欧宝娱乐

Although Dean Koontz isn鈥檛 quite as successful as Stephen King, he鈥檚 certainly been writing for a long time now, almost as long as King himself. In the old days he used to do supernatural horrors but these days he seems to have re-branded himself as a thriller writer, and there鈥檚 no doubting that he鈥檚 extremely prolific 鈥� I see new books coming out from him all the time. The Husband was released a couple of years ago and it鈥檚 familiar territory for thriller fans: a seemingly innocuous man finds himself caught up in a whole heap of trouble when his wife is kidnapped and held for ransom.

What follows is a novel that鈥檚 chock-full of twists and turns and an easy writing style that makes it an effortless read. The problem is that it all seems so familiar. I love thrillers but this type of 鈥榬ansom鈥� plot really has been done to death, and the little tweaks and touches that Koontz adds to the plot don鈥檛 really do anything new. I know there are no new stories left in the world but I think a little more imagination would have gone a long way.

Still, there are positives. The everyman hero is appealing and the characters well drawn. Koontz ably hides the motivation of supporting characters and you鈥檙e never quite sure who鈥檚 good or who鈥檚 bad. The opening chapters of the novel are extremely suspenseful and packed with shocking surprises, and up to the mid-way point it鈥檚 a bit of a rollercoaster read. Unfortunately, the book starts falling apart at around this mark as the author runs out of steam and resorts to hefty padding to up the page length. There鈥檚 a whole monologue on fossil collecting to endure and lots of other unnecessary elements that don鈥檛 really add much to the way of the story. The ending is also a little tired, as the bad guy and the good guy duel it out to the death and one of those 鈥渞ecurring villain鈥� deaths so beloved of Hollywood horror movies where the bad guy keeps coming back to life. It鈥檚 clich茅d and a little dull, and it feels it.

So a great first half and a subdued second half equal a distinctly average novel. It鈥檚 okay but far from the pulse-pounding read I was hoping for. Koontz, you can do better than this, and turning autopilot off would be a great start.