It is no secret how much I adore Dean Koontz. My love affair with his books started when I was in college and since I am your typical dork, I frequently visited our university library which, fortunately for me, housed Dean Koontz novels. Since I began earning, I started buying my own copies of Dean Koontzs books, from Booksale, of course, and decided that I should strive to complete my collection. I havent accomplished that, though, and for a reason. Quite recently, I have discovered that my taste for the typical Dean Koontz fare ultimate bad guys chasing after ultimate good guys, lovable dog characters, heart-pounding suspense, intertwined with beautiful prose has dwindled down.The disinterest started with The Darkest Evening of the Year (which, for some reason, I was not able to finish) and since Ive been seeing copies of Koontz novels scattered in Booksale, I was in no hurry to buy all of his books at once. Maybe I have reached my saturation level for suspense novels. Maybe I have acquired a familiarity with his writing styles. Or maybe I have discovered other authors to love. Whatever the reason, I have decided that I will not struggle to complete my collection of Dean Koontz novels anytime soon. This does not mean, though, that I have fallen out of love with everything that is Koontz. I only feel that I need to take a break from reading suspense novels and try to up my ante by reading other books of other authors. If I feel like reading something more comfortable, I know that I can always go back to Dean Koontz.The feeling that I can always go back to Koontz whenever I want a comfort read was the feeling I had when I started reading The Good Guy. I kind of missed Dean Koontz after reading a lot of non-Koontz novels and I havent forgiven myself for not finishing The Darkest Evening of the Year. With The Good Guy, the premise is typical Koontz and a few pages since I started I thought, Yes, this is the Dean Koontz Ive been looking for! This is a story of a mistaken identity where the good guy, Tim Carrier, who is exactly your idea of who a good guy is (non-philandering, single, honest worker), was approached by a stranger in a bar and thought him to be the killer he hired. Tim was given ten thousand bucks and the photograph of the woman he has to kill. Before Tim can even figure out what to do, and after the stranger left, another stranger approached him and thought Tim was the man who hired him to kill the woman on the photograph. Who is this woman? Why does she have to be killed? What will Tim, the good guy, do? What follows is a race against time as the real killer pursues the real target, with the good guy, Tim, also on the run.Continue reading.

The Good Guy may not be one of Dean's best works, but it is fun and entertaining. There are opportunities for contemplation, to consider an alternate reality. Favorite Passages: A man's life can pivot on the smallest hinge of time. No minute is without potential for momentous change, and each tick of the clock might be the voice of Fate whispering a promise or a warning._____He crossed the threshold, and after that nothing was ever the same for him._____He wasn't sure if her manner indicated a breezy kind of charm or a flippancy bordering on rudeness.Or she might bbe a little screwy. Lots of people were these days._____He had found a way of living that was like train wheels on a track, running on a known path, toward a predictable future. The thing pursuing him, however, was not only his past but also his fate, and the rails that led away from it also led inexorably to it.

Well, Dean Koontz is a name that Ive heard many times and very long ago but surprisingly, Ive never read any of his books until now.This book is about a man, Timothy Carrier, who is mistaken as a hit man and given ten thousand dollars and a womans picture to kill her. When the real killer arrives, Tim gives him the ten thousand as a no-kill fee and keeps the womans picture, saying that he changed his mind and didnt want her killed.Of course, the mistake is eventually, and too soon, discovered. Tim and the target woman, Linda, is forced to run and evade the killer.The book is very fast-paced, and not at all what I expected. Ive read quite a few similar thriller stories like this, but somehow the way Koontz presents the story is very different. Its a completely fresh perspective to me, and I like how the suspense holds all the way to the end.My only regret is not reading Koontzs books earlier, but Im glad that I have another new author to add to my ever-growing To Be Read pile.

I've had this book since... 2009 or 2010, I think. Just a random buy from my Dad because the book was cheap. BUT, once more, the younger me really couldn't read the rest of it. I'm a fantasy reader, so this isn't really what I'd read. (& that's me being honest.)However, I did read it in segments during those few years and left 2011 to other YA novels.I am disappointed in myself for doing that, especially now that I haven't really let myself read the books that I want to read. So, after pushing myself, I finally got the chance to finish reading this from where I left off. Tim and Linda, two relatively simple characters - the hero and the damsel *ahems* - are being tracked down by a payed killer... for a reason that's relatively... unknown/[being investigated, really].The format is very readable, but the way each chapter differentiates from the other is interesting. You switch from one perspective (Tim's) to the other (the killer's). RK is good at his trade, and Tim... is really just in the wrong place at the wrong time (or maybe the right time considering the ending). I loved how the dialogue prevails over the well written descriptions surrounding the characters.The characters themselves are not fully discovered when you first meet them, but redefined as you keep reading about them (through indirect and direct characterization). Linda may be seen as a troubled writer, but... there's more underneath the surface. Same for Tim, the mason. The ending is unbelievable (I don't approve of some bits, but... what the hay, it's a good book; it reads well), but the prose is very fluid and descriptive. It could be a great thriller film, too :D Or an action one, nonetheless ^_^Aaaaand... I really can't say much without giving much away, but that's the beauty of suspense :D I loved it. I've never read from Dean Koontz, but now it's probable that I might. *gives kudos*

Another Koontz book full of flaws and more than a little silly, but damn good fun for a cold winter's day. The beginning is especially good, some tight writing and snarky wit. It doesn't quite hold for the rest of the book but it's enough to keep you page turning, even if, like me, you could do without the inevitable romance... Still, he has a talent for creating some of the coldest, most violent villains imaginable, and this one has that underlying conspiracy feel to crank it up a notch, though you always know they're going to get what's coming to them. Koontz's books are like a murderous hug, you know what you're getting into, a bit stabby but it'll all be alright in the end.Thanks to Dean for the recommendation, this made my day at work pass super quick.