The House at the End of the World

" "Both intuition and common sense tell her that the hidden truth is deeply strange and that the trouble she thinks she’s in is much less terrifying than the trouble she’s really in." Kate has lived on Jacob's Ladder for 2 years. She thinks she is prepared for the worst. Nothing can prepare her for what escapes from a nearby Ringrock. Libby is the fourteen year old daughter of two scientists who live on Ringrock. When disaster strikes, she and Kate are thrown together, battling the unimaginable. Told in 3rd person from Kate's POV. Later in the book, Libby's POV is included. The timeline goes back and forth between the now and the events that lead Kate to move to an island by herself. The House at the End of the World is a fast-paced thriller. It is a book that I can easily imagine becoming a movie. The characters are well developed. There is a feeling of "could this really happen?" I would recommend for fans of well developed female MC's, government experiments, and monsters. I alternated between reading and listening to the audio version. I wish Libby had a different narrator. Content warnings: language, gore, guns and gun violence "

"So good! Suspenseful and sometimes terrifying! "

"A fantastic story about grief, greed, human nature, science fiction, and recovery."

"This was my first Koontz novel. <br/><br/>Well, technically, the one I picked up just before this one and abandoned because it was written so poorly - that was my first. From a craft standpoint, this one was not quite as bad. Still, three stars is probably too generous.<br/><br/>What I liked about the story: Thematically, it's a character struggling with deep disillusionment and injustice, loss, disempowerment. I appreciated that there were no easy good-vs-evil dichotomies: there was evil in everything, including people who wanted to do good but could not see their own evil. I took the main character as an unreliable narrator who emphasized this point, struggling to do good herself and failing, succumbing to unfounded (and founded) paranoia. I appreciated her fight to find meaning, to find reasons to do good. I appreciate her struggle to know what good is in a world of complex evil. <br/><br/>But this was just sloppy writing at best. The amount of "telling vs showing" is almost insulting. Others critique the book for a political agenda. Maybe that explains why the monster in this story just ... doesn't matter. The house the story seemed to center around ... doesn't matter. Given the themes, the story is surprisingly two-dimensional and pointless. <br/><br/>I just can't recommend this book. If this is representative of the author, I won't be picking up anything else by Koontz either."

"A good quick read "

"Fabulous. As expected, I could not put it down "

"This book started off extremely slowly. I’ve known this author to use a lot of descriptions to set his scene- really wants his readers to see exactly what he’s seeing in his head. However; it felt like there was too much describing at the beginning of the book. I listened to the audiobook and it seemed like an hour in and we’re still describing the island she lives on. For about the first four hours, there is a vague reference to “the promise she made” that gets a little annoying and cringey. Like ok lady we get it, you have some kind of reason for living now 🙄. But I stuck with the book because this is one of my favourite authors and I’m glad I did. Once the story erupted it really erupted into an interesting story regarding aliens and corrupt government officials that felt like it could be a real scenario. And it wrapped up in a way that left the reader satisfied."

"Started really slow, but finally picked up. Once it did, I had to stay up until 2:30 am to finish it."

"This seems like the type of book my dad would like to read... It's a suspense thriller but for some reason it reads like a political espionage thriller and I kept expecting Jack Ryan or Jack Reacher to come around the corner to uncover the government corruption and save the day. So, basic plot, there is a Lady named Katie who moves to a remote private island called Jacob's Ladder, in an attempt to hide from the world. All of the islands around her are private islands but one houses a mysterious research facility called Ringrock. One day her quite life is disrupted by sounds of a search and destroy mission being conducted at Ringrock and the presence of two ISA agents snooping around her island with AR-15s. Dark and ominous things begin happening and the teenage daughter of one of the Ringrock scientist shows up on the island with some answers about what is going on. Now its a race against time, in the middle of a huge storm, to save themselves and the entire planet. I wish Koontz had written made this as more of a sci-fi horror novel, but to me it read like a conspiracy theorists self published book. Quick and easy to read but I'm sure I will forget everything about this book by next month."

"2.5 - only because it was not really my cup of tea, albeit it was interesting. <br/><br/>I wasn't expecting it to be more sci-fi; it definitely gave me <i>The Thing</i> vibes"