Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images (2009)
Sample of authors
Koontz, Dean R.
Dean Ray Koontz is an American author of suspense literature. He was born in Everett, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a dysfunctional family with a violent, alcoholic father and a suppressed mother. He found comfort in reading and watching movies, and he began to write short stories, which he sold to friends and relatives when he was eight years old. He attended Shippensburg State College (now...
Literary figures
Cliff Hardy
Gender: Male
Hard-boiled private detective in Sydney. Cliff Hardy was born in a poor working-class family, dropped out of his university studies and was an investigator for an insurance company before opening his own detective agency. Despite the fact that he usually dresses in shabby jeans and a leather jacket, he has many wealthy clients. He is a big man and in good condition, with coarse black hair and a...