The Husband - Softcover

Koontz, Dean R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553589091 ISBN 13: 9780553589092

Publisher: Bantam Books, 2007

Synopsis

With each and every new novel, Dean Koontz raises the stakesâ€"and the pulse rateâ€"higher than any other author. Now, in what may be his most suspenseful and heartfelt novel ever, he brings us the story of an ordinary man whose extraordinary commitment to hi wife will take him on a harrowing journey of adventure, sacrifice, and redemption to the mystery of love itselfâ€"and to a showdown with the darkness that would destroy it forever. What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill? We have yur wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now heâ€TMs standing in a normal sububan neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare. Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitchâ€TMs wife and heâ€TMs named the price for her safe return. The caller...

About this title

Review:

It must be tempting for writers such as Dean Koontz to rest on their laurels. After all, they've achieved more bestseller placings than most writers could shake a stick at, and acquired as dedicated following as their accountants could wish. But The Husband shows that Koontz still has several tricks up his sleeve, and that he can still do plotting more ingeniously than most of his contemporaries.

Mitchell Rafferty is a landscape gardener--not a rich man--who receives a phone call that he initially thinks is some kind of a hoax: he is told that for two million in cash, he can get his wife back from the people who have abducted her. But he is quickly given an object lesson in the seriousness of the people he is dealing with--while on the phone, trying to take in what he's been told, it’s suggested to him that he looks at a man across the street. A rifle shot rings out, and the man falls, shot in the head. The terror and desperation that Rafferty feels are compounded by one simple fact: he has absolutely no way of acquiring such a massive sum. But his caller doesn't seem to be interested in such niceties--if Mitchell loves his wife enough, he'll find a way. And he has exactly 60 hours in which to do it.

With a premise like this, any halfway decent writer would be able to ratchet up the tension to ensure that the reader is comprehensively gripped. But Koontz isn't just interested in the execution of a precision-tooled plot (although, God knows, he’s an old hand at handling such things). What we get along with the cleverly orchestrated tension is a series of killer twists--the kind that Koontz has always been adept at. It goes without saying that a setup such as this allows little room for nuances of characterisation, but that's never been Koontz’s métier in any case. However, if you're looking for a thriller that is the purest escapism, look no further.

--Barry Forshaw

Review:

‘There’s surprise after surprise, including a killer finale ... a read-in-one-go novel’ Independent on Sunday on Velocity

‘Velocity hits its pace from the first page and races through to a suitably climactic ending’ Sydney Sunday Telegraph

'Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler' The Times

'Psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying.' The New York Times

'Koontz has near-Dickensian powers of description, and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match.' Los Angeles Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0553589091
• ISBN 13: 9780553589092
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 415