Dean Books

"Watchers" is a great story to be read.
Dean Koontz has a superlative genius for depicting scenes with constant and subtle increase of tension. With very tiny elements, a normal engagement, turns into a hair-raising situation.

The dog-human relationship is very dearly and shows a deep penetration of the author on canine psyche. Every dog-lover person will be seduced by the mutated Golden Retriever that is righteously named "Einstein".

Even the hideous "Outsider" has its attractive traits.

It looks like every reader will be satisfied as the book contains romance, horror, adventure, fantasy, thrill, monster, wonder-dog, psycho-killer, dogged cop, whatever. The whole story is very neatly tied up and keep you running chapter after chapter until the end.

It is a book that may be enjoyed by thrillers fans and general public too.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Watchers is a great story. I bought this item for my wife so she could read it on our vacation. She needed larger print than the paperback version so I found this hardback on Amazon. When the book arrived, it was a paperback that someone had converted into a hardback by changing the cover.
I was dissapointed with the purchase.

The only way to please God is to surrender all to Him that you might do all things His way.

This book is great. It details intimately how we are to worship and conduct ourselves daily. Gaines is a wonder writer and God-led Pastor. Buy this book!!!

Dean Hughes is the best. He has the talent of writing a story that immediately brings you into the thick of it. This is a series of WW2 novels, with 5 volumes being in the first series. You feel for what this family is going through as they try and cope with World War 2. Best of all, they are "clean" books. None of the smut and dirty language. Dean doesn't need any of that. He writes a great story!!!. I recommend this series plus his follow up series Hearts of the Children another great 5 volumes.

In the fourth installment of the Children of the Promise series, Hughes takes us deeper into the wartime lives of Alex, Wally and Bobbi. Alex faces time as a prisoner, Wally continues in the unspeakable horror known as the Japanese P.O.W. camps and Bobbi struggles to keep her relationship with Richard alive as wounded soldiers pour in from the South Pacific theater. The reader is drawn so deeply into the lives of these characters they almost seem like family. Hughes, once again, has brilliantly triumphed in continuing to keep us so tuned in to the Thomases.

As a school psychologist, I would recommend that everyone buy a copy of this book for any teen that they know. The action is lively and the parallels between a bird and a boy realistically portray the difficulties of growing up. I gave the book to my nephew and he enjoyed the descriptions of birds of prey and how they migrate.

I thought this book was excellent. The author was very clever in his storytelling by switching between the story of the boy and the bird. This is not just a novel for young adults. It's a very emotional account of a young boy with issues to deal with. We all can learn from it.

I enjoyed reading and continue to use the stoires of "Where Was I When Time Went By?." A feel good book similar to "Chicken Soup for the Soul." There are so many great stories that you can relate to in dealing with kids, family, dogs, trips, and on and on. All the things that happen in life are captured in different stories in this book. I have a copy of the book at my desk at work and it's fun to read one or two a day just to get your priorities back in line. Our family read a few of Dean Chapman's writings on Christmas day and they were enjoyed by all. There is something for everyone is this book...I highly recommend it.

Mr. Chapman takes us aboard a wild and wonderful ride on his family train; his amazing life and awesome love for his wife and family are to be commended. Truly a precious gem on todays' literary market!

Enter, if you dare, the mind of a teenaged boy with all its conflicting tenderness, violence, sexuality and vulnerability. Author Larry Hand has not so much painted as etched in hard lines, a portrait of Buddy Barnes, one of four sons of a south Georgia tobacco farmer.
Hand takes a character that could have been easily stereotyped into a 1950’s James Dean rebel and gives him edges and angles to be explored and depths to be plumbed. His vivid images will both terrify and delight the reader. Buddy learns early to cope with the harsh realities of life among the laboring class by developing an imagination that channels his violent inclinations into fantasies. When singled out for derision by his first-grade teacher who labels him “backwards,” Buddy pictures her being eaten by a giant praying mantis. “The big green thing turned, reached out its long arms, grabbed Miss Pritchard by the head, and ripped it straight up off of her body. A shower of crimson liquid spewed all over her desk and splattered some of those snotty little rich kids sitting up there in the front row. Then it placed its gigantic jaws around her head and clamped down, the way a hog bites into a watermelon. Her brain splattered across the chalkboard and made little puddles all over the floor.”
Yet when Buddy later speaks of the girl who would break his heart, he reveals a poetic soul at odds with his violent imaginings. “When I first saw the girl I would love forever, she had jewels in her mouth.” He later explains as he sips water in a sweltering tobacco warehouse, “… She used to wear braces on her teeth. When I kissed her, she tasted just like metal. It used to remind me of drinking water like this. … out of a tin dipper. …always cool…and sweet.” However, when taunted by his cousin about losing the love of his life, Buddy turns again to his murderous fantasies. “I didn’t say anything, but in my mind I stuck a pitchfork into his belly and twisted, allowing his guts to spill out onto the patch of white sand next to his car.”
The year Buddy graduates from high school, he must decide what really makes a boy a man. When threatened with a gun by his cousin, Buddy considers making his illusory massacres real, which would certainly start a family war. “That’s the way it ought to be … the way it’s always been. Brothers taking up for brothers. Cousins taking up for cousins.”
Larry Hand writes from personal experience and a sensitivity that allows the reader to smell the pine trees, tar, and tobacco fields of south Georgia and to feel the angst of a young man in conflict with his own soul.

Enter, if you dare, the mind of a teenaged boy with all its conflicting tenderness, violence, sexuality and vulnerability. Author Larry Hand has not so much painted as etched in hard lines, a portrait of Buddy Barnes, one of four sons of a south Georgia tobacco farmer.
Hand takes a character that could have been easily stereotyped into a 1950's James Dean rebel and gives him edges and angles to be explored and depths to be plumbed. His vivid images will both terrify and delight the reader. Buddy learns early to cope with the harsh realities of life among the laboring class by developing an imagination that channels his violent inclinations into fantasies. When singled out for derision by his first-grade teacher who labels him "backwards," Buddy pictures her being eaten by a giant praying mantis. "The big green thing turned, reached out its long arms, grabbed Miss Pritchard by the head, and ripped it straight up off of her body. A shower of crimson liquid spewed all over her desk and splattered some of those snotty little rich kids sitting up there in the front row. Then it placed its gigantic jaws around her head and clamped down, the way a hog bites into a watermelon. Her brain splattered across the chalkboard and made little puddles all over the floor."
Yet when Buddy later speaks of the girl who would break his heart, he reveals a poetic soul at odds with his violent imaginings. "When I first saw the girl I would love forever, she had jewels in her mouth." He later explains as he sips water in a sweltering tobacco warehouse, "... She used to wear braces on her teeth. When I kissed her, she tasted just like metal. It used to remind me of drinking water like this. ... out of a tin dipper. ...always cool...and sweet." However, when taunted by his cousin about losing the love of his life, Buddy turns again to his murderous fantasies. "I didn't say anything, but in my mind I stuck a pitchfork into his belly and twisted, allowing his guts to spill out onto the patch of white sand next to his car."
The year Buddy graduates from high school, he must decide what really makes a boy a man. When threatened with a gun by his cousin, Buddy considers making his illusory massacres real, which would certainly start a family war. "That's the way it ought to be ... the way it's always been. Brothers taking up for brothers. Cousins taking up for cousins."
Larry Hand writes from personal experience and a sensitivity that allows the reader to smell the pine trees, tar, and tobacco fields of south Georgia and to feel the angst of a young man in conflict with his own soul.

This book is a great book if you're new to poker. It is a quick read, concise, and well worth the price. It doesn't matter if you're just playing a "friendly" neighborhood game, or going to Vegas to try your luck.

Winning Poker: 200 Rules, Technique & Strategies is a straightforward guide to mastering gambling card games. Covering a wide range of varients including Texas hold'em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, Five-Card Stud, and Five-Card Draw, as well as more unusual variations such as High-Low Chicago, Winning Poker not only describes rules and statistical analyses for calculating odds, but also explains how to read an opponent's tells, analyze a game, decipher poker slang, and more. An invaluable tool for anyone looking to improve their poker game, whether among friends or at a casino, and also a useful resource for better understanding televised poker championships.

This book was written by Tamara Thorne and it is one of her very best. A small town is slowly being taken over by an ancient evil, which is set free by the unknown. Gory, bloody, fast-moving with great characters, funny at times, this is a great book. Original, scary and very entertaining.

This is one of the most compelling horror novels I have read. In addition to being wonderfully chilling, it is just plain fun to read! Highly recommended; I'm going to look for more by these authors.

The story begins when the two tired children arrive home from boarding school to see their dear wishing chair and Chinky the pixie. Mollie and Peter were going to the Land of Treats, The Land of Surprises and Mr Grim's School for Bad Brownies where they rescue Winks and go to lots more lands.

When I read this book I found it exciting and in some adventures it was pretty alarming. The story was so interesting that it made me read on and on so that once I started reading I couldn't stop until I finished it! It had a nice ending.

It made me ask myself "If the Wishing Chair series is so good, why not read all of Enid Blyton's books?" I just had to read them all! Now I'm on the search for Enid Blyton books.

You've got to read these books too and I suggest you read The Adventures of the Wishing Chair first then read The Wishing Chair Again and last of all More Wishing Chair Adventures. I think you should try one.

(Review by Isabella)

I read Enid Blyton's The Wishing Chair and the Wishing Chair Again when I was a child. I loved them. The brother and sister (Peter & Mollie) discovered a magical chair that can fly when it grows its wings. They also met a Pixie named Chinky who goes with them on their adventures and helps them navigate fairyland. I'm currently reading this book to my 4 1/2 year old twins. They love it. They can't wait for bedtime so we can read more chapters. They also loved the Faraway Tree stories. I highly recommend these books to be read to 4 to 6 year olds. They have great values woven into the stories without being preachy.

This is the perfect book for aspiring writers. Although some of the material is outdated, Koontz covers writing in different genres, including sci-fi, suspense, westerns, gothic, and erotica. He also motivates the reader by laying out his writing methods and emphasises the discipline it takes to succeed as a writer.

This book was first published in 1972, Early in Dean Koontz's career. The book reviews the basic ingredients and elements of the following genres:
Science fictio and fantasy
Suspense
Mysteries
Gothic-romance
Westerns
Erotica

It's a practical book giving insights and advice.

Really now, how many writers, early in their careers, wrote a book on how to write and then proved they could become massively successful? This is a pricey book you'll need to find used. Look for a reading copy that is not collectible because it has been well worn or discharged from a library. I don't understand why Writer's Digest hasn't re-issued this.

I wish I could get Koontz to attend the StoryCon meeting on the Art, science and Application of story, which I organize.