I haven't read any of Koontz's work for a very long time, so when I noticed this short story available as an e-book exclusive it seemed like a good way to reacquaint myself. Apparently this novella recounts a pivotal moment in the life of a character in recent release What the Night Knows, an interesting tie up. The story starts with 11 year old Howie hiding on a rooftop, watching people going about their daily business. He clearly feels he doesn't belong and immediately with hints about his physical appearance being the cause my interest was aroused. On the rooftop he is surprised to find another loner who he immediately wants to befriend. This encounter is to have repercussions that haunt Howie for decades.
This wasn't quite Koontz as I remembered his work, but I haven't read a short story by him before and it could be my poor memory. The start was intriguing, then it became a little predictable, and the end potentially took the story into the realms of the supernatural. Towards the end I felt it was all a bit rushed, compared with the level of detail earlier on. It certainly kept my attention and I completed it during a short train trip, and while I won't be raving about this book I will probably read What the Night Knows in the future (ideally once the publishers have stopped price fixing) so I suppose from the author and publishers' point of view it's job done.
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