The Door to December by Dean Koontz

A hard boiled police detective, Dan Haldane, becomes involved with the investigation of a string of preternaturally brutal murders.  At the center of the mystery is a 10 year old girl who has been the subject of psychological and occult experimentation for most of her life.  As the grisly case develops Dan finds himself more and more emotionally invested in protecting the girl and her beautiful and intelligent mother.

Here is another in my effort to read "Men's" fiction.  This author was recommended to me by my brother.  All the other "grown up" mysteries I have ever read have been cozy mysteries written with a female audience in mind.  It is interesting to compare the two genre's.  This book had a lot more rough language and a lot more--a lot more-- gore.  In the cozy mysteries the murder scene is described in one or two sentences with an apologetic tangential reference to splattered blood.  In this book, the crime scenes are swimming in blood and gore, described in paragraphs of vivid detail.  Another difference is that in the cozy mysteries, the protagonist is a super nice person, beloved by all.  In this one the investigator is a cranky guy, who, though good-hearted deep down, doesn't get along with anyone.  There was also references to kinky sex, (which the main character found abhorrent, but the author spent a whole chapter recounting anyway) but in the cozy mystery, there has been descriptions of physical abuse, but no reference to sexual abuse.  So basically, this novel was much more gritty, graphic and intense than my usual cozy mysteries.

That said, the characters were well drawn and the hard core dialog and setting were perhaps about as realistic as the supper sunny settings of the cozy mysteries. The mystery was well crafted, and the conclusion exciting.  I can see why people like this kind of novel.  It is intense and thrilling, but I don't know if I will be reading more of Dean Koontz. (512 p.  1985)