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Liked It “exciting, edge of your seat action. Interesting characters that make you care what happens to them. Will the meticulous killer who just loves stirring things up and ruining lives for the fun of it succeed in kidnapping the lonely but likable 10 year old athsmatic son of the worlds most famous...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Utterly forgettable. I barely remember reading it. Something about an actor's body guard trying to keep the actor's son from being kidnapped. Didn't really engage me.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“exciting, edge of your seat action. Interesting characters that make you care what happens to them. Will the meticulous killer who just loves stirring things up and ruining lives for the fun of it succeed in kidnapping the lonely but likable 10 year old athsmatic son of the worlds most famous actor or can the former cop who lost his wife 5 years before and now serves as security chief for the actor stop him. Things really get interesting when help arrives from beyond the grave.”
Eric G wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“loved it!”
Lindart wrote this review Sunday, April 21, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is a good read. Be warned though, that you may have to re-read as you go along- because it can trip you up a little. ”
Tommy Raines wrote this review Sunday, March 17, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Dean Koontz really is the writer Stephen King only thinks he is.
AuntB93 wrote this review Thursday, February 21, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This has got to be the most imaginative writer, and quite possibly the most imaginative of his books, in at least the current century, and quite possibly the last as well. It's science fiction, horror, psychological fiction, mystery, including plenty of detective work and all that rational analysis I usually love so much. But it's also a story of the unmistakeably irrational, and how people who aren't used to it manage to cope with things that simply make no sense.
The title refers to a character we never really meet, a world-famous actor named Channing Manheim. His son Aelfric, usually called Fric, is in residence in the actor's huge mansion, where Ethan Truman is head of security. As such, it is his job to figure out what's going on when very bizarre packages begin showing up at the residence. Very, very bizarre.
But there are plenty of bizarre happenings in the first few chapters to get anyone hooked, including people who are surely dead and just as surely not dead. Events which must have been dreams or hallucinations that nevertheless leave physical evidence behind. Of course this is Hollywood, and there is some very high-tech equipment which might be suspected of creating illusions for the express purpose of driving Fric or Ethan or anyone else quite mad.
It won't do any good to try to keep up, when one of the main characters is a dedicated disciple of Chaos. Just go along with it and see where it leads. Down a rabbit hole or into a story to rival anything even a massive dose of LSD might conjure up. And thick as this book is, I'm guessing you'll want to follow all the woven and unwoven threads to the final conclusion, if only to discover who turns out to be alive and who dead at the end. No peaking!”
“I bought this as a hardback, and carried the massive tome to and from work for several days as I ploughed through it during lunchbreaks. Koontz has written a complex and involving thriller here, conspiracies and mystery and a touch (boo hiss) of paranormal stuff too. I got on OK with this one, there was enough of Koontz's witty bits and bobs, there was enough of Koontz's storytelling, and there was enough overall to distract me from the fact there are flaws and indulgences in the writing that might have spoilt it for me had I read it five or ten years later. Enjoyable at the time, but probably not what I'd want to read these days.”
Monkey Davies wrote this review Saturday, January 26, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Not one of his best, but it all ended well”
BernerMum wrote this review Monday, October 8, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“What a great story teller Dean Koontz is!!! ”
Michelle wrote this review Monday, September 3, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Utterly forgettable. I barely remember reading it. Something about an actor's body guard trying to keep the actor's son from being kidnapped. Didn't really engage me.”
Daniel G. wrote this review Wednesday, February 27, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“My favorite Koontz book. ”
JC Lamont wrote this review Thursday, February 9, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“In my list of best books I've ever read. Edge of my seat reading with an ending that touched my heart. Loved it.”
Annie A ~*Peace*~ wrote this review Tuesday, January 24, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
