Ukendte veje

by Dean R. Koontz

Hardcover, 1997

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Library's review

Indeholder "Ukendte veje", "Det sorte græskar", "Nede i mørket", "Ollies hænder", "Indespærret", "Killinger", "Morgengryets tusmørke".

"Ukendte veje" handler om Joey Shannon på 40 år, der vender tilbage til sin fødeby Asherville med et solidt whisky-forbrug (Jack Daniels) som største
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udbytte af årene efter at han forlod den i 1975 for tyve år siden. Han er gået ad ukendte veje for at komme hertil igen. Hans storebror P. J. (Paul John), som han ser op til som et ideal, er en succesrig forfatter. Deres mor, Kathleen, er død for seksten år siden og nu er turen kommet til faderen, Dan Shannon, som er død og skal begraves dagen efter. Joey har uhyggelige mareridt og syner blandt andet en død blindet kvinde med sår i håndfladerne, som han ser i sin bils bagagerum. Også ved begravelsen har han den slags syner. ???
"Det sorte græskar" handler om Tommy Sutzmann på 12 år, der bliver kuet af både sine forældre og sin storebror Frank. På et marked køber Frank et uhyggeligt sort græskar, der er blevet skåret ret makabert ud af en lidt indtørret mand, der sælger sine værker for hvad nu kunderne vil give, men advarer om at man får hvad man betaler for. Frank vælger at betale en nickel, dvs 5 cent eller en femogtyveører for græskarret. Tommy prøver at få ham fra det, men det har den modsatte effekt. Forældrene holder fest om aftenen som led i faderens kampagne for at blive valgt til kongressen. Han er allerede guvernør i staten, men higer efter mere magt. Om natten bliver græskarret til et uhyre, der dræber Frank og forældrene Lois og Kyle. Uhyret æder de tre ofre, men lader Tommy være fordi han er en god dreng. Så Uhyret skænker ham frihed. Frihed fra de tre, for de vil aldrig blive fundet.
"Nede i mørket" handler om Jess og Carmen, der har købt hus et sted i Californien. Jess opdager en kælder, men Carmen kan ikke se den og den er heller ikke beskrevet i papirerne. Jess har en fin restaurant i et lille indkøbscenter, som ejes af Horace Dalcoe, Jess er andengenerations mexicaner (døbt Jesus Gonzales) i USA og ung og naiv, da han skrev lejekontrakten under i sin tid, for Dalcoe skal godkende alle ændringer i lokalerne og tager sig blodigt betalt under bordet. Mens Carmen er væk, går Jess ned i kælderen, som er helt uden lys. Han kommer ikke så langt, for der lugter ækelt og han styrter op ad trappen igen. Der lugter som fiskesuppe og det fik han nok af i en fangelejr i Vietnam, da han var 23. Nogle dage efter skal han gennemgå huset sammen med sælger, der hedder Nguyen Quan Phu. Jess genkender ham som torturbøddel fra fængslet. Nguyen kan også se døren til kælderen, selv om han aldrig har set den, mens han boede i huset. Jess tvinger ham derned og noget i mørket, et par døde magre spøgelser af mænd, der døde i lejren, tager Nguyen. Jess flytter Nguyens bil og hævder at Nguyen aldrig overholdt deres aftale om at mødes. Nguyen er forsvundet. Og Jess opdager at døren dukker op, når han tænker på ågerkarlen Dalcoe. Desværre for Jess er han hævngerrig og han laver en liste over folk, der godt kunne forsvinde i kælderen uden at han ville græde over dem. Men han ved også at han selv krydser grænsen til mørket, hvis han benytter sig af kælderen. Sjovt dilemma.
"Ollies hænder" handler om Ollie, der har meget følsomme hænder. De kan fx bruges til at finde kvalitetsbestik som en restaurant jævnligt kommer til at smide ud ved et uheld. Når han har samlet et sæt, sælger han det for penge. Men en nat finder han i stedet en bevidstløs pige bedøvet af narkotika, Annie Grice på 26 år. Han samler hende op og tager hende med hjem. Han undersøger hende med hænderne og finder ud af at hun med vilje har taget en overdosis. Hans hænder helbreder hendes narkomani og han får hende til aat sove. Han gør hende rask og vil ikke udnytte hende ved fx at gå i send med hende, hvilket hun har svært ved at forstå. Men kort tid efter sker "koblingen", så han kan læse hendes tanker, ja faktisk ikke lade være. Det får hun myrekryb af, så han lader hende gå igen og vender tilbage til sit gamle liv.
"Indespærret" handler om ???
"Killinger" handler om Marnie på syv år, der undrer sig over hvor katten Pinkies killinger blev af sidste år. Marnies far siger at Vorherre har taget dem, men i virkelighedens verden er det ham, der har druknet dem. Et yderligere spørgsmål fra Marnie udløser en hård lussing. Da Marnie en dag ser faderen drukne det nye hold killinger, drukner hun selv sine to små babysøskende. For at hævne sig på Vorherre.
"Morgengryets tusmørke" handler om arkitekten Pete Fallon, der er gift med Ellen. Sammen har de sønnen Benny på 7 år. Pete er opdraget religiøst og bekæmper derfor sekterisk alt religiøst, inklusive jul og julemand. Så Benny bliver interesseret alene af den grund. Ellen dør i en bilulykke og to år senere dør Benny af knoglekræft. Benny er bekymret over om Pete mon afviser det religiøse så meget at han ikke kan finde de to andre, når det bliver hans tur. Fallons ven og partner Hal Sheen er startet som ateist og er så gået tilbage til den katolske kirke. Og Pete ender også med at se lyset eller rettere nogle faldende kirsebærblomster. Titlen er et par linier af H. G. Wells: Fortiden er ikke andet end begyndelsen til en begyndelse, og alt hvad der findes, og alt hvad der har været, er ikke andet end daggryets tusmørke.

Originalen har fjorten historier: "Strange Highways", "The Black Pumpkin", "Miss Attila the Hun", "Down in the Darkness", "Ollie's Hand", "Snatcher", "Trapped", "Bruno", "We Three", "Hardshell", "Kittens", "The Night of the Storm", "Twilight of the Dawn", "Chase".
I forhold til den mangler der altså halvdelen: "Miss Attila the Hun", "Snatcher", "Bruno", "We Three", "Hardshell", "The Night of the Storm", "Chase".
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Publication

Kbh. : Bogsamleren, 1997.

Description

Joey Shannon, an alcoholic whose life has been going nowhere for 20 years, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father. As he leaves town, he gets a mysterious second chance to relive the night in 1975 when his life began its downward spiral: to both literally and figuratively take the road that he didn't originally take. On this road he is supremely tested by conflict with his successful and charismatic older brother P.J., by conflict between his cynicism and his lost faith, and by conflict between the ultimate good and evil.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Blazingice0608
A wonderful collection of short fiction, an absolute must read for any fan of Koontz and especially a fan of short stories, do NOT overlook this book because its a collection of short fiction and not an actual novel. Strange Highways and Chase are novellas, Chase was an actual novel published back
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in 1972 but is out of print except here. Other stories that are worth mentioning are Down in the Darkness, Bruno, We Three, Ollie's Hands, and Kittens, the others are good as well, just not quite as phenominal as those are. The best thing about this collection is you get to see all the variety of stories Koontz has to offer in his novels, and this still doesnt cover all of it. But more importantly, anyone who knows Koontz books knows he almost always has a happy ending that is perfectly wrapped up and explained. A lot of these stories will have either a sad/unhappy ending, or it will just be ambigous and open ended, much as Stephen king book endings can be, this is a major plus for me. I still have 2 stories left to read as well as a novella(Strange Highways), and will update this review as well as give it a rating when they are complete. For now though, these are my individual, short reviews for each story:

Kittens- A very short story of only 5 pages, straight to the point and awesome, while its very simple, the ending to it is absolutly twisted. A pretty unexpected turn of events for a Koontz story to say the least.

Bruno- One of my favorates, a story about traveling through multiple alternate realities, worlds that are the same as our own, but different, such as Walt Disney being a gun producer and Smith&Wesson being a fast food joint. This opens the door for lots of silly humour, which Koontz is always exceptional at. Its a very neat and interesting tale with humour to put a nice spin on things that the other stories lack.

Snatchers- A story with a good moral to it, its about a purse snatcher who ends up stealing a purse that will end up coming back to bite him in a big way, this was a good story but probably my least favorate so far.

We Three- Another of my favorates, its a story about triplets who have a lot of supernatural powers like telepathy, telekenisis, etc. Has a great ending but i dont want to spoil it for you.

Down in the Darkness- A story about a POW Vietnam veteran who buys a new house with a myserious and supernatural cellar in it. It taps into his darkside and unleashes pent up darkness from back in Vietnam, another one with somewhat of a good moral behind it. A short story that offers a lot of character depth.

Chase- This is a REALLY good one, because its long it has a completley fleshed out character, a pretty good one might i add. Its a straight up psychological thriller with no supernatural and a bit of a "who done it" aspect to it. A very fun read, one of the best ive read so far.

Miss Atilla the Hun- This one is my favorate so far, it is a bit of an invasion of the body snatchers type of alien story. But what i like the best about it is that it takes several points of view, a few characters as well as the alien itself.

Night in the Storm- Somewhat of a sci-fi story about a world where humans are supposidly extinct and robots rule the world. Its about robots who basically need help in keeping their life interesting, and a group of them go on a trip into the woods to go hunting and end up finding more than they can bite off. Has a nice twist to it at the end, the different robots and their different personalities are fun, and overall its a neat concept. However with that said, its probably my second least favorate so far, it goes to show how good this collection is as i still liked it quite a bit, and the ones i have left to read are said to be amazing, so i dont expect this one to move up anymore than it has already.

Black Pumpkin- This was basically an all out horror story with a touch of a moral value in its ending. There really isnt much else to say about it, but i would consider it right around the middle of the stories so far as far as how good it is.

Hardshell- Another not that great but still good story in the collection, but the twist at the end was completley unexpected and really made the story for me. Its basically about a murdering shapeshifter with a cop who is after him, very short and simple concept, but as i said, the twist at the end makes it worth reading.

Ollie's Hands- The first story i read in the collection and definitly one of my favorate, top 5 so far. Its a novel of Koontz where a character has powers, as some of his novels are, his powers are neat, but its a pretty emotional story imo, and that made the story for me, as well as the ending which i really enjoyed, one of my favorate endings in the collection.

Trapped- Very similar to Watchers, which is an amazing novel btw. Drug enhanced rats that are VERY smart are on the loose coming after a Mother and her Son, while the lab employees are trying to contain the situation. A cat and mouse chase kind of suspense in the mix to go along with it all. For a short story is was a pretty in depth plot altogether, one of the better stories in the collection for sure.

Twilight of the Dawn- Excellent story, one of the best in the collection, definitly top 3 or top 5. A pretty powerful story regarding a man who is extremly athiest and the major heartbreaks that he suffers in order to regain that faith. Some of the scenes with him and his son were very moving, sad, and at the same time, heartwarming. You know you have a talented author when they can do all of that in one scene.

Strange Highways- The second novella in the collection, which is named after this novella obviously. I saved this one for last and it was definitly well worth the wait, thats for sure!

You get a little of everything in this collection, people with powers like in Odd thomas, moonlight bay series, Twilight Eyes, and the vision. All out horror like Phantoms, Midnight, etc. Government conspriacy stuff like Watchers and Sole Survivor, humour like Ticktock and Life exptency, some sci fi like most of Koontz older out of print work, psychological thrillers like Intensity, Velocity, Husband, Good Guy, etc. aliens like Taking, Strangers, and as well as different world/traveling worlds like Lightning, From the Corner of his Eye, and One Door Away from Heaven. I will add more when i finish it.
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LibraryThing member andyray
In his novels, Dean Koontz doesn't deal with fantasy that much since his title "Watchers" was published. His words. Not mine. In this collection of two novel-length stories and 11 others, fantasy reigns supreme. We have a few mutants with powers that humanity (nor they) can handle. We have monsters
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found nowhere else, like the growing thing of phlem, feces, and rotting garbage that takes away a bad, bad man in "Snatcher." I particularly like the story of a man obsessed with the religion of atheism who can not stand others to have faith and who, finally, is led to faith by the spirit of his dead son.

All in all, some of Koontz' finest works are here and it's an excellent read. Try to save the story "Black Pumpkin," however, for around Halloween. And if you figure out in the closing novel "Chase" how the protagonist was followed, let me know. I think it's a hole in the bread myself.
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LibraryThing member ladybug74
I have had bad luck with short stories lately. I just don't seem to enjoy them any more. For that reason, I put off reading this one for a while even though it's by one of my favorite all-time authors. I was so surprised that I really enjoyed most of the stories in this book. Of course, I liked the
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novellas a bit better than the short stories because there is more to them. My favorite was the title story, Strange Highways, which was probably the longest one in the book. I love time travel stories and this one did not disappoint me! There were 2 stories (Trapped & Chase) that were repeats for me from other books.
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LibraryThing member AliceAnna
I really like this genre for Koontz -- short stories and novellas suit his style. Strange Highways was excellent; it kept me on the edge of my seat. Chase was also good. The Black Pumpkin made me laugh out loud at the end. Bruno and Hardshell were both funny, clever stories. Kittens was the only
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one I really could've done without -- maybe We Three as well.
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LibraryThing member buffalogr
Listened to this one straight through. There are few characters, but they make the point. A suspenseful, scarey "halloween" kind of story. It's got a brother feud and a love interest, nether is resolved until the very end of the book. It's tinctured with time travel and I had fun reading it.
LibraryThing member David_Masumba
I did not know Koontz had such a sense of humour, ...lab rats.

Awards

Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — Collection — 1995)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1995-04-27

Physical description

303 p.; 20.5 cm

ISBN

8760807040 / 9788760807046

Local notes

Omslag: Thomas Szøke
Omslagsillustration: Lee Gibbons
Omslaget viser en mand midt på en hovedvej og belyst af lygterne fra noget stort, der kommer imod ham
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra engelsk "Strange Highways" af Inger Vedersø

Oversat fra engelsk "Strange Highways" af Inger Vedersø
Oversat fra engelsk "The Black Pumpkin" af Inger Vedersø
Oversat fra engelsk "Down in the Darkness" af Inger Vedersø
Oversat fra engelsk "Ollie's Hands" af Inger Vedersø
Oversat fra engelsk "Trapped" af Inger Vedersø
Oversat fra engelsk "Kittens" af Inger Vedersø
Oversat fra engelsk "Twilight of the Dawn" af Inger Vedersø

Pages

303

Library's rating

Rating

½ (240 ratings; 3.5)

DDC/MDS

813.54
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