Title: The Darkest Evening of the Year

Author: Dean Koontz

Publication Date: November 2007

Page Count: 354

Type: Fiction

Started On: 12/26/07

Finished On: 1/7/08

My Grade: B



Why did I decide to read this book?
The picture on the cover of this novel was the first thing to catch my attention.
The picture was of a golden retriever. My family has two golden retrievers and they are awesome dogs. The brief description of the story on the novel’s cover revealed that the story was centered around Amy Redwing who was devoted to rescuing abandon and endangered golden retrievers. I think I was attracted to reading this novel especially since my family rescued our first golden retriever from the dog pound two days before Christmas in 1999.


Plot summary:
As the novel begins Amy Redwing just received a call from Janet Brockman. Janet had requested Amy to come to their home in order to rescue their female golden retriever named Nickie. Janet, both of her children, and Nickie were all victims of the abuse of Janet’s alcoholic husband, Carl Brockman. Amy and her boyfriend, Brian McCarthy goes to the Brockman’s home where they find Carl drunk and in a rage. Amy pays Carl $2,000 cash for the dog. Janet and the children are also able to leave the home without harm. Amy questions Janet about where Nickie came from and how she got her name. Carl had brought the dog home, but their autistic daughter named the dog Nickie because she said that Nickie was always the dog’s name. Amy finds an unexplained attraction to this dog. Both of Amy’s golden retrievers, Fred and Ethel, welcomed Nickie into their home without any hesitation.
After Amy got into bed that night, Nickie kept giving Amy her bedroom slippers. This action brought back memories for Amy and filled her mind with voices. Voices were saying, I have to wear my slippers to bed so I won’t be walking barefoot through the woods in my dreams. If it’s just a dream woods, why wouldn’t the ground be soft?
After Brian returns to his apartment that night he sat down planning to draw up plans for Amy’s future rescue shelter. Brian’s evening was full of mystery. He found himself accompanied with strange sounds in the apartment, unexplainable flashes of his birth, and unconsciously drawing pictures of Nickie’s eyes. Several times Brian deliberately laid pencils down only to find them back in his hands. Brian could see something mystical in Nickie’s eyes.
The next day when Amy was took the dogs out for a run she is stalked by one guy while another guy searches her apartment. Photos and documents were found in Amy’s apartment indicating that she has changed her identity. The discovery of the documents makes the reader question Amy’s past and why she changed her identity. Brian does not even know the story of Amy’s past. He only knows that the past is not a topic open for discussion. Throughout the novel several private investigators lose their lives in order to erase any connections back to the one who hired them to investigate Amy.
In about the third chapter of the book Moongirl and Harrow are introduced. This is when the book starts to take one of the many twist. Moongirl and Harrow go to a home, pour gas on the front porch and the back porch and light the house on fire. Two people are trapped in the home unable to escape. Moongirl and Harrow just seem to be cruelly sick. Moongirl thinks the world would be perfect if everyone was dead. Harrow just seems to play along with her.
Throughout the novel the story jumps from Brian and Amy to investigators, to Moongirl and Harrow and to a child much known throughout the story as Piggy. Moongirl and Harrow often talk about burning. They talk about burning her. The reader must question who they are referring to as “her”? One afternoon the two of them make “her” a lunch. They spit in the food. Then they take the meal into a locked room which contains a child. Moongirl constantly calls the child piggy. Moongirl is mentally cruel to the child. If something was important to the child Moongirl would destroy it. The child once became close to one of Moongirl’s previous boyfriends. Just because the previous boyfriend was nice to the child, Moongirl killed the man in front of the child.
While checking his email, Brian receives a strange email message from Pigkeeper. The message is from one of Brian’s old girlfriends, Vanessa. Brian had not heard from Vanessa in a very long time. He was hesitant to reply to Vanessa’s message, but he felt an obligation to reply. Brian replies to Vanessa states that he is at her mercy and he has no power over her, but she has every power over him. He tells her that if one day she would let him have what he want, that would only be because it serves her best to relent, not because he had earned it or deserved it.
Later in the day Brian tells Amy about his drawings of Nickie’s eyes, about his compulsion to keep drawing, the sounds that surrounded him in the apartment, the flashbacks of his birth, and the email from Vanessa.
Not only did Amy have a story from the past but Brian also had a past. When Brian was in college his girlfriend, Vanessa, became pregnant with their baby. Vanessa did not give Brian the opportunity to be a father to the baby. Vanessa left Brian for a wealthy older gentleman who promised her a good life in exchange for a daughter. After the baby was born Vanessa did contact Brian once only to tell him that he had totally ruined her life. The baby was an autistic girl named Hope. After the child was born autistic the gentleman no longer wanted Vanessa or the baby. . Several times Brian tried to locate Vanessa and his daughter but was never able to find them. After ten-years of no contact Vanessa was now contacting Brian to give him their daughter and full custody. Brian had always loved his daughter and had always wanted to be a father to her. At this point in time he would do whatever Vanessa wanted to get his daughter back. When Brian reveals his past to Amy she agrees that they will do whatever they have to do in order for Brian to get his daughter back. Vanessa sets all the rules on where Brian and Amy will travel to in order to get Hope.
Brian and Amy leave Fred and Ethal with a friend and begin their journey to get Hope.
Nickie joins the two of them on the journey. Not really knowing why, Amy also pack ed a pistol into her suitcase for the trip. Vanessa kept in contact with Amy and Brian through their travels. She also had a private investigator trailing them along the way.
As they traveled, Amy knew that it was time for her to reveal her past to Brian.
Amy just could not find the courage to open up to Brian. One the trip they spent one night in a motel. Amy was woken by the ringing of the phone that night. Expecting to find Vanessa on the other end, Amy was surprised when she recognized the voice speaking to her. It was Sister Jacinta. Sister Jacinta was one of Amy’s favorite nuns from the Master Misericordiae.
The Master Misericordiae was an Catholic orphanage where Amy was raised. The nun asked Amy how she was doing and encouraged her to tell Brian the story of her life. Amy knew there was a reason for the call simply because Sister Jacinta had been dead for years.
The next morning Amy requested to do the driving. She knew that if she drove she would not have to look directly at Brian. She would have to keep her eyes on the road. Maybe this would give her the opportunity to tell him everything. As they drove Amy revealed the mystery of her past. Brian quickly learned all the secrets of Amy’s past. At the age of two Amy was abandoned in a church with a name pinned to her shirt. At the age of three, she was adopted by a childless couple, Walter and Darlene Harkinson. She had legally taken their name. A year and a half later, Walter, Darlene and Amy were in a car accident. The car had been hit by a cement truck and Walter and Darlene had perished instantly, but Amy survived unscathed. At four and half, twice traumatized-once by cold rejection, once by loss, Amy returned to the orphanage where she lived until shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Amy might have been emotionally fragile and even psychologically damaged for life if not for the wisdom and kindness of the nuns and the mysterious arrival of a limping golden retriever that instantly bonded with Amy. Because it was so close to Christmas when the dog showed up at the orphanage Amy just knew that he was meant to be an early gift from Saint Nicholas and she named the dog Saint Nicholas and called him Nickie.
When Amy turned sixteen Nickie was diagnosed with a fast-spreading cancer and had to be put to sleep. Amy stayed with Nickie and talked to him as he was being put to sleep. Amy told Nickie that he was the sweetest dog who ever lived, and she loved him every moment, she couldn’t have loved a sister more, or her own child or life. While Amy talked the injection was administered and Nickie went to sleep looking into Amy’s eyes. In telling Brian of her first dog, she discovered an intensity of emotion greater than she had expected. Shaken by the depts. Of that revisited grief, she didn’t feel that she could tell him the rest of her story now.
The next day while driving Amy begins to tell Brian more of her past. She begins by asking him if she had ever told him that she lived in a lighthouse for a few years. Brian was sure that this was something that Amy had never told him. He would have remembered if she had told him about living in a lighthouse. Amy then tells Brian how she came to live in a lighthouse. Her senior year she won a partial scholarship from a major college. Amy had to support herself since this was a partial scholarship and she worked as a waitress for two years. One of Amy’s regular customers, Michael Cogland swept her off her feet. They were engaged two months after they met and were married in four. Amy dropped out of the university and into a life of leisure. Soon Amy was pregnant. Much later Amy learned that Michael was a rich man and his wealth was held in a trust fund. The trust funds were a part of Michael’s grandfather’s will. Michael would only receive the money if by the age of thirty he was married to girl acceptable to his parents and he must father a child by her. Amy gave birth to her daughter at the age of nineteen and for a while all seemed well. Michael wanted to name their daughter Nicole and Amy was pleased with that. By the time Nicole was three Amy was calling her Nickie. After Michale come into his inheritance things changed. Amy remained married solely for the sake of their daughter.
At bedtime Nicole used to tell Amy that she wanted to wear her slippers to bed. Amy could not understand why her daughter wanted to wear her slippers to bed. Nicole told Amy that she had to wear the slippers to bed so she will not be walking barefoot through the woods in her dreams.
While Michael was out of town one night Amy was awoken by an intruder in their bedroom. Before Amy was hit in the face several time she managed to reach into her dresser and retrieve a pistol. The intruder had a knife and was planning to kill Amy. Amy managed to flee from the bedroom and went directly to her daughter’s room only to find that her daughter had been murdered. In rage Amy went after the intruder intending to kill him. Amy fired several times at the intruder before he was able to escape into the dark forest.
Now Nicole’s dreams of the forest finally made since to Amy. Nicole’s dreams were of being lost in the woods. Her father had not only taken her life but her soul, and he would cast it away in the forest, where Nicole would wander forever, barefoot and afraid. After Michael and earned his inheritance he no longer had any use for a family and Michael and he fled the country. Amy’s lawyer was able to convince the court that the government needed to assist Amy in the creation of a new identity and forever seal the records involving her name change.
As Amy concludes telling her past to Brian she and Michael are just arriving at the location where they are to meet Moongirl and Harrow in order to take Hope home with them. As they turn into the entrance the light of a lighthouse can be seen. This book leaves the reader questioning if all the similarities between Amy and Brian, their past relationships and their daughters are really a coincidence or much more. The reader will also question if Moongirl had any clue about the relationship between Harrow and Amy.

3. What is the setting and why is it important to the novel?
The majority of the setting of this novel takes place in southern California. I honestly did not feel the setting of the novel was extremely important to the story. I feel as though the story could have taken place almost anywhere in the United States and this would not have changed the impact of the story or the reader’s opinion of the novel. The end of the novel takes place beyond the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. Again, I do not feel that the setting at the end of the story had any major impact on the story. The only importance I could find in the final setting of the story is the fact that after arriving in Marin County
Amy has a clear understanding of who was actually behind leading her and Brian to this location.

4. Who are the main characters and what roles do they play in the novel?
The main characters in this novel include Amy Redwing, Brian McCarthy, Moongirl, Piggy, Harrow, and Nickie. Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to rescuing golden retrievers. Brian McCarthy is an architect who is Amy’s boyfriend. Moongirl is known later in the novel as Vanessa and she is Brian’s old girlfriend and Piggy’s mother. Piggy’s real name is Hope. She is Brian’s autistic daughter who he has not seen in ten years. Harrow is Amy’s former husband and the father of their deceased daughter Nicole. Nickie is a special golden retrieve which Amy has rescued from an alcholic abusive owner.

5. What is/are the main conflict(s) in the novel?
I feel that this novel contains several main conflicts. I found the main conflict of this story is good verses evil. Amy Redwing and Brian McCarty are the good while Moongirl and Harrow are the evil. Another conflict in the novel is man verses man. In this novel people are killed for money, envy, and no reason at all. Other conflicts in the novel include man verses dog and vise versa. I also found this novel questioning supernatural events against psychology and science. Several major points made in this novel is the fact that miracles do happen that nobody ever sees and heroes do walk among us unrecognized. Animals can be among the unrecognized heroes in our lives. I do agree with one other major point which is clear in this novel. Death may physically take a loved one from us but those people will always be with us in some way.

6. Describe the climax of the novel?
I found this novel to contain two important points of climax. The novel actually begins at a climax point. When the story opens as Amy receives a call from the wife of an abusive drunk requesting that Amy to rescue Nickie the abused golden retriever from their home. Amy enters the home uninvited, comes face to face with the drunk and puts her own life at risk in order to rescue the golden. The major climax of the story occurs in the final chapter of the novel when Amy and Brian are lead to Miron County in order for Brian to gain custody of his ten-year old autistic daughter named Hope. Amy and Brian have no idea of the true reason why they are contacted to come and get Brian’s daughter. Amy and Brian are both shot and quickly facing death when the mysterious golden retriever Nickie comes to their rescue.

7. What is the significance of the books title? Is the title appropriate, or would I change it to something else?
The Darkest Night of the Year was an ok title for the novel. However, I really did not see how this was the darkest night for Amy, Brian, or Hope. When I think of the word dark I think lonely, unhappy, or gloomy. Amy and Brian both faced many hard times through out their lives. On this particular night as Amy and Brian both quickly faced death they were mysteriously healed by Nickie. This night also ended Hope’s ten-years of abuse from her mother. I fell that the golden retriever Nickie was a true blessing for Amy, Brian, and Hope. I think the title of this book could be changed and should give more focus on Nickie.

8. What is my opinion about this book? Why (give specifics)?
This is the most twisted novel that I have ever read. In the first three chapters of the novel you become familiar with Amy Redwing; Amy’s boyfriend, Brian McCarthy; Nickie, the most recent rescued golden retriever; and Amy’s two other goldens, Fred and Ethel. The third chapter of the novel begins speaking of Moongirl. The more I read this chapter the more I wanted to rip the pages of this chapter from the book. I felt as though this chapter did not belong in this novel. Many people become involved in the story throughout the novel. Over and over throughout the novel people are killed just to help eliminate them from any leads to the final climax of the story. If someone would have told me about the story and the way that the chapters switched from person to person and event to event I probably would not have read the novel. After I began reading the book I found each person and each event leading me to question what their purpose was in the novel. I found myself wanting to know what happens next. After reading each chapter I found it very hard to put the book down.