Amy Redwing is devoted to golden retrievers and will go to any length to save one, as her passenger, architect Brian McCarthy, is well aware. He is pressing on a phantom brake pedal, a terrified response to her driving at light speed. But Amy knows there is no time to waste. The call was from a wife, afraid her drunken, abusive husband would kill the family pet, just like he did the last time.

Amy zips, backwards, into the driveway, putting the Expedition in position for a rapid escape.  Brian is made to understand that tonight, he is no mere architect, but Amy’s bodyguard should the drunk, crazed and violent man inside go after Amy. This switch in occupations is a jolt to Brian, but he follows Amy anyway.

At the door, they are greeted by a woman with a bloody lip and a mute four year old girl. On the way to the kitchen, they pass a six year old boy, leaning against the wall, refusing his mother’s touch. The darkness in the hallway caves before the light that bursts from the kitchen as the door is opened. At first, Brian thinks the light is coming from the alert dog sitting on the kitchen floor. Her coat gleams with a golden shine in the kitchen’s light. Her attitude is one of alertness, not of fear, unusual in that violent atmosphere. The dog’s color is the first clue as to her uniqueness.

After a tense standoff, Amy is able to take Nickie out of the house. Judging upon her reaction, the dog’s name has a special meaning to Amy. Throughout the rest of the night, flashbacks and odd occurrences remind Amy of a secret she’s kept from the world, especially Brian.

Brian arrives home in the wee hours of the morning. Too wired for sleep, he decides to check his email. He has two, both from Vanessa, aka pigkeeper. Vanessa was one of the worst decisions of Brian’s life, but he refuses to cut contact with her. Amy isn’t the only one in the relationship harboring secrets and Vanessa holds a precious piece of his past in her perfectly manicured hand.

Vanessa delights in torment—be it Brian or setting fire to random targets, occupied or not, she doesn’t care. No one matters to Vanessa, except Vanessa. She’s in total control of her intellect and her body, but not her emotions. And than detail, in Harrow’s eyes, makes her insane. The anti-couple, they are not held together by love, but by lust. She is the dominate one in this relationship; he takes his cues from her. To offend her in anyway may mean the blade of a knife parting his skin on the way to his heart, allowing him to offend her no more.

Other details bind them together, details best taken care of in a permanent manner. Their plans are coming to fruition, their bloodlust almost complete. Amy and Brian find themselves pawns in a game with life and death stakes. Through it all is Nickie’s strange behavior, which seems to keep them one step, shot, or stabbing away from death. But as intuitive as Nickie seems to be, is it enough to outwit two narcissistic killers?

The Darkest Evening of the Year is the latest from Dean Koontz. In this page-turner, he explores the depravity of narcissism and joys of putting others, dog or human, before you. Hints of the supernatural, characters that make you laugh and ones that cause you to glance over your shoulder add up to a book that I couldn’t put down.