A compilation of essays that examines the fiction of Dean Koontz, from his earliest literary efforts in the 1960s and ‘70s to his emergence as a bestselling author of suspense. Written by some of the top experts in popular culture studies, these essays will appeal to the many fans of Dean Koontz’s work, as well as to general readers.

Table of Contents Dean R. Koontz: An Introduction Gary Hoppenstand and Garyn G. Roberts The Creative Force in the Life and Stories of Dean Koontz Katherine Ramsland Journeying Down Strange Highways: The Short Fiction of Dean Koontz Gary Hoppenstand Transformational Inversions: Dean R. Koontz’s Rhetorical Poetics of the Marginalized Carl B. Holmberg Not in the Public Interest: Science and Scientists in the “Dark Suspense” Novels of Dean Koontz Rhonda L. Harris Taylor None Is Pure from Sin: The Catholicism of Dean Koontz Frank A. Salamone Bad Trips: The 1960s and Dean Koontz’s Serial Killer Novels Etta C. Abrahams The Ubiquitous Evil: Child Abuse in Dean Koontz’s Thrillers Patricia W. Julius Edges of Perception in Dean Koontz’s Mask Donald Secreast Of Golden Retrievers and Hideous Monsters: Dean R. Koontz’s Watchers Garyn G. Roberts Gothic Evolutions: Back to The Island of Dr. Moreau in Dean Ray Koontz’s Midnight Bennett Lovett-Graff Suspense and the Spiritual: Tensions of Fate and Faith in Sole Survivor Katherine Ramsland About the Contributors Index