Dean Koontz is one of the best-known names in popular fiction. He is a prolific writer with more than seventy novels to his name in addition to nonfiction books, articles, and short stories. While he considers himself mainly a suspense author, his novels are usually cross-genre, blending elements of suspense, horror, supernatural, and romance literature. Though finding a publisher for this type of fiction was difficult when Koontz began his career, he now often hears editors ask other authors to include elements of more than one genre in their novels. Throughout his career Koontz has built a large and supportive fan base while still garnering surprisingly little critical attention except for the many book reviews published as each of his novels hits bookstore shelves.

Dean Ray Koontz was born on 9 July 1945 in Everett, Pennsylvania, to Florence and Ray Koontz. Though poor, his parents were overjoyed at the long-anticipated...