Novels Now

Relentless by Dean Koontz

Pages: 356
First Published: Jun. 9, ‘09
Genre: thriller
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

This is a thing I’ve learned: Even with a gun to my head, I am capable of being convulsed with laughter.

Reason for Reading: Dean Koontz has a new book out!

Comments: Cullen Greenwich is a best selling author who is living a wonderful life and he knows it. Good money, nice home, loving wife, fine son (who at six happens to be a genius), what more could a guy ask for. Then his latest book is published and he receives a review from the nation’s most renowned book critic, Sheardon Waxx. A scathingly bad review. Cullen usually just ignores bad reviews but Sheardon is somewhat of a recluse and when he finds out where he dines for lunch once a week, Cullen goes just to have a peek. The little peek turns into a chance encounter and what follows changes Cullen’s life forever. His life becomes filled with terror as he and his family are stalked by a sociopath whose one goal in life is to kill them each very slowly.

As someone who hasn’t read a lot of Koontz, just a few oldies a long time ago, and now his new ones, I’m finding that he does not stick to any one particular genre label. This book is pretty much your straightforward serial killer thriller with a bit of science fiction thrown in to give it a Koontz twist. Fast-paced, frightening, gruesome thriller that hooks you from the first chapter. A very hard book to put down once you get started. I’m a big fan of the serial killer thriller and this one does not disappoint. One thing I particularly like about Koontz’s villains is that they show pure evil, there is no sympathizing with them at all. The science fiction twist was, well, fun and a mystery itself which I managed to figure out shortly before it was revealed. I really enjoyed the main characters of Cullen and his wife Penny. Cullen is a sensitive, all round nice guy type of man with a dark secret in his past while his wife is the author/illustrator of cute children’s books but is an expert with weapons and has a fierce determination to fight back when she or her family are threatened. Penny’s parents are very eccentric and a real hoot. Actually, there is a sense of humour running in the background throughout the whole book which pops up every now and then giving the reader an occasional chuckle to lighten the otherwise heavy tension.

I really enjoyed the book and know I’ll continue to read Koontz’s work as it comes out each year. Now just to find some time to tackle his extensive backlist! I really want to get the Odd Thomas and Frankenstein books first then go back to all the other ones.