By Dean Koontz

Rating: 4/5

Three-Word Summary: Smart dog escapes

I had been meaning to read something by Dean Koontz for a while. He’s prolific and renown nearly on the same scale as Stephen King.

Finally, I recently decided to dive into one of the novels that helped to establish him as a modern master of sci-fi. And while he’s clearly a good writer and deserving of praise, I found that he’s not quite on the same level as King.

Watchers is about two escaped lab experiments — one is a highly intelligent golden retriever, known simply as The Dog; the other is a nightmarish monster, mysteriously known as The Outsider.

Travis is a gloomy former Delta Force soldier with a troubled past. When he discovers The Dog one day in the wilderness, it changes both of their lives forever. They are relentlessly pursued by government agents, an immortal serial killer and, worst of all, The Outsider.

The set up for the book is compelling and entertaining. Koontz has a straightforward writing style, in the similar fashion to thriller authors like James Paterson and Dan Brown.

However, as the story line progressed, it bordered on cliche and predictability. While there was still enough to hold my attention, the novel seemed to have lost some of its original inspiration. The character development was evident, but clunky at times.

All told, Watchers was worth reading, but based on it’s content alone, I’d estimate that Koontz’s reputation may be slightly over inflated. I am at least willing to read another of his works to better judge.