Amazon.co.uk 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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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 'A modern Swift ! a master satirist.' Entertainment Weekly 'If Stephen King is the Rolling Stones of novels, Koontz is the Beatles.' Playboy 'Dean Koontz writes page-turners, middle-of-the-night sneak-up-behind-you suspense thrillers. He touches our hearts and tingles our spines.' Washington Post Book World 'Tumbling, hallucinogenic prose. Serious writers might do well to study his technique.' New York Times Book Review 'Fast-paced and dark ! Koontz knows we live in a world where evil delights in justifying itself ! Classic literature that deserves a place on the bookshelf beside Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.' California Literary Review 'Koontz is writing right where popular culture swells into something larger, just as it did for Homer, Shakespeare, and Dickens. He's got the gift.' Australian 'Koontz is a superb plotter and wordsmith. He chronicles the hopes and fears of our time in broad strokes and fine detail, using popular fiction to explore the human condition.' USA Today 'Inspires both chills and serious thought ! has the power to scare the daylights out of us.' People 'The poet laureate of paranoid pop fiction.' Denver Post 'Koontz achieves a literary miracle ! stunning physical description, unique turns of phrase.' Boston Globe 'Near Dickensian powers of description.' Los Angeles Times
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