I rate this one and The Good Husband as two of my all time favorite Dean Koontz books... I couldn't put it down.

When I pick up a Dean Koontz novel, I want my heart to race, the hairs on the back of my neck to tingle…and this just didn’t do that. I found it very slow, and plodding. The characters weren’t entirely believable, I mean seriously, who the hell talks about arugula salad whilst being chased by a seemingly omnipotent mad-man? No one I know, that’s for sure. I was really looking forward to being scared for the characters, but by the middle of the book, I was rooting for the killer, as he was much more interesting with his fastidious nature and his almost laughable clean fetish.

If you want a noir drama with little to no real terror—this is the book for you. However, if you want a real Dean Koontz with scary bits, I suggest “The servants of Twilight”, it’s an oldie but a goodie.

Pretty good, not one of his best though.

DNR

I haven't read too much by Mr. Koontz, but keep getting recommendations to read his work. This one wasn't specifically recommended but it was available as an e-audiobook through the library and that's what I wanted. So I thought I'd give it a try.

I really liked the plot. It's gripping.

I can't really get my head around what to say about the characters and the dialogue. Linda is interested in culture from the 1930's and that seems to color her personality. When she speaks, the cadence and word choice seem to be not of this time - maybe even not of this world. It seemed to me that Koontz was using this to make her remind the reader of another time whenever she spoke. Sometimes, though, it pulled me right out of the story and made me wonder about the setting.

When Linda speaks to Tim, he responds in appropriate ways. Which is to say that his dialogue seems out of time as well, though not to the extent of Linda's. But even when he's not speaking to her his dialogue is off. Every character has something about their dialogue that prevents me from believing it. It's almost as if it were written for a film from another era. It has a cinematic sort of a feel to it.

So while the dialogue is unbelievable, it seems to fit in this fantastical world where all these strange things keep happening.

The book reminds me of an older crime/action movie. Of course the action and dialogue is unrealistic - realism isn't the point. The point is to take you on a good ride. And Koontz does that.

In this book, a stonemason is accidentally mistaken for a professional hitman by someone who seriously wants a particular woman dead (and receives $10,000 for the job by the guy who took out the contract). When the 'true hitman' realises what's happen (the stonemason gives him the money not to do the hit), he goes after both the original target and the stonemason (who band together) to tie up loose ends and make sure he doesn't get caught. The book then becomes a game of cat and mouse between the killer and the killees.

The story isn't too bad. It's a very straight-forward nuts and bolts thriller that sees one group of people chase another, before the chased 'turn' and fight back.

The way the story is structured, it reminded me of the stories in Collateral or No Country for Old Men. Don't expect all that much depth or nuance in this book though. It's a decent enough read, but it's not really written with depth and 'shades of grey' in mind.

Talk about coming up with an intriguing premise and then going nowhere with it!

Tim Carrier is in a bar having a drink when a man comes in, and seems to mistake him for someone else. Indeed, he's mistaken Tim for a hitman! Before Tim can stop him, in comes the hitman himself, who confuses Tim for the man who wants someone killed! Tim tries to call the hit off, it doesn't work, so Tim sets out to save the target, Linda Paquette, himself, also putting himself in the line of fire.

After that set-up, the book is nothing more than one, long, mostly boring chase as Tim and Linda flit from place to place, trying to evade capture. This is interspersed with the perspective of the hitman, Krait, who also flits from place to place, passing judgement on the insides of various people's houses, and sometimes killing the odd person or two who get in his way. Meanwhile, Tim, Linda and Krait spend a lot of time musing about society in general, and engaging in dialogue that is not how normal people speak. It's all wrapped up with a fairly anti-climactic showdown, and a silly conspiracy over why Linda was targeted in the first place.

I mostly skim-read this and didn't miss anything. Tim and Linda are so virtuous to the point that they're actually snore-inducing. I learnt far more about Krait than was necessary. As far as psychopathic hitmen go, he rated high on the boring and tedious scale.

I loved Dean Koontz when I was a teenager, moving from YA horror to adult thrillers. I think I need to have a stern word with my twenty-years-ago self. It's her fault that I'm still picking up Dean Koontz books today!