Book on CD narrated by Rick Ferrone
4****

From the book jacket: Timothy Carrier, having a beer after work at his friend’s tavern, enjoys drawing customers into amusing conversations. But the jittery man who sits next to him tonight has mistaken Tim for someone very different – and passes to him a manila envelope full of cash, a photo of a pretty woman marked for death, and her address. Minutes later, another stranger sits next to Tim. This one is a cold-blooded killer who believes Tim is the man who has hired him. Tim tries to call off the deal, giving the man the money “to do nothing.” But when Tim secretly follows the killer out of the tavern, he gets a shock: the guy is a cop.

My Reactions
This thriller just grabbed me. I could not figure out why this woman was targeted, and why the killer was so relentless in his pursuit. Tim is the quintessential good guy. A gentleman, smart, determined, creative and principled. And I loved his mother! Several of the close calls stretch credulity (timelines just didn’t work), but Koontz kept me turning pages (or changing CDs) to see what would happen next.

This was written sixteen years ago, but the whole

Spoiler

Deep State conspiracy at the end was so reminiscent of recent conspiracy theories floated by a certain former President and his minions that it made me uneasy. So far, # 45 and his crew aren’t anywhere near so smart as Koontz’s characters, so that’s some consolation.

Rick Ferrone does a great job of narrating the audiobook. He is a gifted voice artist and even does a reasonable job of bringing the women characters to life.

I really enjoyed this one off of a recommendation, got me started reading Koontz again!

So I stopped 117 pages in. This is my first Koontz book. I won't necessarily write him off because I found his writing to almost be lyrical with good prose. However I found the plot itself too far fetched. This isn't in the genre of fantasy or sci-fi. This is mystery. The characters and their respones to the situations they find themselves in are so wildly absurd it is comical. I have too many things I want to read to continue.

Not one of my favorite Dean Koontz books. It didn't have as much of the supernatural aspect in it as some of his other books have. I enjoyed the banter between the two main characters. There weren't really any big surprises in the book and the ending left me feeling disappointed. If you are a Koontz fan you will like but not love this book.

Well, Dean Koontz is a name that I’ve heard many times and very long ago but surprisingly, I’ve never read any of his books until now.

This book is about a man, Timothy Carrier, who is mistaken as a hit man and given ten thousand dollars and a woman’s picture to kill her. When the real killer arrives, Tim gives him the ten thousand as a no-kill fee and keeps the woman’s picture, saying that he changed his mind and didn’t want her killed.

Of course, the mistake is eventually, and too soon, discovered. Tim and the target woman, Linda, is forced to run and evade the killer.

The book is very fast-paced, and not at all what I expected. I’ve read quite a few similar thriller stories like this, but somehow the way Koontz presents the story is very different. It’s a completely fresh perspective to me, and I like how the suspense holds all the way to the end.

My only regret is not reading Koontz’s books earlier, but I’m glad that I have another “new” author to add to my ever-growing To Be Read pile.

I felt like I have seen this plot way too often. A nice guy minding his own business faces a case of mistaken identity. He is reluctantly fated to rescue the damsel in distress. The psycho killer is smooth-talking and working as a well-paid hitman. There was nothing new here.

It was interesting up until the last25 pages or so, then it got silly.