Само ден и половина след приключването на невероятната "Ускорение" на Дийн Кунц, със съжаление затварям и "Гръмотевичният дом". Казвам със съжаление не защото книгата не е добра, а просто защото свърши. Мнението ми си остава същото - Кунц е невероятен. Романът е невероятен! "Гръмотевичният дом" ("The House Of Thunder") е издаден за първи път в Щатите през 1982 година от издателството Pocket Books. На корицата на книгата обаче не е името на Дийн Кунц, а един от множеството му синоними - Лий Никълс. Романът е издаден у нас от издателство "Плеяда" през 1997 година. Преводач е Боян Николаев. Книгата "Гръмотевичният дом", характерно за Дийн Кунц е изпълнена с мистерия и динамика. Да, тук действието не галопира като в "Тик-Так" и "Ускорение", но въпреки това постоянно се случва нещо, което не оставя читателя да скучае нито за миг. Кунц винаги ме е изумявал с темите си. Не знам откъде му идват, но не може да му се отрече, че са гениални. Вижте само поредиците му за "Франкенщайн" и "Чудакът Томас" и ще разберете за какво говоря. Тук авторът отново пуска в действие пълната сила на таланта си и резултатът е един хубав и мистериозен хорър. Сюзан Торнтън се събужда в болнична стая и има частична амнезия, причинена от скорошна катастрофа. Двадесет и два дена е била в кома и малко по малко се опитва да събере частите на пъзела, който в случая е паметта й. Всички около нея се държат много добре, даже прекалено добре за подобно здравно заведение. Карат я да се чувства специална, като, според думите им, това е най-важната част от лечението й. Всичко върви чудесно до момента, в който Сюзан започва да вижда мъртви хора около себе си. Хора, които са оставили тежки рани в съзнанието й. И оттук нататък започва мистерията, за да завърши накрая с невероятен и неочакван финал.Малко са писателите, които могат да накарат читателите си да искат още и още от творчеството им, а Дийн Кунц определено е точно такъв творец. Едва затворил книгата "Гръмотевичният дом" и вече ми се чете нещо друго на автора. Препоръчвам на всички фенове на мистериите и хоръра, както и на хубавата литература. Макар книгата да е писана 1982 година, тя определено ще устои на ударите на времето.
For those who are Koontz fans and even those who have never heard of him ( if that's even possible although he’s been sucking the last few years a bit) this can be a real treat. This is one of his older novels which I prefer, his good olden days were something to relish in story land. I love how The House of Thunder really messes with the reader's mind when things start to unfold. It gets nice and creepy and brings in the thrills, I read this story years ago back in 2003 and I wanted to add a review to Goodreads so I looked up the old review and implemented some into this intro. I still think fondly of this story ten years later, time for a re-read it seems.When Susan wakes up in an unfamiliar hospital she knows there was some kind of an accident but she cannot recall what is going on and why is she there. Her freedom seems suppressed by mysterious hospital members and nurses, she starts suspecting something strange is going on around her and she's somehow aware of it without others noticing it, yet…Reading this as a surprise without reading about it was the best so I don’t want to spoil but let me just say that it’s seat gripping and fun, a type of book that will make one hold their breath, well at least I did, that one scene in the hospital.. yikes. She feels that her life is in danger even while everything seems pretty normal, she must do her best to remain inconspicuous but get to the bottom of things and still get out in one piece. Susan Thornton is one character that I grew to like, and I didn't want anything to happen to her. Unfortunately for me and for Susan, there are a few nice scary chapters with her in them, it was an intense read! Just when you think she's safe, she ends up in a much worse situation.This is a seep clogger, something that I read through the night and went on with the next day in a zombie haze because I was so tired but happy and rethinking the story in my head. So if you want to stay up till 3am go for it.- Kasia S.
What do You think about The House Of Thunder (1992)?
Sadly...I was not impressed... I am a fan of Dean Koontz and was happy to have got a copy of this from a friend... But I should have known when Goodreads.com didn't have a page on this book. (It's in a book set but I only found it in audio-version... ) I thought when I read the description it seemed like a thrilling, suspenseful read. IT WAS CRAP!!(view spoiler)[ what was the point?!?!? She was involved in a experiment?? For her work... Why the 4 men from the "House of Thunder"? I do not get how the men are "ghosts" but yet they need to cover there tracks with medicine to keep her knocked out. Or the Russian stuff??? How was this possible?!?!? (hide spoiler)]
—Ashley
It seems like I am reading a bunch of horror novels lately (not to mention haunted house stories) but that's just the way it's worked out. I chose this particular book almost be default. I've been trying a new library that is closer to my work place, making it easier to pick up and drop off but turns out there are very few audio books there that aren't abridged. This was just about the only one I found that was unabridged, and since I've read quite a few Koontz novels before I felt pretty safe in my pick.Having said that, Dean Koontz can be hit or miss for me. Happily, this one was one of the better Koontz novels I've experienced. I've read enough Koontz to realize that I tend to like his earlier stuff better so perhaps that is why I liked this one. Apparently this was first published in the early 1980's under one of Koontz' pseudonyms. And it's not a haunted house novel in the usual sense at all...more of a haunted hosipital. It has a cool premise and setup for a horror situation. The protagonist, Susan Thornton, wakes up from a coma (from an auto accident) with amnesia. At first her recovery experiences are pretty normal but soon she starts to hallucinate about hospital staff members being bad guys from a murder she witnessed 13 years ago, a murder that resulted in the death of her fiance. That progresses into even more strange happenings, some of a truly horrifying nature and Susan begins to question her own sanity. It's a cool setup for a horror novel because we, the readers, aren't any more sure of what's going on than Susan herself. We can really get into her position and suffer along with her as she tries to sort out fiction from reality. Is she really hallucinating? Is she crazy? Or is something more sinister going on. And because it's a Koontz novel, we can never discount the possibility that supernatural forces are at work here.The narration was well done on the audio book which always leads to a better experience. They used two people, a male and a female to do the different parts so that helped suspend the disbelief. The resolution was a slight let-down for me as the novel itself changed from a horror novel to more of a spy/thriller story and Koontz does the former better than the later. But the plot was still smooth and the ending was comfortable. All in all an enjoyable "read".
—Benjamin Thomas
I am a huge Dean R. Koontz fan and while I enjoyed The House of Thunder, I enjoyed his other novels more. Koontz usually has a great way of getting my attention and also, keeping me guessing until the end. This time, (while it was a page turner), I had guessed several different options as to what Susan's "hallucinations" (or whatever they may be) meant and when I was about 20 pages away from finishing the book, I was very disappointed to find out that I had been right.Or so I thought. With about 5 pages left, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was yet again, a twist. Therefore, I am happy with the book for keeping me entertained the entire way through.The one thing I disliked, was how the book seemed to hurriedly give us a conclusion to the story. The last few pages offered us a few insights into what happened but it was all so fast, that it seemed to still be incomplete. It's not odd for me to want more once I am done reading a book, but for this one- it was for the wrong reasons. Not Koontz's best.
—Joanna The Montrealer
