This book was so creepy in that classic Koontz way—where everything feels just a little too perfect, and you know something horrifying is lurking underneath. I was hooked from the start. Childhood trauma, weird small-town vibes, buried memories—it checked all my favorite boxes.

The “four amigos” dynamic pulled me in right away. There’s something so powerful about revisiting a tight group of childhood friends who have drifted apart, only to be drawn back together by something seriously wrong. The nostalgia hits hard, but it’s what they start remembering that really gets under your skin.

Without spoiling anything—there’s a figure from their past that’s straight-up nightmare fuel. And the way the town kind of… pulls at them? Gives the story this eerie, supernatural undertone that slowly creeps up until you’re fully locked in and freaking out.

I adore this author and his unique writing style ( especially when the author speaks to you during the book), you end up hooked and holding on for dear life.

This has got to be one of the most unconventional books I’ve ever read but in a good way.

It’s filled with weird and strange goings on in a small town , three friends left the town behind a long time ago but their fourth friend who stayed falls in a coma under mysterious circumstances. So they make the journey back to their hometown.

What’s not to love about this book? mystery, small town vibes, found family, humour and spookiness.

I enjoyed it! I’ve never read a Dean koontz book prior. It was suspenseful yet intriguing and focused on emotional trauma and growth and how your past never truly leaves you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of Going Home in the Dark!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
😂 love to laugh
🔨 enjoy when an author breaks the fourth wall
🗣️ like outlandish dialogue
♥️ are friends with an actor, an artist, and a novelist

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams―and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. Don’t they remember people lapsing into comas back then? And those people always awoke…didn’t they?

After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him.

For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems. For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the “four amigos,” as they once called themselves, back in its grasp.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This book was absolutely hilarious in so many ways. First, the dialogue. It reminded me a lot of British humor, you know, where the characters are saying things that are funny to the audience but nobody in the movie knows they are being made fun of? It was snarky, sarcastic, and absurd, in the best way! The monsters were also silly, in a scary sort of way. I was kind of picturing the farmer from Men in Black who has aliens take over him and he can’t pass for human as Wayne Louis Hornfly. The story moved at a great pace, and I enjoyed how much Koontz broke the fourth wall by speaking directly to the reader. If you enjoy Grady Hendrix, then you’ll love this novel!