Koontz Achieves Mediocrity

Phantoms is far and away better than most Koontz novels--which is to say that it achieves the level of mediocrity. It's a straight up creature story--you can see the 1998 film if you want to understand the plot. I saw it back when I was in high school and enjoyed it, even though I am a distinct minority in that respect. I think remembering the film helped me to enjoy the book more than previous Koontz work. It's still got awful dialogue and poor characterization, but the monster is relatively interesting. Also, it's grislier than previous Koontz books I've read. The plot holes are enormous as well, but there are a few creepy moments and I'll simply take what I can get from Koontz. Not a bad beach book.