Book: Husband by Dean Koontz

[Krishna]

** Original Post on April 20 2012 **

Many of the Dean Koontz fiction have been reviewed here and one of my laments has been that some of his recent books have a sappy ending and a disappointing feel to them, especially compared to his earlier works.  (For instance see the review of Forever Odd or From the Corner of His Eye reviewed earlier here. ) I said that his new books do not have the fullness of the old works and the stories seem to promise much in the beginning, only to disappoint at the end. However, Dean is a lot better in this book, and this is because he steps out of the supernatural realm and into the psychological thriller realm, much like his earlier False Memories  and Voice of the Night which are both excellent books.

This is a story of Mitchell Rafferty, a landscape architect in California, who lives with his wife Holly, poor but happy, deeply in love. The morning where he is working on a client’s property, his cell phone rings, changing his world forever. The voice on the other end says that they have got Holly and that only a ransom of two million dollars in three days can get Holly back to him. Otherwise, she will come back – in small pieces. He has no access to that kind of cash, let alone in two days. The voice in his ear says that to prove the seriousness of the kidnappers, they will arrange a demonstration. They draw his attention to the person on the opposite sidewalk walking a dog, promise him that he will be killed pronto,
and prove their point with gruesome accuracy.

The story races on from there, in an escalating tension of cat and mouse. Mitchell’s brother Anson, a genius professorial type, the kidnapper sent to keep surveillance on Mitchell, the nosy and bright detective Taggart, Anson’s fixer friend James Campbell, the childhood days of Mitch and Anson are all involved to the extent required.

The story is well told and keeps your interest till the very end. No silly and contrived ending in this book, and the end stands to logical reasoning.

Nice work. My only complaint, which is a minor one, is that the bad kidnappers in this story almost come out as caricatures, with none of the depth given to Mitch and his family.

All in all, this deserves a 6/10

— Krishna