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One Door Away from Heaven
 
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One Door Away from Heaven (Hardcover)

by Dean Koontz (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 408 pages
  • Publisher: Headline Book Publishing; 1st UK edition edition (30 Nov 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747270724
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747270720
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 411,777 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #79 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > K > Koontz, Dean

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dean Koontz virtually invented the cross-genre novel and in One Door Away from Heaven he mixes an action thriller with post-X Files alien paranoia to remarkable effect. Micky Bellsong is a young woman at a crisis point in her life, unsure of where she should be heading and using a stay at her Aunt Geneva's to sort out her life. Then the precocious and deformed Leilani Kronk walks into her life telling stories of her stepfather Preston Maddoc and her drugged-up mother who both believe aliens will beam the girl into their mothership and heal her deformities before her 10th birthday. But tales of Preston's vicious past, including his hand in several murders, leave Micky believing that a far more terrible fate awaits her friend so when the Maddocs head off taking Leilani with them, Micky pursues.

Typically with a Koontz novel, nothing turns out to be what it seems and the author relishes playing with you, tugging you this way and that in a meticulously crafted plot that tightens like a noose with every turn of the page. His characters are exceptionally drawn, driving the novel forward with realism and warmth. Micky is one of his more attractive young heroines but the real star is Leilani, a mature young girl whose plucky nature and sparkling dialogue instantly make her Koontz's most memorable creation. She is the embodiment of the very moral core of every Koontz novel; despite her deformities and dreadful upbringing, her buoyant optimism is what drives Micky on to do good. Likewise, it is Koontz's firm belief that despite the violence, pain and suffering, there is always goodness to be found in every person and situation if you are prepared to look for it. Koontz has once again delivered a work of spectacular fiction and proven why he is one of the premier novelists of his generation. --Jonathan Weir

Product Description
Leilani Maddoc's tenth birthday is nine months away. Micky Bellsong is convinced that in nine months and one day, the girl will be dead. And no on seems to care but Micky herself. She has a history of making wrong choices and living only for her own desires, but her decision to save the child's life - and pit herself against an adversary as fearsome as he is cunning - takes her on a journey of incredible peril and stunning discoveries, a journey filled with tragedy and joy, with humour, terror and hope, a journey that will change her for ever.

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Customer Reviews

27 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A MUMBO JUMBO GUMBO..., 24 Nov 2002
By Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: One Door Away from Heaven (Paperback)
I enjoyed this book and wavered on the rating. I had a difficult time deciding whether to rate it a three or a four. I finally decided on three because, while it is an enjoyable read, it is not one of his best. Those who read and enjoyed the author's last book, "From the Corner Of His Eye", as I did, will, undoubtedly, enjoy this one, though it is not as good.

Here, this genre bending book, written with wry humor, has a series of subplots and colorful characters with improbale names that propel the story forward. Twenty eight year old Michelina Birdsong is a young and beautiful woman with a troubled past. Livimg in a trailer park with her eccentric aunt, Geneva, she lacks focus and is overly fond of lemon flavored vodka. It is as if she has lost the will to live.

When she gets new neighbors in the mobile home next door, one of whom is the precocious and physically deformed nine year old, Leilani Klonk, her heart is touched most unexpectedly by the pathos of her young life. As Leilani is living with a drug crazed mother and step-father, a sociopathic "doctor" who may be a serial killer, Mickey finds herself wanting to make Leilani's life better and in doing so, redeeming her own. When Leilani and her family precipitously abandon their mobile home one night, Michelina, fearing the worst for Leilani, springs into action and finds herself in hot pursuit of this family, hoping to avert a tragedy.

Meanwhile, a young motherless boy, who calls himself Curtis, and his dog, a labrador with whom he has a most unique relationsip, are racing away from their own potential Armageddon. This boy, too, is precocious and quite gifted, but seems to lack a true understanding of the ways and customs of those whom he meets. He is just a beat off. Still, while there is something odd about him, it is clear that, though he seems to have unusual gifts, he has a pure spirit and is a good boy running from a great evil. His pursuers, seemingly invincible and other worldly, will stop at nothing to get a hold of Curtis and keep him from his mission. The journey that Curtis makes is quite astonishing.

At some point the paths of these main characters improbably cross and all is made somewhat, though not totally, clear. The book, which is an imaginative blend of suspense, science fiction, and bioethical philosophy, has somewhat religious or quasi-spritual overtones, as it boils down to the quintessential battle between good and evil. In this book, Koontz continues on the path he forged with his previous book, "From the Corner Of His Eye". To where that path will ultimately lead, however, remains to be seen.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Dire!, 1 Mar 2002
By A Customer
This book is poor anyway, but coming from an accomplished author like Koontz somehow makes it worse. It lacks the usual pace and depth which mark out Koontz's novels and is peopled with a few of the most annoying characters I have encountered in some time e.g. Leilani a girl who is, I assume, supposed to be portrayed as lovably kooky yet intelligent by Koontz but comes across as simply precocious, annoying and trying too hard to be smart. As for aunt Geneva, who we are also supposed to love for her oddities (namely confusing the reality of her life with film snippets) she is another unreal, annoying character. Indeed the whole cast seem to be 'novel' characters i.e. ones obviously created by an author, rather than ones that take on an air of reality through great dialogue and realistic writing. Finally, the characters do not come together until far too late. As usual, Koontz alternates chapters but it lacks excitement this time due to a failure to connect what is happening between them. In addition we are taken back and forth between the longest 'chase' in narrative history and, although we can soon guess why Curtis Hammond is being pursued, a lack of timely explanation means we don't really care. As for the book's ending, it is stupidity in itself, worthy of a short story at best. In future, Koontz should, perhaps, return to his horror/thriller genre roots, steer clear of sci-fi and take a bit longer to produce a meaningful work (not all novels have to come out bang around Christmas time).
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I'm not a gump!, 19 Jun 2002
By C. B. Softley "Badger" (Wolverhampton, Staffordshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I wasn't going to give this book 5 stars as it wasn't quite as good as Koontz' previous 3 novels (Corner of his Eye, False Memory, and Seize the night. Get them and you can thank me later.) But it stands alone as too great a story NOT to give full marks to.
Koontz' ability to tell 3 completely seperate stories and all of a sudden meld them into one great ending is a genius the like only Tad Williams is equal to. And believe me, it is right at the end that all the characters eventually interact. And what great characters!
He raises so many questions throughout this book, and this makes it a real page turner. Why, if Preston Maddoc is a bio-ethicist did he marry a drug addict with 2 crippled children, what will happen to Leilani on her tenth birthday, why does Curtis Hammond act so strangely, and what on earth (or beyond) does it all have to do with PI Noah?
This book is gripping from the very start, with great characters throughout and the slow build up to explaining the boy Curtis is absolutely perfect. A truly excellent novel which barely gets bogged down in what I can only described as Koontz sentmentality. (Koontz fans will know what I mean by this.)

Buy it now!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars not that alien stuff again
Sorry to give it away, but aliens don't cut it with me and Koontz.

2 to 3 story lines are a great way to create suspense. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Macca

2.0 out of 5 stars Definitely NOT one of his best!
I love all (well nearly) Dean Koontz's past books but this one annoyed the hell out of me....it was written as though someone had said to Dean 'write a story to win a creative... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mrs. H. A. Bates

5.0 out of 5 stars please can dean koontz write a sequel
I read this book in 2002 and it has stayed with me since then, I would love a sequel, I lent it out after I first read it, and purchased another copy recently to read again -... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mrs. K. E. Randall

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
I cant believe there are so many three-star and below reviews for this book! I have read about thirty Dean Koontz books so far and this one is deffinatly one of my favourites. Read more
Published on 17 May 2007 by marky77

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm a Koontz fan but I couldn't finish this one.
I have been a Dean Koontz fan for years. When he is at his best, heis books are VERY good. I used to think that even when he's formulaic, at least his books are always... Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2006 by NoWireHangers

4.0 out of 5 stars I have a new favorite character
This is only my second Koontz novel. The first was Odd Thomas, in which Odd and his love, Stormy, became two of my favorite "people. Read more
Published on 3 April 2005 by D. Mills

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, great characters but a poor ending
This is one of those stories that takes two plots and makes them converge to a common finale. Both plots were gripping, the characters were great and I enjoyed the book right to... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2004 by Mr. R. A. Hart-jones

5.0 out of 5 stars Koontz at his best, but in a little change of light.
This book was wonderful. But as far as Koontz novels go, this one has a subtle change of mood and pace. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2003 by F. Powell

3.0 out of 5 stars Two tales cobbled together
I think ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN could've been split into two separate books. The fact that they weren't results in more pages for the buck, but also perhaps a less satisfying... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2003 by Joseph Haschka

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, haunting book
I see that some people here have claimed the book is "boring" and not one of Dean Koontz's best. Well, if you want a book to terrorize you, thrill you, scare you, take you on a... Read more
Published on 16 May 2003 by thedapman

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