Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz is a rapidly paced horror thriller. The main villain is a super-powered being that can stop time and create beings out of dirt. The plot explores what happens if a super-powered being chooses not to help people. Instead, they desire to rule over them and treat them like pawns. The villain just likes toying with people. He likes watching them run in fear. He makes a game out of it and gives people until dawn to play. The villain has an ego and thinks that no one will ever win this game. The playthings are a mother with a small child, a drunk wino, and a police officer. The imagery is the best part. The victim first turns into a tall vagabond. Then he transforms into a series of rats as he leaves. The pace of the story is rapid paced. The story is a thriller in terms of pacing, with horrific moments. It is a Koontz book, so there is, of course, a dog. The story is told from multiple perspectives. These include the mother with her son, the wino, the police officer, and the villain. Other perspectives include a blind woman in a nursing home, the police officer’s ex-partner, and the dog. The dog’s perspective is a little annoying. I did like that he solves the mystery of who the villain is. He has to wait until the humans figure it out. The villain’s countdown is pretty chilling, “tick tock,” he yells, reminding people that their time is up. Dragon Tears was a reread for me and one of my higher-rated Koontz books. I believe this was the first Koontz I ever read. Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz was published on January 1, 1993.

Plot Summary: Sammy, a homeless wino, is stalked by a tall man who looks homeless. He tells him he has to drown to live, and turns into rats as he leaves. Janet, a woman on the run after killing her abusive husband, meets a homeless man who tells them they have until dawn to live. Harry, a police officer, and his partner Connie have a gruesome battle with a bad guy who carries grenades and only speaks in Elvis song lyrics. Harry was almost blown up during the incident. He takes it out on the crowd of bystanders. Harry is then visited by the crazy homeless man, who refers to him as “the hero” and tells him that by dawn, he will be dead. These three victims must find each other to figure out who the Ticktock man is and how they can stop him.

What I Liked: The imagery that Koontz paints of the Ticktock man is pretty scary. This happens before he transforms into snakes, spiders, and rats. Then, when he transforms and those creatures, it is horrific. I like the story of how the Ticktock Man was born into power. The story of his birth was nuts. There’s also a flashback of the villain and his grandmother when he comes to test his power. The ending was pretty brutal. The story of Harry’s ex-partner. I did like the dog solving everything and waiting for the humans to catch up. I do like the explanation of Dragon tears and the proverb about it. I like the new update on folklore that the villain controls.

What I Disliked: The dog’s perspective repeats itself so much. I try to judge a book by itself. However, if you’ve read more than a couple of Dean Koontz books, you will get the perspective of the dog. The first time you read it, it is great and unique. When you read multiple books, you get the same perspective, and it gets old. Also, these are different dog’s but all seem to have the same personality. But I’m sure if he doesn’t do it, he gets letters saying Where’s the dog’s POV. Dragon Tears had three or four dog perspective scenes, and it would have been better if it was just two. The dialogue struggled in this book, and there was a lot of repetition. I hated that one character was not associated with the villain, and was a red herring. The guy was too weird to be just regular.

Recommendations: Dragon Tears is a fast-paced horror thriller. There are moments when this book is scary, but also moments when this book is repetitive and a bit annoying. The first part of this book is genuinely scary. I had fun for the most part. I will barely recommend this book for its scary thrills.

Rating: Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz. I rated 3.4 out of 5. My rating went down one star from my previous rating; it almost hung on to a four-star with rounding up.

Ranking: I have read and fully reviewed 2 Dean Koontz books. Before I was a reviewer, I read 8 of his books. I seemed to like Dragon Tears and most of his Frankenstein series best. The 2 books that I have read and fully reviewed, I will break down from favorite to least favorite: 1) Dragon Tears and 2) Fear Nothing. Knootz’s books are fun for the most part and fast. I have at least 3 books here and plan to read some more.