THANKS TO THE POST ON SEPT 13, 2012Since the death of her son, Danny, in a freak accident a year ago, Tina Evans is just starting to make sense of life again. She has moved on from her divorce, and her career as a producer in Vegas is thriving; her new 10-million-dollar show, Magyck!, an extraordinary mix of magic acts, acrobatics and song and dance, is the new “It” show in the sparkly city. What doesn’t make sense in her life, however, is the strange presence in her house, the one that repeatedly writes “Not Dead” on Danny’s play chalkboard.
New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to be in Las Vegas; the glittery lights of the desert city give the holiday that extra dose of hope and shine and extravagance. Tina Evans, a veteran of the Vegas stage, knows that timing is everything, and for her multi-million dollar production, New Year’s Eve is the ideal premiere date.
The days leading up to December 31 are busy and stressful, so much so that Tina is rarely at home and rarely notices the bizarre happenings around her house. The temperature dips, door knobs ice over, the airplanes in her son’s room begin to fly, the radio turns on. Most disturbingly, the message “Not Dead” is scrawled on various surfaces.
Tina’s son, Danny, died a year earlier, and, caught up in the whirlwind of dress rehearsals and last-minute production changes, Tina is too distracted to dwell on her loss anymore. She reconciles – sort of – with her selfish and self-centered ex-husband, and she starts a relationship with widower and lawyer Eliot Stryker. The two mesh in every way, and when Tina begins to piece together the strange messages she believes she’s receiving from her dead son, Eliot is at her side, prepared to help her untangle the increasingly peculiar and dangerous mystery.
The Eyes of Darkness, despite being one of Koontz’s earlier novels, is well-written. The haunting of Tina’s house is effectively spooky, and at first glance, this novel is more of a ghost story than pure science fiction. A word of warning, however: Koontz’s descriptions are so accurate, so eerie, that The Eyes of Darkness is best for the daytime, unless the reader is a fan of horror or psychological thrillers.
The buildup to the story’s climax – the truth behind Danny’s death and the mysterious communications Tina receives from him – is deliciously suspenseful. The chemistry between Tina and her handy love interest, Stryker, powers the plot forward, and the two make a great team, evading seemingly omnipotent “bad guys” and generally being sneaky and stealthy. After they discover Danny, however, and the whos, whats, wheres, whys and hows are explained, the plot fizzles. Still, for a science fiction novel that takes place in Las Vegas, with the main character a former showgirl whose boyfriend is former Army intelligence, The Eyes of Darkness is a good book.
