I have been in a reading drought lately. Nothing seems to capture my attention. Don’t you hate that? I have skipped around to different genres but haven’t found that book yet. The one whose story will keep me up all night flipping pages. That one novel that will make me exclaim, “Sleep? Who needs sleep?” So, until I found my story, I decided to talk about an older book today that I love.
Much of Dean Koontz’s work is dark and grim. As a breather for his readers and himself as a writer, he decided to write a mash-up of screwball comedy/supernatural horror. The result? Tick Tock, a story about a man named Tommy Phan. Imagine the old movie Bringing Up Baby meets The Twilight Zone. Tommy is a first-generation Vietnamese living his version of the “American Dream”, much to his traditional mother’s dismay. After an evening of riding in his new corvette, flirting with a cute waitress, and eating two cheeseburgers, Tommy returns home to find a small rag doll on his front porch. Crudely made of white cloth, the doll is stitched together with coarse black thread, two exes marking its eyes and another its heart. Creepy. Who could have sent it? There is a note, but it is in Vietnamese, a language Tommy no longer understands.
Tommy takes the doll and throws it on his office desk. I am not sure I would have brought a shudder-inducing doll of unknown origins into my house, but that is just me! That night, Tommy hears an odd popping sound. When he goes back to his office, the doll is gone and a strange message is on his computer screen – “The deadline is dawn. Tick tock.”
What was the popping? Just the stitches on the creepy doll break apart as a small… creature bursts forth. Its mission? Kill Tommy Phan. The ensuing story follows Tommy as he runs to escape the creature, steals a few cars, commits breaking-and-entering, and connects with his waitress from earlier in the evening. Her name is Del, an ‘otherwordly’ girl with uncanny abilities and a weird family.
Is it scary or horrific? Not really. Is it fun? I thought so! I found myself reading it more to find out what happens with Tommy and Del than I did for the horror element.
For anyone who is a Koontz fan, I believe Tommy Phan is the precursor for his later ‘reluctant-hero’ characters, the most famous being Odd Thomas. (His first name is really Odd. Koontz ended up writing 7 main novels about Odd, plus multiple short stories and graphic novels. Highly recommend these!)
For the true Koontz fan, there’s a dog. Of course, there is a dog.
This book is a quick read that is perfect for a lazy rainy day or a sunny day at the beach. Or in my case, for an hour lunch at Subway before I have to go back to work!
