This woman, society has failed her and she has felt that perhaps she can have refuge isolation.

This one, he says, “didn’t come out of wanting to write a scary book, it came out of frustration with the ruling class of America for the last 30 years. Koontz, who published his last novel six months ago and has his next after this one out in July, must have ideas circling his head all the time, like planes over Dublin Airport. I used to say, jokingly, that Henry James published 126 books in his lifetime, and I hope to outdo him.” I would tell you precisely how prolific he is, except he isn’t too sure himself: he “stopped counting the number quite a few years ago. His best-known books are titles such as Demon Seed (1973), Odd Thomas (2003) and his first best-seller, Whispers (1980). “I had to literally threaten to leave publishers early on if they wouldn’t stop putting the word ‘horror’ on my books.” But he is mostly associated with suspense thrillers that have a supernatural or otherworldly edge.

One such writer is the American novelist Dean Koontz, who at the age of 77 has been publishing novels for more than half a century in, he says, “almost every genre, except I think the western”. They write in the sort of genres – horror, fantasy, romance – that get sectioned off in bookshops and enjoy little mainstream books coverage.

In the books pages of The Irish Times and other newspapers, you will read about writers whose novels and story collections are well-reviewed, are nominated for prizes and feature in arts festivals – and most of which sell moderately at best.īut above this world, or below it – let’s just say outside it – is a universe of writers who have been plugging away for decades, often with much greater commercial success than literary novelists. Follow him in each story, which can be read or listened to in a single sitting.The world of books is starkly divided. But in turning predators into prey, will Nameless unearth a few secrets of his own?įrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz comes In the Heart of the Fire, part of Nameless, a riveting collection of short stories about a vigilante nomad, stripped of his memories and commissioned to kill. Now its time to teach the depraved Soakes a lesson in fear. One of them is a single mother trying to protect her children but bracing herself for the worst. Until Nameless arrivesa vigilante whose past is a mystery and whose future is written in blood.Īnyone who crosses Sheriff Russell Soakes is dead, missing, or warned. “A bloodthirsty sheriff is terrorizing a small Texas town where justice has been buried with his victims.

In the heart of fire dean koontz