The man behind my night of terror.
I laid there with my phone, under the bed covers, my knees curled up to my chest.
I could barely see my room.
I couldn't even see the edge of my bed
Everywhere was pitch black. Power was out.
Darkness was as thick as fog and the silence was as absolute as if the world was suspended.
There was no moonlight, and no sounds of passing cars or people walking about.
There was not even the sound of crickets doing their thing.
Because it was past 1am already.
And in the silence, came a scratching sound.
I jumped out of my skin, flung off the covers in panic and hurriedly switched on my flashlight at the corner where the scratching sound came from.
With my heart galloping wildly in my chest… all I could think of was….
“Is this happening to me?”
“Is that thing in my house too?”
“What if it is…….?”
I searched every corner of my room to look for the thing that made that sound.
Under the bed….in my closet….in my reading corner….and even in my bags hung on the wall
I couldn't find it.
In fear, I walked back to my bed, jumped under the covers and kept the flashlight on
I went back to the novel I was reading on my phone…. occasionally sweeping my room with the corner of my eyes
I knew I should stop reading what I've been reading.
I knew I should.
But it was as if I was under a spell.
I wanted to know how the protagonist survived.
It was as if his survival will bring my pounding heart to rest.
As if my sanity depends on his survival.
And in a way it does….
Because what I was reading is what is causing me to jump at every sound in panic, expecting a demon out of hell to pounce on me.
I was totally absorbed in the novel so much that I became convinced that what's happening in the novel is happening in my room too.
What's going on in the novel…you wonder?
How could events in the novel cause me so much fear.
The novel is about a successful detective novelist, Tommy Phan, who came home to find a rag doll left on his doorstep.
The doll was covered with white cloth, with black cross stitches for the eyes and mouth and another on the heart.
Not knowing what it could be…he made a grave mistake by bringing it inside..
And that almost cost him his life.
Because this rag doll became his nightmare.
With a popping sound, and the cross stitches over the heart tearing apart…. something that could only be from the pit of hell emerged.
And it emerged with a single mission.
To kill Tommy Phan…. before dawn.
Tick Tock. Tick Tock.
This demonic doll couldn't be destroyed.
And it made matters worse for Tommy, because with each attempt he makes to destroy this thing….
It became bigger and more powerful.
I became engrossed in the novel…. identifying with Tommy's terror and anxious about whether he would survive or not.
Then at a point, it began to feel as if I was in the novel and I was Tommy.
Feeling all the horror and the desperation to survive.
The writer brought me into the novel so much that when I heard that scratching sound (the same sound that the rag doll makes) in my room….
My thoughts were…
“Is that thing in my room too?”
“Is that demonic doll here to torment me too?”
I lost all my sleep that night….kept my flashlight on and kept checking the room with my eyes in fear.
Now I'm not usually like this.
Infact, my favorite genre of literature are mysteries, thrillers, and horror.
And I've read famous books in this genre by famous writers…but I never felt scared when reading them.
But something about this book made me break from character.
Maybe because of the normalcy of Tommy Phan’s life and the unexpected intrusion of this demonic doll.
Maybe because of the unrelenting evil of the doll that made it seem as if Tommy Phan won't survive.
Maybe because I've never heard a rag doll becoming a demon whose mission would be to murder.
Okay I’ve watched the Chucky series….but they never felt real to me.
I mean….it doesn't happen everyday right?
That night was a night of terror for me…
But I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Because no book has ever made me feel that way.
I've read so many novels from the author of the book…
That I never knew I would read one that would make me feel as if I was the protagonist in fear for their life.
And for that….he became my favorite writer.
“If he can make me feel like this by just reading….then I want more of his works”
And that writer, dear reader, is Dean R. Koontz.
The exceptional writer of mysteries, thrillers, the paranormal and supernatural.
He has a way of bringing strangers together for reasons they don't initially understand to confront forces they don't understand….as in the case of The Good Guy, the Jane Hawk series, From the Corner of His Eyes and many more.
Infact, I believe this is the central theme of his books.
This is the conclusion I and my roommate arrived at when we discussed his books for the first time.
I started reading his books in 2020, and by my count….
I've read almost 50 of his books, if not more than that.
I've never been able to get into other authors since then.
If you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious….
You love the heart pounding suspense that thrillers and mysteries novels gives you….
And you haven't stumbled on Dean Koontz’s works yet….
Then I suggest you start with Intensity.
It was the first novel of his that I started with.
And I absolutely recommend it!
Now, I’m off to read his latest piece, “The Bad Weather Friend”
