end my October Scary Reads, I chose a book by Dean Koontz, usually a master of suspense and horror. Unfortunately, I didn't choose wisely.

While this looks great on the summary-level, the story is extremely cumbersome and in need of editing. Koontz overuses terms that are so unique that they
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should be use sparingly, like "they are legion". Well into the second half of the book, he continues to introduce new characters, while seemingly casting what were major players to the side.

In the end, when the reader finds out exactly what is happening, why it is happening, and when it is happening, it elicits less of an eye-popping and more of an eye-rolling reaction. With so many other quality horror novels out there, this one is...

Not recommended.
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LibraryThing member Iira
Hm. First of all: fake eyes do not move. Ever. Do your research.
Otherwise: I like that it's a house. I like that there are ghosts. I like resentful characters. The book is beautiful. But. I could not concentrate. I didn't really care. One was not scary. The what's his name, Witness, was
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interesting until he was explained and then he wasn't. The end. 3 stars for old times sake.
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LibraryThing member NickHowes
First-rate thriller with a science fiction and horror plot where the stakes couldn't be higher. And it all starts out with the people in the Pendleton, a classy apartment building whose inhabitants include a range of unusual characters such as the serial killer on the third floor. And something
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else. Excellent plot and the usual superb writing skills draw the reader through the story effortlessly. A worthy ending, as well. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member kmmsb459
After 100 pages I decided to quit reading this book. I always think Koontz's writes great characters but I just didn't care about the story at all.

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

720 p.; 4.16 inches

ISBN

0553593064 / 9780553593068

Barcode

1602316
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