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Fawcett (1976), Mass Market Paperback
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz unleashes a contagion on a small Maine town�??one that triggers the darkest desires of the soul. Designed by top scientists and unleashed in a monstrous conspiracy, night chills are seizing the men and women of Black River�??driving them to acts of rape and murder. The nightmare is real. And death is the only c
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Original language
English
User reviews
LibraryThing member Carol420
"Night Chills" looks into the human mind and what drives it. An intelligent man, Ogden Salsbury, a misogynist at the same time, who has developed a drug that when ingested, will allow him to control the mind of that person. With the help of multi-millionaire Leonard Dawson he dumps it into a town's
There is certainly a lot of sexual material in this book concerning rape and will offend, possibly even repulse, many people. However, for those who can handle the material may find it a thought-provoking, albeit flawed, but still interesting novel about the human psyche.
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water supply. With one simple phrase he can control whoever drank the water.There is certainly a lot of sexual material in this book concerning rape and will offend, possibly even repulse, many people. However, for those who can handle the material may find it a thought-provoking, albeit flawed, but still interesting novel about the human psyche.
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LibraryThing member SharonMariaBidwell
A re-read for me. Well plotted suspense though the technology parts slow the novel a little. To be fair, those parts interested me more first time around and that and some other story content is naturally dated now including the sexual violence. When Paul Annandale takes a trip with his son and
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daughter little does he know he’s about to suffer overwhelming heartache…and if I have a negative, that’s probably where it lies: I would have liked to experienced this man’s emotions more, but that’s not always laid out so much in a suspense novel, yet it’s the one painful spark of the book that remains long after the book’s finished. The subject is more worrying today than when the book was written when one considers so much more is possible with each passing decade. Show Less
LibraryThing member armysparkey
This book started off good with a mystery and some action early on and as the story progressed it was quite an interestin premis ,then al of a sudden toward the end it became just plain daft as if the author just gave up or perhaps had hie seceratery finish the last couple of chapters overall nice
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try but no ciga Show Less
LibraryThing member www.snigel.nu
My favourite Koontz novel about subliminal control of human being, creepy. I have reread it several times, but not for many years now.
LibraryThing member bibliophile26
Dean Koontz is judged by some to be a horribly formulaic author (the people on one listserv I was a part of absolutely detested him), but I've always enjoyed his books, although I certainly will not read him more then a couple times a year. Night Chills was written in the 1970's and the concept
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seems fairly original...it is about a group of men who drug a small town in Maine and then feed them subliminal messages. One of the sex scenes (between the hero and heroine) made me roll my eyes and it added little to the plot, but overall it was a fast and interesting read. Show Less
LibraryThing member CutestLilBookworm
The book gets off to a chilling start and Koontz does an excellent job of creating the setting for impending doom. By the middle and ending of the book, however, I am disturbed by several situations that just don't pan out quite right and the characters seem not fully fleshed out. The evil is
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unleashed when a behavior modification program via subliminal perception is being used by disturbed men who plan to take over the world. Even scarier, is the fact that the technology exists to perform this 'imaginative' feat. Koontz references this in the introduction. This is one of his earlier works, perhaps he just hadn't quite found his groove yet because the flaws I found in this book are definitely not evident in his latest works. But still, worth the read if you are a true Koontz fan...otherwise, you're not really missing anything if you pass. He has much better books out that use the same premise (behavior modification, mind control). Show Less
LibraryThing member Blazingice0608
Tough one to score, on one hand i thought the book was spectacular, it had a very unique concept, took some very unexpected turns for the authors, had a very graphic and sick villian, depth in the characters, more realistic love story than the usual Koontz love story, and the book was arranged
Well, it had some serious flaws to go with it, for one, without spoiling anything, a particular thing that happened in the story wasnt handled very well imo, it required some serious emotion and it just didnt have it. The subliminal advertising thing was a really cool and unique concept, but he took it so far to the point where it became a little too much and difficult to believe, i like when Koontz takes a crazy concept and finds a way to make it believable, and he fails in this one. Also the supporting cast could have been given more depth, and the ending felt rather rushed to me although it still maintained suspense nonetheless.
All in all a very enjoyable read especially for a big Koontz fan. Being one of his older works which arent too popular, i didnt expect much and i was pleasantly suprised to say the least, his older stuff is very underrated and this one is no different. It was a quick read of only 350 pages and was definitly worth it, even with its flaws its certainly not the worst Koontz book out there and i would still recomend it.
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nicely in terms of going into the past leading up to the current crisis in the town, going in depth with the protagonist AND the villian which doesnt happen that often in newer Koontz novels with the villians, at least not to this degree anyway. With all that said, why only 3 and a half stars? Well, it had some serious flaws to go with it, for one, without spoiling anything, a particular thing that happened in the story wasnt handled very well imo, it required some serious emotion and it just didnt have it. The subliminal advertising thing was a really cool and unique concept, but he took it so far to the point where it became a little too much and difficult to believe, i like when Koontz takes a crazy concept and finds a way to make it believable, and he fails in this one. Also the supporting cast could have been given more depth, and the ending felt rather rushed to me although it still maintained suspense nonetheless.
All in all a very enjoyable read especially for a big Koontz fan. Being one of his older works which arent too popular, i didnt expect much and i was pleasantly suprised to say the least, his older stuff is very underrated and this one is no different. It was a quick read of only 350 pages and was definitly worth it, even with its flaws its certainly not the worst Koontz book out there and i would still recomend it.
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LibraryThing member Heptonj
This is a chilling book made more so by the fact that 'subliminal programming' is certainly possible. I liked the characters although they seemed a bit too good to be true, and the fathers reaction to the horrific death of his son was dismissed rather shallowly. The only thing I found unrealistic
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is how quickly and easily the bad guys were disposed of and everything set to rights. The nearer I got to the end of the book I thought 'there can't possibly be enough pages to finish this story off, the end is nowhere in sight', However, I thoroughly enjoyed it and read it quite quickly. Show Less
LibraryThing member NKSCF
This was my first Koontz book and I have to say that it was okay. Focusing on a town that has been chosen by a group of men that are preparing a massive subliminal messaging plan to challenge the world, Night Chills follows the townspeople as they begin to find out that something is going on and
This was a fun read, but it has its flaws, especially when it came to characterization, but they're easy to overlook. I've read better books, but I'm still looking forward to reading more of his works.
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that they must stop it before the town is destroyed. This was a fun read, but it has its flaws, especially when it came to characterization, but they're easy to overlook. I've read better books, but I'm still looking forward to reading more of his works.
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LibraryThing member andyray
As you wander throuigh this "conquering the world" story, one really doesn.t know could work or not. But with some 6 billion plus variables, i just do not think so.
LibraryThing member ggannell
A very disappointing read. Good premise, but too much focus and detail on sex, not all relevant to the story. Too graphic for my liking.
LibraryThing member JBarringer
Drugs and hypnosis that cause whole towns to be programmable murderers? The science is awful, and I found this book easier to get through only after watching a few episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, where the science is just about as bad. Since the whole story in this novel depends on the
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science, this was a pretty shaky book. If you read it fast and skim the boring parts, it might be ok. The way Koontz introduces backstory, writing in the perspective of the character while the character sappily reminisces about stuff, really bugged me after a while- it feels fake, 'telling' rather than 'showing', and a lot of the details are not really useful or relevant to the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member PaulaGalvan
I have forty of Mr. Koontz's books in my library, but I've only managed to read thirteen so far. I figured it's time to get to the rest. I picked up Night Chills and found it very scary and somewhat upsetting. In it, Mr. Koontz has done a fine job combining horror and science fiction to bring to
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life a chilling question of "what if?". The story is about subliminal messaging, which is nothing short of mind-control. When I was a kid, I remember hearing it was used briefly in advertising but was quickly outlawed. This story outlines what could happen if the wrong people fully developed this form of manipulation. Full of shocking plot twists and complex characters, I couldn't put this book down. I highly recommend it, but don't read it at night! Or alone! Show Less