Audiobook Review: Breathless by Dean Koontz

Title:  Breathless

Author:  Dean Koontz

Narrator:  Jeffrey Cummings

Unabridged Length:  8 hrs, 12 mn.






Here is a summary of the book from the Goodreads website:
In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound Merlin step from shadow into light…and into an encounter with enchantment. That night, through the trees, under the moon, a pair of singular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to make their approach.

A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, begins to unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring all the forces of a government in peril to her door.

At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come together to begin a descent into darkness…In Las Vegas, a specialist in chaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable…On a Seattle golf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements for murder…Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the past begins a trek toward his destiny…

In a novel that is at once wholly of our time and timeless, fearless and funny, Dean Koontz takes readers into the moment between one turn of the world and the next, across the border between knowing and mystery. It is a journey that will leave all who take it Breathless. 

My Review:
Back in my mid-twenties I devoured Koontz novels like they were going out of style.  I do still enjoy them once and awhile, but I found more enjoyment lately from the audio versions.  Although this novel had a creepy murderer, as most of his books do, it did not seem to reach the level of intensity I expect from Koontz.  Usually this intensity stems from the actions of a psychopath, so this novel offered a more relaxed tone.

The book follows the narratives of several different characters.  The various characters come from different parts of the country and various walks of life.  Grady could not have imagined that his stumbling upon two magnificent creatures frolicking on his land would bring them all together.  The appearance of the creatures creates a sea of change, but unfortunately, not everyone involved has good intentions.

When Grady discovers the creatures he contacts his friend Camilla, who is also a veterinarian, to see if she knows anything about them.  She is amazed by Grady's discovery, and after referring to a colleague, the government swoops in, trying to take control of the situation.  Grady and Camilla fine themselves doing whatever is necessary to protect these two magnificent creatures.

Cummings did a good job narrating, considering there were many characters he needed to bring to life for us.  My biggest complaint with this novel was that there were too many characters to learn as new ones were even introduced within the last couple of discs.  With themes of unexplained beings, conspiracy, and evil, you may enjoy this book as much or even more than I did.  I recommend this book for personal leisure or for book clubs that enjoy reading books with an extra-terrestrial content.

My Rating: 3/5

Disclosure:  I borrowed this audiobook from the local library for my own entertainment.

No Audiobook Review for The Good Guy by Dean Koontz

Here is a summary of The Good Guy from Dean Koontz' website:

Timothy Carrier, having a beer after work at his friend’s tavern, enjoys drawing eccentric 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.

“Ten thousand now. You get the rest when she’s gone.”

The stranger walks out, leaving a photo of the pretty woman marked for death, and her address. But things are about to get worse. In minutes another stranger sits next to Tim. This one is a cold-blooded killer who believes Tim is the man who has hired him.

Thinking fast, Tim says, “I’ve had a change of heart. You get ten thousand—for doing nothing. Call it a no-kill fee.” He keeps the photo and gives the money to the hired killer. And when Tim secretly follows the man out of the tavern, he gets a further shock: the hired killer is a cop.

Suddenly, Tim Carrier, an ordinary guy, is at the center of a mystery of extraordinary proportions, the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer far more powerful than any cop…and as relentless as evil incarnate. But first Tim must discover within himself the capacity for selflessness, endurance, and courage that can turn even an ordinary man into a hero, inner resources that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be The Good Guy.

My No Review:
Yes, you read this correctly!  I don't intend this to be a review for The Good Guy, but more of a way of venting my frustration with my local library about the condition of these discs from this audiobook.  I actually looked at these discs before checking the book out from the library and thought I would let them know that they should be cleaned.  Well, I was informed that they don't clean them until patrons bring the discs back and complain about them.  Ok, well I will take the book anyway as I knew I had to work at the video store in the next couple of days and I will just buff the discs then.

So that is what I did.  Buffed the discs when I was done working one night and proceeded to listen to the audiobook.  Well not only did this book still skip all over the place, including over entire chapters, but the last disc, that basically sums up why this guy was trying to kill some woman he didn't know and who he was working with to accomplish the task, basically skipped over the entire ending.

Please don't get me wrong, because I am very grateful for our local library, as they offer a wonderful service to our community.  Why can't they just clean the discs before people check them out if they look bad?  Or if one disc looks bad out of the whole book even replace it?  I don't understand!  I clean movies for people at the video store all the time, so I don't see why it is out of the realm of possibility.

So because I didn't get to listen to this audiobook in it's entirety I feel that I cannot offer an honest review, so I'm not giving you one.  I can tell you that this book definitely held the suspense that Koontz usually delivers but that is as much as I will share with you.

Hmmmm....I think I need to check out Audible.com.

Audiobook Review: The Face by Dean Koontz

Here is a summary of The Face from the Random House website:

He’s Hollywood’s most dazzling star, inspiring the worship of millions and the hatred of one twisted soul. His perfectly ordered existence is under siege as a series of terrifying “messages” penetrates the security of his legendary estate. All that stands between him and an insidious killer is a weary ex-cop who has already seen his own death.

Enter a world of marvelous invention, enchantment, and implacable intent, populated by murderous actors and the walking dead, hit men and heroes, long-buried dreams and never-dying hope. Dean Koontz takes readers on an unforgettable journey to the heart of darkness and to the pinnacle of grace, with a brilliantly observed chronicle of good and evil in our time, of illusion and everlasting truth.

My Review:
This was another Dean Koontz novel that made quite an intense audiobook.  This book has you questioning from the very beginning whether certain events have actually happened or how one could have such a vivid memory of an incident if it didn't occur.  Ethan Truman is an ex-cop who is now the head of security for the famous Hollywood star, Channing Mannheim.  Ethan finds himself on a journey of unexpainable events after odd packages containing hidden messages start to appear at the actor's home.  These boxes contain strange items from dried up foreskins to scrabble tiles that obviously are meant to be deciphered into a message of dire warning.

Fric is the son of the famous Mannheim actor and may have been my favorite character in this book.  He is such a sweet boy, but yet so lonely and his sarcastic humor just jumps off the page (or radio speakers in my case).  It seemed to me that the staff that worked on the Mannheim estate were more of a family than his father was, as he was hardly ever home.  Fric is aware that impending danger lies in his future when he receives an anonymous phone call informing him that he needs to find a hiding spot in the mansion so he is not captured by the 'beast in yellow'. 

Odd things happen to both Fric and Ethan that neither of them seem to understand.  They start to see images appearing in mirrors and other events that they know are not possible within the physical realm that we live.  When the 'beast in yellow' does appear at the Mannheim estate Ethan and Fric find that they will need to get help from each other and other sources in order to persevere from the attack.  In the end they both find themselves surprised, grateful, and in a spiritual state of amazement.

This made an enjoyable audiobook that really brought out emotions of sadness, gratefulness, and terror.  I find it interesting how Koontz can spin a story that includes all of these elements.  I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed reading this one as much as listening to it so this one receives an audio recommendation from me.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This was an audiobook that I borrowed from the library and listened to for my own entertainment.  

Audiobook Review: The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

Here is a summary of The Darkest Evening of the Year from Dean Koontz website:

Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to the southern California organization she founded to rescue abandoned and endangered golden retrievers. Among dog lovers, she's a legend for the risks she'll take to save an animal from abuse. Among her friends, Amy's heedless devotion is often cause for concern. To widower Brian McCarthy, whose commitment she can't allow herself to return, Amy's behavior is far more puzzling and hides a shattering secret.

No one is surprised when Amy risks her life to save Nickie, nor when she takes the female golden into her home. The bond between Amy and Nickie is immediate and uncanny. Even her two other goldens, Fred and Ethel, recognize Nickie as special, a natural alpha. But the instant joy Nickie brings is shadowed by a series of eerie incidents. An ominous stranger. A mysterious home invasion. And the unmistakable sense that someone is watching Amy's every move and that, whoever it is, he's not alone.

Someone has come back to turn Amy into the desperate, hunted creature she's always been there to save. But now there's no one to save Amy and those she loves. From its breathtaking opening scene to its shocking climax, The Darkest Evening of the Year is Dean Koontz at his finest, a transcendent thriller certain to have readers turning pages until dawn.

My Review:

It's probably been about ten years since I have read a novel by Dean Koontz. I remember that I decided I shouldn't read them any more because they just scared the living daylights out of me. Last week I went to the library to choose a couple of audiobooks for a road trip, keeping in mind that I would have to get something that my husband would also enjoy, and I thought...let's give Koontz a try. I am certainly glad that I did, because he is certainly a talented writer. I was amazed at how he could write a thriller genre novel that was still packed with such beautiful prose. He even tugged at my emotions at such a level that I was in tears at one point of this novel.

I will start off by saying that if you are a dog lover, especially of golden retrievers, you will most likely enjoy this novel. The dogs are a pretty important part of this book, and that is brought to your attention in the very beginning. At the start of the novel it appears that Amy is just an empty-headed dingbat, when in reality she is actually a very intelligent, fun-loving woman that created a dog rescue organization. So when Amy is introduced to us she is actually dragging her boyfriend Brian on a mission to rescue a golden retriever from an abusive home. Amy sees something very special in this golden retriever and knows that she cannot leave this home without it.

There are a couple of parallel story lines that have to do with the pasts of both Brian and Amy's lives. I don't want to go into much detail, as that would take away much from a thriller novel, but both of them were involved with individuals that appeared to be nothing less than psychotic lunatics. Throughout the novel, the actions of these murderous characters will have you sitting on the end of your seat waiting to see what they will do next.

One of the first things that drew me to Koontz's novels was the eerie, unexplainable element that he usually included in his books. Although, I must admit that this same element is probably what scared me away from his novels for so long. But how he wove this part of the story into this book was not scary in any way, it was actually a bit soothing and reassuring and left me with a feeling of happiness.

I am confident that if you are a Dean Koontz fan you will enjoy this book. If you feel like reading a thriller and not having the life scared out of you, this book would probably fit the bill, as I was not really scared while I was listening to it or after I completed it. I think that this book was very well written and I know I will not wait so long before I read, or listen to another of Koontz's novels.

My Rating: In the thriller genre I give this book 4/5.