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Dean Koontz's Five Favorite Books About Dogs

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Dean Koontz

Dean-Koontz

Having written several novels in which dogs play leading roles and many more in which they are supporting players, having written three books from the point of view of my golden retriever, Trixie, and having written a memoir of Trixie after her death, I am rather widely known—so far as I am known at all—as a dog lover. Some even think I am dog-obsessed. Guilty. I happen to feel that if people were always as humble, dutiful, giving, and straightforward as dogs, the world would be a better place. Here, in no particular order, are five books about dogs, fiction and nonfiction, that have charmed me over the years.

About the Author

Dean Koontz

When Dean Koontz was a senior in college, he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and has been writing ever since. His books are published in 36 languages; worldwide sales are nearly 450 million copies. Fifty-six of his novels have been New York Times best-sellers and thirteen have risen to #1 on the hardcover best-seller list.

The New York Times has called his writing “psychologically complex, masterly, and satisfying,” and the London Times had called him “a literary juggler.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Koontz is “at times lyrical without ever being naive or romantic. [He creates] a grotesque world, much like that of Flannery O’Conner or Waker Percy…scary, worthwhile reading.”

Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), and his first job after graduation was in the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children. The following year was filled with challenges but also tension, and Koontz was more highly motivated than ever to  build a career as a writer. He wrote nights and weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher outside of Harrisburg. After he had been a year and a half in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: “i’ll support you for five years,” she said, “and if you can’t make it as a writer in that time, you’ll ever make it.”  By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end  of her husband’s writing career. Dean and Gerda Koontz live in southern California with their golden retriever, Anna, and with the enduring spirit of their golden, Trixie.