Strange Highways and Other Stories

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings, Nick Podehl, Dick Hill, Will Damron, Tanya Eby

Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

14 classic Dean Koontz short stories. One chilling collection.

In "Strange Highways," a floundering alcoholic gets a mysterious second chance to relive the night his life began its downward spiral 20 years ago. But on this dark journey, he’ll be supremely tested by conflict with his successful, charismatic older brother, his loss of faith, and the clash between good and the ultimate evil.

Sink into this binge-worthy collection of beloved Koontz short stories, featuring denizens of hell, vengeful children, and eerily human-like robots that will send shivers down your spine.

• "Strange Highways"
• “The Black Pumpkin”
• “Miss Attila the Hun”
• “Down in the Darkness”
• “Ollie’s Hands”
• “Snatcher”
• “Trapped”
• “Bruno”
• “We Three”
• “Hardshell”
• “Kittens”
• “The Night of the Storm”
• “Twilight of the Dawn”
• “Chase”

©1995 STRANGE HIGHWAYS © 1995 by Dean R. Koontz. CHASE © 1972 by K.R. Dwyer (a pseudonym for Dean R. Koontz); revised version © 1995 by Dean R. Koontz. (P)2013, 2014 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Was not just hinting about God

Some stories were too religious in my opinion. Had to put down after every story to listen to a different book, to "reset". I did eventually finish the whole book.

Another excellent Dean Koontz! Actually, several!

This collection has a few familiar tales, and some I hadn't read before. It covers his full range, and echoes Ray Bradbury's anthologies in the variety. Each of these short stories leaves you wanting to follow the characters longer- but don't all of his stories do that?

Great stories, but essentially the same as “Wilderness.“

I’ve come to like this author more and more, especially as I grow older..:: absolutely, nothing wrong with these short stories, some of them are really good, but I thought people should know that if you already have Wilderness, you’re pretty much buying the same book. Only the first one was different…. perhaps for the benefit of the Sample?

My poor review would go to whoever decided to make the first story different, the title of it being “strange highways“ and then make the rest of it a copy of another audiobook.

Most stories, good, most narrators aren’t

Some of the stories were excellent, some were so-so. One male narrator in particular was very hard to get used to. He had a halting delivery, with inflection that sounded much like an old time movie announcer for the news reels.

Title Story Nearly Drove Me Insane

For starters I consider Dean Koontzs' religious beliefs his own business. I wish he respected my own desire not to hear about them a tiny bit more. However his ability to create moral and ethical characters who are also likeable may be grounded in those beliefs making him a better spokesperson than most. His stories remain exciting and frightening. But the story 'Strange Highways' is easily the most annoying story I know by him. It involves time looping itself and second chances. The result is scenes and exact paragraphs repeat again and again and again to no artistic purpose and until I wanted scream. Skip it.

strange!

These were pretty good stories some were better than others. Enjoyed the narrators. My favorite one was Tanya Eby. I've always enjoyed her reading.

An entertaining read

Very entertaining giving a little insight to the heart of the writer . . . .

Some quite good, others are early work that can be enjoyed.

I never write spoilers nor do I recapitulate the author’s work. They’re much better than I am and I respect their right to tell their own stories. What I will say is brief.

Some of the stories are really an interesting look into DK finding his voice. Others are earlier work that, while good in their own way, are deviations down different paths. Experimental may be the way to describe them. I found all but one enjoyable, though I won’t say which. Everyone’s tastes are as unique as they are themselves.

One TRIGGER ALERT that needs to be said.

The last story, Chase, has a character who speaks lovingly about his molestation of a young boy. Not sexually graphic at all. But the way he speaks about it will almost certainly trigger some adult survivors. The good thing is that its the very last story in the book and can be easily avoided. The title is CHASE and the scene I speak of is only in the last 10 or 15 minutes and there is no other scene like it anywhere else.

The book is definitely credit worthy for the overall quality and quantity of enjoyable shorts and novellas.

Hope this is helpful to y’all and enjoy your day.

Enjoyed these stories so much.

I found myself staying up late because I couldn't put it down! Dean Koontz absolutely rules!

Great stories

All of the stories are different which is why I like this collection. If you’re a fan of Dean Koontz then this is a must. The performances were great too.