Books like Twilight Eyes

Warning: there may be spoilers here and Caution: that last real post on this thread was long and rambling, this one is likely to be worse. Why Twilight eyes? I mean, I frequently find that even amongst Kootz fans when I say this is my favorite, I get people turning heads and going "huh?" Let me explain what about that book affected me. The first thing that I picked up on were pieces like this worked into the opening of many chapters."Every hour the radio news told us of Kitty Genovese, who had been killed two days ago. 38 of her Kew Gardens neighbors had heard her terrified calls for help and watched as her attacker stabbed her, crept away, then returned to stab her again, finally killing on her own doorstep. None of the thirty-eight had gone to her aid. None called the police until a half hour after Kitty was dead. Two days later the story was still at the top of the news, and the whole country was trying to understand what the nightmarish events in Kew Gardens said about the inhumanity, callousness and isolation of urban man and woman. "We just didn't want to get involved," the thirty eight onlookers said, as if being of the same speicies, and age, and society of Kitty Genovese, was not involvement enough to illicit mercy and compassion…." The story is set around (just after) the assassination of President Kennedy (63/64). I doubt there was any intent on Koontz's part to artistically mirror another work of art in another media but this bit stuck in my memory and I can even recall it now almost verbatim. He did not invent this story (http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/se...) The Heroine Rya's words to the hero here are just as haunting. "Not all of the evil in the world comes from the goblins." It reminded me of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's "Silent Night." They recorded a wonderful version of the haunting, yet beautiful Christmas Carol with The Seven O'clock news playing in the background. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63u8T3... "Not all of the evil in the world comes from the goblins." I cannot read this part of Twilight eyes, or listen to The Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night without recalling the other. The same year I read this, I was stationed on the USS Mount Baker AE34, an ammunitions carrier. We'd just worked our butts off bringing beans bullets and gas to the fleet during the Libyan Crisis. Our deployment had been extended to past 8 months instead of the usual 6, and we had pulled into Rota Spain as the last port before returning to Charleston S.C., our home port. A sailor, off of the USS Jessie L. Brown, a Charleston Based Frigate returning with us, had come back to the ship the last night we were in port, drunk, fell off of the brow between the pier and the ship and drown before they could get him out of the water leaving a wife and two children behind. "Not all of the evil in the world is caused by the Goblins." In the book, the character "Jolly" a kindly man, nothing like the sailor off of the Brown save the senselessness of his death, was found dead on the merry go round. He wanted nothing in life but to bring joy to children and shared a child like infatuation with the ride. The Goblins did this one. My point is, that Koontz, without trying, had put words to that dark side of humanity and fate that nobody ever wants to acknowledge, but can't ignore, the object of our denial, "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator certain inalienable rights," we are equally capable of looking away instead of showing compassion and mercy and getting involved. Even then, sometimes ”shit happens. That is another way of saying that not all of the bad things in life are caused by madmen like the crazed gunman in Phoenix who confronted Gabrielle Giffords. Anyone of us could have been Kitty Genovese? You think I'm being over dramatic? What about so many teens and young adults, driven to suicide or tragedy by bullies who teased them about being Gay, or picked on them because of who they liked as a boyfriend? IN HIGH SCHOOL! How many people, good teachers, good kids, good parents knew this was harassment was going on and did not want to get involved? "Not all of the evil in the world is caused by the Goblins." Looking away is sometimes as evil as perpetrating the act yourself. The gunman in Phoenix is legitimately crazy he needs and deserves proper medical attention as much as he needs to be held accountable for the acts that he committed. What's everyone else's excuse?This dark side of our humanity is clearly exposed in Koontz early writing, particularly in Twilight eyes if you care to see it. In one discussion group people derided Koontz because he left people with a sense of hope in his writing. I appreciate that sense of hope. By exposing us to ourselves, or our true nature, we can become aware and make choices, and, that's the first step to changing how we live. Are we really better off being left with Kitty Genovese and no hope of evolving to a higher form of ourselves? Don't get me wrong. I'm not sure Koontz knew what he was putting in his early work. I bet he really just wanted to keep the royalty checks coming I'm simply glad it was there for me to see. Good book, fast read, solid characters and maybe something else to think about, if you are willing to look for it. There is more truth in fiction, than in most history books when it comes to saying what really needs to be said.