Does anyone else have the thing where they're not scared of supernatural stuff at all, but serial killers or "normal" human stories where BAD things happen are actually way scarier?

I'm the opposite, but the way you are makes more sense to me.

Does anyone else have the thing where they're not scared of supernatural stuff at all, but serial killers or "normal" human stories where BAD things happen are actually way scarier?

Oh, hell yes. In fact, I find novels about mundane tragedies to be very hard going for emotional reasons, and not in a cathartic way either.

The only other Koontz I have read is the novella Darkness Under the Sun which is sort of a prequel to the novel so I don't know if the Mary Sue heroes are typical for him or not.

I read a lot of Koontz back in the day, and if I recall, that's pretty typical. I don't really remember much about the characters in his books, but I did really like them. Dragon Tears is my favorite, I think, and Strangers is really good. Also The Bad Place. The first Koontz I read was Darkfall. It was on the shelf in one of my teacher's rooms when I was in elementary or junior high, and I asked if I could borrow it, and thus my Koontz phase began. And I just looked at the plot summary and wow, I don't remember any of that. Oh! Oh! I loved the crap out of Cold Fire. That was one of those books where I got to a certain point and had to stay up for hours reading.

There were two Koontz books I adored. Lightning, which had the awesomest twist ever, and Watchers, which I adored because of the Golden Retriever with the human intelligence.

spoilery note to javachik, should you decide read the book: the dog in Watchers does NOT die, although there are some close calls.

Lightning was great. That was the first Koontz I read and is basically why I kept reading him, though I never liked anything else by him as much.

I can read a ghost story and totally love it but if I saw the same story as a movie I would have nightmares.

I am much more disturbed by stuff that can and did happen, like when I was reading World Without End, (set in the mid 14th century) I would find myself watching TV and thinking that a woman was about to get abused when she totally wasn't.

That Bestsellers the week you were born thing is neat! It never would have occurred to me to look that up. I've got The Bourne Supermacy by Robert Ludlum. I haven't read anything on my list, but one is The Handmaid's Tale which I have always meant to read.

Is there a link people are looking these up at?

Polter-Cow "Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear." Jan 11, 2011 9:09:05 am PST

What did Desmond Morris do wrong?