The Darkest Evening of the Year

This morning I finished reading Dean Koontz's "The Darkest Evening of the Year". Last summer he and his wife, Gerda, lost their beloved golden retriever, Trixie. So Koontz was compelled to write this book honoring her spirit, and the spirit of goldens everywhere. In this book, a professional golden rescuer named Amy rescues a special dog named Nickie. Nickie, it turns out, is not an ordinary dog, but rather the spirit of Amy's murdered daughter Nicole as well as an angel sent from heaven who literally saves Amy's life by healing her stab wounds.
I understand Koontz's pain. When my dog died when I was 17, I cried for weeks. I loved my dog. It took me 8 years before I could stand having another one, and when she dies, I will mourn again. Why do we keep dogs as pets, knowing they will die before us? We do it because we love animals, we love the companions that dogs are, how they are better than humans and have their own special personalities. But, if you want a really good Dean Koontz book about a golden retriever, read "Watchers". Published 20 years ago in 1987 (oh, I feel old...), it was the first Koontz book I ever read and it still remains, in my mind, one of his best.