Your Heart Belongs to Me

Few bestselling genre writers are willing to stray from their proven formula as much as Koontz, especially now with their publishers facing increasing financial pressure to stamp out novels from a familiar mold. Koontz, however, is a poetic genius trapped in a thriller writer's body, and I respect the tragic tack he takes in Your Heart Belongs to Me.

The core mystery/thriller elements are here, as Koontz hands a dotcom millionaire Ryan Perry a medical death sentence and keeps us wondering whether he's the victim of a conspiracy or his own paranoia. But unlike the heroes in some of his more traditional thrillers like The Good Guy and The Husband, Ryan faces a threat that arises as much from his own tragic flaw as from an independently-motivated villain. Laced with allusions to The Raven and other works by Poe, there's a suspenseful creepiness to this tale that goes well beyond what most medical mysteries can achieve. There's also a compelling love story between these covers, with an arc tracing Ryan's dark journey of self-discovery. And as Ryan discovers the evil wrought by his own tragic moral shortcomings, the stakes seem higher than life or death, as if his very soul hangs in the balance.

Despite this novel's many strengths, I found Ryan less developed and believable than most Koontz heroes, making some of his decisions toward the end of the story hard to fathom. I also felt that the supernatural element of the book detracted from its power (a rarity for a Koontz novel, to be sure), as this mystery could have been just as creepy, but more compelling, without resorting to the ghost device. Graded on a Koontz curve, I give this four stars, bearing in mind that it would probably merit five stars from most any other writer.

I finished this book over the Christmas holiday and was ready to assign 2, maybe 3 stars to it. Than I started thinking about the story.

This was the first Koontz book I read where I did not like the main protaganist. Usually - spoiler warning - his heros and heroines come from dysfunctional families/parents and as adults become better people.

Not so Ryan Perry. He is somewhat better than his parents but comes off as a jerk who believes every problem can be solved by throwing money at it. And thus the brillance of Koontz's writing comes into play.

First, Dean Koontz constantly informs the reader that his current novel has many subtexts and his Ryan Perry character is but one subtext.

Another subtext is when you are faced with problems beyond your control, some times you cannot spend your way out of it. Are you paying attention America? And lastly, when events are beyond your control it is best to trust in God and those individuals he sends to you to help you out of your troubles.

So, my hats off to Mr. Koontz for writing another great book. It is a great thriller where you see enemies at Ryan's door but they turn out to be enemies of his own creation. I will not give the novel 5 stars basically because the constant references and descriptions of plants and trees are starting to become tiresome. But I do highly recommend this novel.

Fascinating book by Koontz, I know a lot of other people don't like the book, but I think they are reading it like an early Koontz, rather than his more recent work, which is more spiritual and philosophical. The underlying moral question this book poses is: how complicit are we in others' suffering because of our wants? The corollary question to the answer is then: what do we do about it when we recognize our complicity? You're not going to find these questions addressed in your typical thriller or mystery. I agree that the supernatural / religious part of the book didn't quite fit, but neither did it reduce the power of the message. I'll gladly take a book like this over "Dark Rivers of the Heart" any time.

One of the greatest things about being a Dean Koontz fan is not having to wait long periods between novels. The author is amazingly prolific, and maintains a higher quality of storytelling and writing than many more authors published half as frequently.

"You Heart Belongs to Me" is a fun story, that takes you on a quick journey into one man's fall into a nightmarish paranoid world. Ryan Perry, a multi-millionaire seems to have it all, a wonderful house, tons of dough at his disposal, and a beautiful woman who he is deeply in love with. All of that changes when Perry suffers a "panic attack" while out surfing one morning. The events following the "panic attack" lead Perry from sunny California to a corpse filled home in Las Vegas and into the mountainous beauty of Colorado. Is someone trying to kill Perry, why is he hearing rapping noises at all hours of the night, what has lead to his suddenly serious health issues?

Koontz does a great job of placing the reader into Perry's mind, letting us feel the paranoia swirling around the man's life, letting us experience what it might be like to suddenly loose control of your fate (as if we had any control to begin with??), and as Perry hunts for answers, the pace of the novel refuses to let up.

If you are a Koontz fan, then you will enjoy his latest entry. If you associate Koontz with monsters and gremlins hiding under the bed, then give "You Heart Belongs to Me" a chance to show you Koontz's "thriller" style of writing, and that he is not just a "horror" writer.

Ryan Perry has everything in life, he is only 34, physically fit, has money, women and fame until it all crumbles around him. Ryan starts getting ill and finds out the he has a heart disease that is incurable. He finds out that with one year to live only a heart transplant can save him.

Ryan begins to believe that someone is out to get him. He isolates himself and finds a doctor who caters to very wealthy patients and who always seems to find donors for them. Ryan's heart donor is found and he gets his transplant. Shortly thereafter his health returns but he is plagued by a series of events that again leads him to believe that someone is after him....

This storyline had so much more potential than what was finally put onto paper. While this book has a good premise it moves much slower than the average Dean Koontz book. It made it a more difficult story to stay involved in and to keep your interest peaked. I love Dean Koontz's books but this one, while OK for me, was not my favorite by far.

I listened to the Audio CD version and the narrator, Malcolm Hillgartner, did a good job reading the story.

This book is a hashed together nonsense without any proper plot or character development at all. It's about a young billionaire who needs a heart transplant and believes he may have been intentionally poisoned so goes investigating a few people. Sounds okay so far? You know, like a sort of murder/mystery/thriller where the protagonist has to get to the bottom of a sinister murder plot against him? Well, it turns out that NONE of his investigating has ANYTHING to do with what happens later on in the novel. There is no development of plot or characters, nothing really happens.

The majority of the book is about the billionaire protagonist's dreams and what he imagines and his "intuition" and about how right his intuition has always been... but is it really? Maybe he's just being paranoid. I don't know how anyone could like reading about this tapping he keeps hearing and the strange locations the protagonist dreams about, with nothing happening at all except in the protagonist's imagination. If it was that a new heart was causing these dreams or some crap like that, that might be in some way passable as there is a small thread of science claiming that body parts can hold memories. With how it is something just happens for no reason all of a sudden with no explanation at all.

There is no development of any of the characters, they are all 1-dimensional and unbelievable. At one stage him and another character are about to get married, next thing you know... the novel fasts forward and him and his lover haven't even spoken to each other for something like nine months, with no explanation whatsoever except that this happened after his heart transplant and they somehow became "estranged" from each other. He spent so long talking about his stuuuupid dreams and about nothing at all and I never got any feeling for any character in it or what they were thinking. Then for any important issue that might threaten to develop a character he says nothing about it, for example in the beginning we were told nonchalently he is a billionaire... but we never got any sense of feeling for it at all. I never read anything as ridiculous.

Two thirds of the way through this book, an Asian woman randomly pops up from nowhere and stabs the protagonist and starts claiming that she is the rightful owner of his heart. And that's when I knew for sure that this was going to be on of the worst things I had ever read and had wasted my time trying to get into it. I labourously skimmed through the rest of the book, and as I had imagined nothing about it adds up. To say that "none of the loose ends were tied up" would be a ridiculous understatement, it was as if the loose ends never existed.

On the back it says: "There's surprise after surprise, including a killer finale" by the Independant on Sunday.... this is in my view false advertising as the Independent on Sunday were I am nearly sure saying that about a different book (at least the publishers are using the same sentence to advertise a couple of his books).

And what the hell was with Koontz talking about old westerns and John Grisham and actors? There are ways to make references to such things, they don't involve just randomly pulling them out of the air.

I actually liked this book. Mr. Koontz has always been one of my favorite prolific authors.
He's changed style as he has gotten older. This is a perfect example. The plot is a very good one & has a tendency to make one think.
Ryan Perry, 34, has it all. He's made a fortune in the Dotcom business. He suddenly finds one day he's in dire need of a heart transplant.
He receives the transplant successfully; now his life begins to become very strange & begins unravelling.

Though a very good idea for a story, there are parts in which the author leaves loose ends dangling. No justice for Dr. Death who apparently murdered Ismay Clemm? The beauty Violet, for the most part, simply vanishes shortly before the end. The end holds no great surprises. In fact, it may be a bit over the top as the love of his life, Samantha, re-enters his much altered life. Alas, possibly too late?

It does carry some of life's lessons & may very well leave you thinking of your own life & mortality. I just wish the story was packed a bit tighter without the loose ends. I still enjoyed the novel.

Your Heart Belongs to Me looks like a great book, but doesn't have the caliber of storytelling I expect from Dean Koontz. I can usually devour a book this size in a day or two at most, but I was so disinterested in this one it took me a month of reading in waiting rooms to finish it. I used it to pass the time waiting for various things, but as I was reading I was waiting for the pace and point to pick up. Ironic, no?

***SPOILERS BELOW!***

Besides my utter lack of interest in the characters, I found issues in the pacing and the story in general. The jacket description was pretty much: Successful guy has it all, discovers a fatal heart condition, gets transplant, is stalked by supernatural forces/possibly organ donor who wants revenge. For the first half of the book he seems to be the recipient of supernatural warning signs and obsesses about things which ultimately have nothing to do with the story other than to provide a creepy red herring. When he finally tells his significant other about his heart, she tells him to relax and let whatever happens, happen. She strongly disapproves of him getting another doctor for a second opinion. Seems unusual, right? Yeah, I thought so too.

Then around the middle of the book he finally gets the transplant. Keep in mind much of what happened in the first half was either unnecessary or could've been summed up in a chapter or two. Now we're in the second half, where eventually the promised antagonist finally makes an appearance. Things get a bit more convoluted before the story finally gets to the point, and we see that the kind and likable main character has done something unimaginable. Only he didn't know it until it was too late. But then he realizes he knew it all along, and everyone surrounding him knew it too but didn't bother to talk to him about it, other than to offer vague and confusing messages that clearly didn't change anything because they were all too subtle for anyone to connect the dots. (Not to mention the fact that none of them could possibly know these things anyway.) When you look at it that way, they're just as much to blame as he was, but he ends up losing a lot. I can't even focus on the positive message Koontz hides in the subtext because I'm too dazzled by the flurry of crazy in my face.

I've never read anything by Dean Koontz that felt to odd and disjointed before. It was like reading something the author worked on and put in a drawer, then years later added more and didn't bother to edit to make sure it all meshed. I'm honestly surprised it was published with the content being so strange with leaps of logic that make no sense and a rushed ending that seemed more sad than satisfying. Needless to say, this won't be joining my library next to my other Koontz books. I'm a fan for sure, but not of this book. It's a shame because the premise sounded really exciting.

Dean Koontz is obviously under a contract to write so many books for his publisher every year or whatever, but it is even more obvious his heart wasn't into this and he just typed up anything that was coming into his head to fulfill the word count, rather than starting again, maybe with a better idea and producing a good story. There is not even a fraction of a second glimpse of the brilliant mind who produced classic masterpieces such as Watchers,Intensity,The Voice of the Night,Mr. Murder,Night Chills and other absolute can't put down until you reach the last page masterpieces.

This story is just a lot of rambling on by Ryan Perry the main character, we take over half the book to even get to the heart transplant which the title and info on the cover is promoting. Koontz could have just started at part two, we didn't need the far fetched nonsense of surfing on a shark, how good and how much his employees like him and the rest of the drivel that made up the first half of the book.

The second half got interesting for a little while with mysterious objects turning up somehow getting through massive amounts of security but this fizzled out fast. Violet the main villain (well depending on whose eyes your looking through) seemed to be a brilliant intelligent woman when needed to be for the plot but too dumb to grasp the concept of what happened (I won't give it away but you can work out her relationship to Ryan pretty much straight away). Also like a James Bond villain why didn't she just shoot him first time she saw him.

Plus the compulsory getting the Retriever somewhere into the story pages at the end just seemed forced. IN fact it seemed to be the only point for even having these pages at all. Dean, we get it, you like these dogs. We however don't need to have them rammed down our eyes every time we pick up your latest book, especially when they've got nothing to do with the plot. Just write an article for a dog, pet or animal magazine or something to get it out of your system. No matter what experts they have to write articles on Golden Retrievers, they'll publish something with your name on it over them I guarantee you as more people will buy the magazine. Or even write a whole non fiction book on how great these dogs are if you need to but can we have a break from your obsession in your fiction please! Maybe there's a bit too much into Golden Retrievers to be healthy anonymous group that you could attend once a month or something but it's gotten to the stage where it's becoming really, really annoying in your books.

If this is your first Dean Koontz book don't be put off. Dean Koontz does know how to write. Check out one of his masterpieces I mentioned before. If good heart or organ donation fiction you are after check out Heart Seizure: A Novel or the Organ Grinders by Bill Fitzhugh.

I just finished Your Heart Belongs To Me. Having read it right after the rather mediocre Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, the difference in writing quality was like night and day. Koontz is one of the few non-fantasy/SF popular authors that I read, since his writing ability these days is phenomenal. Not all of his books are masterpieces of writing, but Your Heart Belongs to Me *is*. It's a book that takes the readers along on a ride of melancholy, paranoia, and uncertainty -- as the main character himself does. He flits between genres, so you're never sure if you're reading a thriller, a ghost story, some sort of sci-fi tale, a love story, a tragedy, or if the answer to the mystery is ghosts or a conspiracy theory, or nothing -- with perhaps the main character being crazy and making the whole thing up in his head. Since the reader can't pigeonhole it, and put the novel into a labeled box saying "Ghost Story" or "Unreliable Narrator", it takes the reader out of his comfort zone and places him right there beside the main character as he tries to figure out if he's crazy, or if there's something sinister going on, or something else entirely.

Koontz does a masterful job crafting a mood throughout the piece, once the plot gets going, and the mood is the only thing which ties the book together, as the events in the book are so uncertain, like in real life, neither the main character nor the reader can be sure that a new development is tied in with the main plot at all -- if there is a main plot at all. On top of that, Koontz works in a healthy dose of metafiction, by having the main character's girlfriend be an author, who explains what it is that she's trying to accomplish as an author: subtext, and subtext beneath the subtext. If you apply what the girlfriend says to the book that You the Reader are reading, you can pick up on even more themes and messages from Koontz. Really brilliant stuff, even though people who normally critically analyze his books (which my mom and I do from time to time) might think it might just be the author getting tired of people missing out on his own subtext in his works. So it's subtext about subtext. But it works.

Finally, as I was reading it, I noticed he used a lot more literary references then he normally does in his works. He opens the book with Yeats' The Second Coming (which sort of sets the mood for the book), and then has scattered Poe references throughout the book. A patient at the doctor's worried about the conqueror worm. Sounds tap tap tapping and rap rap rapping at the windowsill. Church bells, iron bells, tolling tolling tolling, rolling upon the human heart a stone... as he lies waiting for surgery. I missed the reference to The City in the Sea. How do I know I missed it? The book points out some of its own references to Poe, in another case of metafiction -- but not all of them (for example, it doesn't note its own reference to the Conqueror Worm) -- some of the characters try reciting The Raven in one scene. Having memorized both it and The Conqueror Worm, I was amused that the characters couldn't remember the whole thing. =) Further, when talking about Poe, Koontz starts using many of the same alliteration and assonance tricks that Poe did. Subtle stuff.

Anyhow, don't let the cover art throw you off -- it looks like a cheesy romance novel cover -- it's an amazing work.

. . . .that said. . . I wanted to stop after 100 pages, 150 pages, should have stopped after 200 pages, am kicking myself for not stopping after 250 pages, etc., etc.,etc.!! What a complete bore. I hated the stupidity of the story. I hated ALL of the characters. The book was not thrilling, exciting, scary or mysterious. A snoozer.

Ryan Perry is a wealthy software developer (he's responsible for one of those annoying social networking sites) who's madly in love with a beautiful woman (a "vision," as he frequently thinks of her). One day while surfing, Ryan--34, in superb physical health--suffers an anxiety attack. Later that night, he finds himself having some kind of fit, one that forces him onto the floor, in intense agony, waking up hours later not knowing what happened. That's enough to send Ryan to the doctor. But the really troubling stuff is about to begin: mysterious whispering and knocking in the night; strangers coming and going from his girlfriend's apartment; strange feelings of deja vu. Ryan is thrust into a paranoid world where he trusts no one--not even himself. Is he going crazy? Or is someone trying to get under his skin, to untangle his sanity?

First of all, I don't know why the review here on the store (as well as the jacket flap of the hardback) summarizes the book by mentioning the mysterious woman who haunts him; that doesn't occur until the last hundred pages or so of the book. (Sometimes you gotta wonder if people even READ these books before reviewing them; though, to their credit, the book would have been MUCH more interesting if that had been the entire plot, rather than a climactic point.)

That out of the way, let me bemoan the fact that Dean Koontz doesn't pack the punch he used to. "Your Heart Belongs to Me" certainly has its moments; at its best, it's reminiscent of the paranoia that fueled his earlier espionage works such as "The Key to Midnight" and "The House of Thunder" (remember those? No? Shame.). It is in this hundred page stretch where Ryan trusts no one that we see the Koontz that was, unafraid to scare the hell out of us, while admirably staying above any horror/suspense cliches. Unfortunately, that paranoid stretch is bookended by a dull opening and an unclimactic climax (which is at least plausible, if not probable; Koontz hit an all-time low with the ending of "The Darkest Evening of the Year," which made me drop my book and curse). Koontz's prose is still strong, though he's been far better before; he's always used "big" words, but in this novel he seems to layer them on. Do we really need to know the name of the condition that causes one eye to blink uncontrollably for short periods of time? The answer is no--especially if it is a minor point meant to make a character more charming (which Ryan isn't, and I say that to Koontz's credit; he's likable, but you really wouldn't want to be friends with this spoiled man-child).

Koontz has always written about hope in the face of tragedy and horror. Lately, however, he's taken a far too optimistic turn with it, forcing happy endings on his readers. (Remember the ending to "Odd Thomas"? Now THAT was golden Koontz, and probably his last decent ending.) I've been a Koontz fan for years; I can honestly say his novels encouraged me to read further, and to start writing my own stories. There are few writers as talented out there, especially in the pop-fiction genre. The problem is, Koontz's stories have become outlandish, almost too intricate for their own good, requiring endings and plot events that just aren't acceptable. He's still a great writer--you can do far worse than reading this novel--but he's not AS great as he once was. And the worst part is, "Your Heart Belongs to Me," at its best, shows us that Koontz still has what it takes to make us think and scare us at the same time. If only he would put more emphasis on the latter, and lay up a bit on the preaching.

Without a doubt this is the worst Koontz book that I have ever read. Its not anywhere near as good as his usual writing and one of the few books by him that I wish I could get my money back.

The first half of this book is so, over written? There's so much of it that doesn't mean anything or progress the story line at all. That I skimmed several parts and pages of it that is meaningless descriptive nonsense. This one has so much of it that I almost gave up and tossed it in my reject bag to go to the used book store.

Koontz fills out the first half of this book with a lot of over descriptive drivel using words that are seldom if ever heard in day to day life. He uses several chapters telling about the main character's obsession with a photograph that doesn't have anything to do with the story. The photo has nothing to do with any part of the story at all but Koontz tries to tie a bit of a supernatural twist to it that just doesn't work and isn't there.

I've read other books by Koontz that he was bad about over doing his descriptions of things. With the using of words that are seldom if ever heard anywhere it looks like he does this just to build up the word count, without saying anything that has anything to do with moving the story along. It's like he's swallowed a dictionary and just can't help it. A lot of it reminds me of the days when I used to read a lot of westerns written by Zane Gray. Both Koontz and Gray can use three or four pages to describe a bush on the side of a hill that doesn't have anything to do with the story.

That's the first half of the book. The second half doesn't have much more to it. Until you get to the last 45 pages when it finally ties together the few important bits scattered through all the meaningless descriptive nonsense parts that don't mean anything. Koontz has always been bad about stretching things out until the very end and then cramming the ending into a couple of pages. There's one thing at the last of this tale that turns out to be very powerful and has a lot of truism to it along with the horror of the truth of it. That this is not a true fantasy and that it can really happen and worst of all, it really does happen for those with the money and to those that don't.

For the meaning of the end of this story its too bad that Koontz did such a poor job of writing a story to lead up to it. The message that's in the last of this story deserves a lot better story to lead you to it. It is a break from his usual stories. I have every book he has written over the years and the last few years it seems like he has been fallowing a template to write them. I'm glad to see that he didn't use it for this one, although it probably would have made it a better read if he had.

Koontz is on my list of top five favorite novelists, not only for the scares and chills he can produce, but for the probing questions he raises about life, love, and relationships. From "Life Expectancy" to "Odd Thomas," he's found a way to capture universal characters in unusual situations, and to do so in evocative style. I consider him a wordsmith of the highest order.

Despite the mixed reviews here, I was fully ready to love "Your Heart Belongs to Me." Although the last two books have not been my favorites, I liked the concept of this and thought Koontz would find a way to make it uniquely his own--terrifying, intriguing, and thought-provoking.

The first half of the book takes quite a bit of time to build, and I never bought into Ryan's paranoia which seemed based on some very flimsy bits of evidence in relation to his alleged love and trust in his romantic interest. Nevertheless, I read quickly. This is a fluid story, with some beautiful passages, and I kept hoping for the second half to be the pay off. Instead, the introduction of the antagonist is almost anti-climactic, and in retrospect her taunts and toying games in Ryan's house seem juvenile and even a bit of a stretch. She talks as though she has some horrific plan for Ryan, yet even that ends of being rather routine for a Koontz novel. The romantic elements are broken up by nearly two hundred pages of Ryan's disconnect from most of those around him, and in the end, I just wanted an answer for how the story's clues fit together. I wanted to care. I wanted to be scared. I wanted to be surprised, or wowed, or moved.

"Your Heart Belongs to Me" wraps things up tidily enough, but some of the final answers are provided without much foreshadowing (Falun Gong), and the deeper subtext that is hinted at throughout is not as deep as I hoped. In part, this is because the motives of Ryan, Samantha, Lily, and even his doctors, were never explored in ways that seemed interesting or even believable for me. And Ryan's perceived weakness is nothing more than a will to live.

I just don't have the heart to say more, for the simple reason that Koontz still creates some of the most wonderful prose in modern fiction, some of the most tender characters, some of the most mindbending stories. This isn't one of them. But I have high hopes for more to come.

Aside from the Odd Thomas books, the last Koontz book that held me strong was "The Face". I was looking forward to reading this one; sounded like a good ghost story... Well, no such thing. It's a very nice love story, and, ultimately, a man's coming to terms with his own life decisions. Ryan is an endearing character, as is Samantha (though not thoroughly fleshed out; really, only seen through Ryan's eyes). Koontz' books often have sub-plots that seem unnecessary at first, but loom high in the resolution of the plot. There's a lot of talk about subtext, but there's really none here. The wild-goose chases prove to be useless. The character of Ismay could've been enhanced to create a fine supernatural situation, but the final resolution left me flat...and baffled and confused as to why I stuck it out to the end. Certainly, there's evil, deception, revenge and arrogance in the world. It's been written about before, and Mr. Koontz gave no insight as to a new approach to make these vices interesting. The premise of the plot suggested a whole world of interesting "ghost story" stuff, but it was only another book about lonely people doing what lonely people do. C'mon Dean; write a good ghost story. Whatever you write, I'll read. I'm crazy about you, especially after "Dark Rivers of the Heart" and "Shadowfires". I know you can do it. This was way too mundane for the Koontz I love. Also, boring at times, and wondering what interesting direction you were taking. Perhaps this was a take on Tennessee Williams' "Summer and Smoke", where the magnificent, complex characters' personalities totally turned around, with no hope of turning back. I wanted very much to enjoy the book, but the ultimate result was disappointing.

I love Dean Koontz's psychological thrillers, but "Your Heart Belongs to Me" just didn't enthrall me like I thought it would.

***SPOILERS FOLLOW***

Ryan, as the main character, was pretty unlikeable with his fussy, demanding personal habits that allowed him the maximum amount of personal indulgence while he tried to make it seem that he was just a regular Joe. He was so dull, and such a plodder for someone who was supposed to be an internet whiz kid, I couldn't help but wonder what Samantha saw in him other than his money. He was a jerk. Not an in-your-face jerk, but a quiet, reserved jerk. The medical emergency that arose provided a great basis for the story and COULD HAVE shaken Ryan out of his complacency, but unfortunately, all it did was turn him further inward and become even more self-obsessed than he was before. The convoluted paranoia that arose seemed very contrived and so unreasonable. I got tired of reading about it. I expected him to start having each water droplet in his bath water analyzed for toxins.

The part after the heart transplant got marginally better, but there were some equally unbelievable things that happened -- the psychological suspense and the supernatural thriller don't mesh all that well. Which genre was this novel trying to fit into? It refused to be placed and jumped around erratically, which made for an annoying read. Every time Ryan seemed to be either on the verge of either finding the culprit who was trying to kill him - Samantha? The crazy Asian? - or having a spiritual epiphany - the ghostly nurse? His own dysfunctional parents? - the book would veer off on some other incomprehensible tangent, so I wasn't all that surprised to find out that the bad doctor was engaging in the wholesale internal organ market. The only part that I felt totally involved with was Samantha's refusal to see Ryan anymore. Best decision she ever made.

The ending of the book was very strange, leaving a lot of unanswered questions and several threads of the plot that were just left hanging. I missed the hopefulness with which Dean usually ends his books -- this one was very melancholy. Ryan, it turned out, gave away his huge fortune and then took on monks, disabled orphans and dogs and it was just a bunch of altruistic overkill and ridiculously unbelievable. "See?" he seemed to be saying. "See what a philanthropist I am? I am poor! I live with monks! I serve God, disabled children and dogs, in that order! I am even more worthy now than I was back in the days when I was making my housekeeper leave me a snack cart with seventeen Cheez-It crackers and a Kit-Kat precisely arranged on a polished onyx platter and making my driver polish my classic cars with his toothbrush!"

I wish I could have believed him the way Samantha apparently did. Ryan's change of heart, I felt, was purely physical and I disliked him just as solidly at the end of the book as I did at the beginning.

Thirty-four years old Ryan Perry created Be2Do, a social networking web site that makes him a billionaire. He quits as CEO so he can spend more time on development projects and with his girlfriend Samantha, whom he wants to marry. However the aspiring author rejects his proposal though she loves him.

He soon learns he is under a death sentence diagnosed with cardiomyopathy; only a heart transplant can save his life. A donor is found and the operation proves successful. A year after the transplant, strange things occur inside Ryan's fortress. Candy hearts appear then vanish; likewise a gold heart pendant. He becomes uneasy with the goings-on, but soon believes he is in danger when a video arrives starring a woman who looks like the heart donor with a message "YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME". He believes she is going to kill him and with all his wealth and connections he fears she will succeed.

Dean Koontz has written another great thriller filled with heart and supernatural elements. The protagonist is a nice person comfortable in his limited world especially the cyber realm, but is clueless re life outside his circle. When confronted with the paranormal he does what most people will do seek the rational explanation. There is a lot of action, but the tense story line belongs to Ryan who is unable to mentally accept the truth. Readers will enjoy another one sitting Koontz tale.

Harriet Klausner

Your Heart Belongs to Me follows Ryan, the guy who seems to have everything; Endlessly wealthy from developing an internet social network, Ryan is struck down by a chronic heart condition.

For a novel described as "psychological complex" the characters of YHBTM are bland and uncompelling. The main character has two states: paranoid and rich. The other main character Sam, is mildly more interesting but is always seen through Ryan's paranoid whine and there is something annoying about literary characters who are writers.

For the first half of the book we are led through a sequence of mundane character introductions and red herrings that amount to absolutely nothing in the end. EVENTUALLY something drama worthy happens, however the lack of tie in with the first part of the book and of any interesting sub-plot makes the book tiresome.

There is a decent twist towards the conclusion, however because we are led there by contrived plot (Ryan's father who has barely featured in the film randomly rings him to tell him the villian is at his home) one feels no sense of satisfaction in the end.

For a novel which often discusses subtext, there is a remarkable lack of depth. Koontz appears to have turned to the always fruitful method of sounding meaningful by making stuff up.
The key relationship of the book is undermined by desperate attempts at witty banter, and sometimes Koontz's prose verges on the ridiculous "I said, 'I love you' and felt like a weasel, although a weasel in rehab'".

Overall the books presents an interesting idea, but seems rushed and lacks the depth to be a truly good novel. More or better developed characters, subtler prose and a developed plot would be needed to rescue this piece.

This review will contain spoilers, so be warned. This is the first Koontz book I've read and thankfully I got it from the library and didn't pay money for it. The ending made no sense. So an Internet billionaire up and decides to give away all his money and live in a monastery (for lack of a better word)? Yeah, sure. Also, it bothered me that the nutjob Violet didn't get arrested and didn't have to pay for her stalking, assaulting and near killing him. I really wanted Violet to get a smackdown. So. Bad. Yes, it sucks that Dr Hobb was a slimeball and should be persecuted, but that wasn't Ryan's fault. If this is indicative of Koontz's stuff, I'm wary of trying out any more of his books.

"*SPOILERS*
I have always enjoyed his works but this one really didn't do it for me. Personally, I am a bit fed up with the goody-two shoes characters in all his books. I've also grown tired of his little messages about moral values and the fact that anyone in his stories who's not completely straight-edged may as well be Satan himself. Ryan's dad smokes weed and listens to the Dead and is therefore, Mephistopheles personified. Not to mention people in past books who drink or screw around wind up dying horrible deaths. I actually found myself detesting this Ryan Perry and Samantha. For crying out loud, they even transfer potato salad and cole slaw from the deli into ceramic bowls. Who the *%$# does that when eating deli??? Oh and *SPOILER ALERT* The only way for Ryan to find redemption was to give up all his money?? Come on, Mr. Koontz! I think you've been listening to too many sidewalk preachers. Give it a rest, will you?

I hope this book isn't a sneak peek at what's to come for the next few years. What a shame it would be for him to spiral into a bitter old man who hates everyone with a few minor vices and turn into Carrie White's mother. "

Been a "Dean Koontz" Fan for too long to recount; therefore most of his stories have provided many hours of pleasureable entertainment. Differing from "Stephen King" (been a Fan since he first released "CARRIE"), Koontz has developed a concise style, not overwriting with layers of lingering paragraphs that can detract from the developing plot.

Purchased the Hard Cover of "YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME", and like most Koontz stories, the initial focus is on character development and exploration, though "YHBTM" was far more convoluted than anything he's written to date. Of course most mystery stories are designed to keep your interest as you turn from one page, to another, this story continually tosses the reader from one perspective to another, without providing a clear direction of where it is going, though by the end, everything comes together (You might recall, M. Night Shyamalan's movie, "UNBREAKABLE").

Even Koontz commented in an Interview that [paraphrasing], 'His Fans may not like it, but he wanted to experiment.' Still, as a faithful Fan, "YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME" is worthwhile reading, if for no other reason than to experience "Dean" [temporarily] going in a direction that differs from his usual style... GBJ

This is the weakest Koontz novel after reading about two dozen of them. I'm not saying don't read this one, but it should be one of the last Koontz books that you read. As for recent Koontz novels, I recommend The Husband and Velocity over this one. The only thing that really saved The Good Guy was the entertaining serial killer that left me laughing out loud.

This one here is slllloooooow. You have to read 150 pages before something significant happens. There's lot of things that don't make sense and once the villain was revealed and her motives, I felt cheated. I even stopped within the last 10 pages to brush my teeth before bed--before actually finishing the book--something I've never done with a Koontz novel.

If you've read everything else by Koontz, by all means read it, but I don't recommend paying more than a few dollars for it. Definitely get it second hand.

Disappointing. The story is all over the place. Being a Colorado resident, I did like that Denver played a significant role - but Colorado is better mentioned in Life Expectancy(my personal favorite Dean Koontz novel).

The assisted suicide issue was interesting but covered much better in Velocity. The main character in Your Heart Belongs to Me,is Ryan, the successful developer of a popular online social network called Be2Do. Another character, Spencer Barghest is a right to die activist and his fascination with dead bodies was reminiscent of yet another Koontz novel, Hideaway.

"Barghest's trophies were of both sexes, young and old, and of all races. The word trophies surprised Ryan when it occured to him but after a dozen faces, no other term seemed as accurate."

Koontz continues his tradition of including disability and dogs in his novels - but not very well. At the end of the book, readers are introduced to St. Christopher's Ranch.

"Both ramps and steps rose from the walkways to the veranda. She took the wide steps."

I say why have the steps? As the husband of a wheelchair user (and the pusher of a double stroller or puller of a double seater Radio Flyer) It amazes me why we are still so fascinated with stairs. Everyone can use a ramp but not everyone can use stairs.

So, back at St.Christopher's . . . "children in wheelchairs sat at low tables working on all manner of craft projects." And of course, "everywhere dogs lazed or frolicked, golden retrievers and Labradors, all vigorous and well-groomed and happy."

I found this quote interesting: "From the day we're born, Ryan, we should all be afraid, but not of dying".

I liked this one too - it's one long sentence:
"They sipped, they kissed, they sat, and Ryan was so instantly comfortable with her that he knew, whether this Sam was a lie or not, he loved her, and he would continue to love her even if there was another Sam who was a conniving [.....]".

Your Heart Belongs To Me is memorable but certainly not one of Koontz' better works. For me, I didn't get my first surprise or shocker until pg.225 and there are only 337 pages in the book. My favorite Dean Koontz books include, but are not limited to: Life Expectancy, False Memory,Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels),Lightning,From the Corner of His Eye,Cold Fire,The Bad Placeand By the Light of the Moon.

Your Heart Belongs to Me could have made an interesting novel. The premise is unusual and memorable. Ryan Perry, the central character is thoughtful and introspective enough to wrestle with the ethical issues Koontz raises. His wealthy lifestyle, his beautiful girlfriend and his terrible dilemma all make for a potentially exciting book about how one man's having everything can blind him to how the world works for the rest of us.

Yet we never know much about Ryan. Or his girlfriend Samantha. It's true we know a little more about these two then the other characters who make their brief appearances before trotting offstage again - but not much more. Ironically though, we get descriptions of Ryan's dreams, his house, his security system, his food preferences, minor character's looks, etc. And long descriptions of minor events; I almost expected to have three or four paragraphs describing Ryan's walking through his house, the sound his feet made as he walked, whether he swung his arms or turned his head, how hard he was breathing, what random thoughts flitted through his consciousness.

If inflating a short story to a novella was necessary, couldn't it have been done by showing us more of Ryan or Samantha, rather than tediously transcribing dull conversations and overly elaborate descriptions? Why, for example, is a year skipped in Ryan's life after the surgery? That would've been more worthwhile than pages of writing where everything's described as if Koontz were a reporter, hurriedly scribbling in his notebook conversations and places passed by.

(I won't even get into the larger-than-average fonts, wide margins and almost double-spaced sentences. Those aren't a first for a Koontz book.)

While I like Koontz's ideas, his humanity, and often his writing, this isn't even one of his mediocre books. Subtract the extended descriptions, the repetitive information, the go-nowhere background info and you have a short story.

Okay, I know Koontz is a writer that sometimes dazzles me and sometimes leaves me underwhelmed, but this is one book I cannot in good conscience recommend, because the ending is a cheap sucker punch that has nothing to do with 99% of previous pages.
Some books will have an occasional red herring thrown in. This entire book is a red herring.
I stayed up late reading this book and then, if my wife were not already asleep, would have screamed at the top of my lungs at how cheap shot the ending is.

Avoid this book. Avoid this book cover, never allow the name of this book to be uttered in your presence, clap your hands over your ears go "lalalala" until the person goes away.

Trust me, you don't know me, but trust me, if you read this book to the end, and your spouse is not asleep, you will scream in outrage at the ending.

I want to know how I go about getting several hours of my life back that was wasted.

What made me angry about the ending?

SPOILERS BELOW

what made me angry is there is no way you can arrive at the conclusion of the mystery from any part of the book until the last 20 pages. No way. Since the book is all from the main character's point of view, since he did not know the information, there is no way you can. All the sleuthing up until that point is completely irrelevant.
And yes, he kept writing about "subtext" over and over as if that is supposed to be a clue for us to reread the book from the beginning to find the "subtext".
No thank you. I would not pick up that book again for any reason, much less to read it again. I PAID ATTENTION and Koontz still sucker punched me at the end.

the only subtext should be, better write a better ending next time, Dean.

Judging from the other reviews of this book its seems very clear I am not the only one who had a problem with this book. The concept had a lot of potential but Koontz never delivered on it. I mean just reading the book flap some guy gets a heart transplant and the donor comes back to haunt him thats a great idea but Koontz just turned it into something really lame. There were many things that annoyed me about this book. And I know some of this has been said before but I will say it again. Why does Koontz always have to use these 10 dollar words. I don't want to use a dictionary to read his books. I have a pretty good vocab but seriously its like Koontz wants to say to everyone hey I am a writer. We get it Dean you are a writer you are expected to have a good vocab you don't need to prove it to us. Plus why does he always feel the need to spend three pages describing something that can be done in one sentence. Heres my imitation of Dean describing something her hair was as black as night in the winter months during a solar eclipe the blackness was like a black hole of hair blah blah blah. This book annoyed me from the get go starting with the annoying surfer lingo and the stupid nicknames Winky and Dotcom. I almost wanted the character to die just for that. The Gf what was up with her. She breaks up with the guy after he has a freaking heart transplant I mean way to stand by him. I would have written her off after that. She can't even give him a reason I mean come on. Funny how Koontz writes how she was having trouble with flow in her novel since this novel had no flow. Its almost like Koontz just took a bunch of ideas from his other books put them in a blender and out came this book. The weird guy who collects dead bodies no follow up with him. No follow up with the ghost Ismay. The villian is not introduced to almost the end of the book and she barely does anything. Why was this guy always so damn secretive. I mean he acted like getting a second medical opinion was such a big deal. Come on he was told he had a year to live I would go to 100 doctors if it was me. Why not just tell the Dr. he wanted a second opinion not exactly unusual. His Gf is like just let things happen the hell with that hes rich you are telling me a guy with unlimited resources wouldn't do everything possible to stay alive. Then he does this whole background check on this Dr. but can't find out hes freaking using political prisoners as organ donors. I mean why would he be able to move him up on the list for transplants do a little critical thinking. His Gf breaks up with him but she loves him and thinks hes the most handsome guy gee thanks I would be like get lost. Guy goes through all that just so he can clean some dogs thats the end. What happened to doing something with the money. The one good thing about this book just before I finished reading was no dogs but of course Koontz still has to cram dogs are humanity's salvation in the end. Just write a book called Dogs are Humanity's greatest gift all ready Dean. I mean we get it you love dogs nothing wrong with that but its tiring to read it every book. Side note who am I the only one who thinks Dean looked better before the hair now he just looks weird.

The storyline just did not have enough glue to hold it all together and bounces too far out in too many directions. There were many variables that left me thinking that the author was trying to grab for something that was just too far out of reach. The first half of the book is a little slow. The last half picks up with action but is thin. An adjectivally tedious skimmer, but that's just my view. Having said that, Dean Koontz is still my number one author. Someone sitting next to me could read the same book and easily rate it five stars!

Ryan Perry made a fortune after he created the internet's largest social networking website. Only thirty-four years old, Ryan is one of the wealthiest men in the country and has everything a man could want. Even his love life is better than he could have hoped, and he has no doubt Samantha is the one he will spend the rest of his life with.

One fateful day while Ryan is surfing he feels an intense pain in his chest, scaring him enough to visit the doctor. His worst fears are confirmed when he discovers he needs a heart transplant to live. As Ryan waits for a donor his world is torn apart by strange events and suspicions that he has no answer for. He begins to believe that those who are closest to him may be responsible for his medical condition. His search for the truth will lead him down a dark road that could destroy him in ways he never imagined.

Your Heart Belongs to Me might be one of the most unique novels of Koontz's career. Depending on your perspective, that can be good or bad. It's hard to fit this story into one clear cut genre. While there are terrifying moments, this is not a horror novel. Much of the story is full of drama, emotion, and romance, yet this is not a typical love story. This novel is very suspenseful, but driven at a much slower pace than Koontz's previous works.

Much of Koontz's early career was highlighted by suspenseful stories with both supernatural and horror elements. Many of his die hard fans still want that from him, and subsequently are quick to turn on his later works that are full of powerful explorations of light overcoming the darkness. While I enjoy many of the vintage Koontz novels, I have also thoroughly enjoyed his more recent approach to storytelling. This latest offering is certainly no exception.

In my book, no one equals Koontz when it comes to prose and dialogue. Those strengths shine here, but what carries this story is the character of Ryan Perry. His journey is full of struggle, hope, torment, and redemption. Koontz gives us a rich guy that has everything, and he still makes us care for and hurt alongside him at every turn. We're able to see through the riches and security Ryan has built up around him and look into the heart of a person who is frightened by the realities of life and death. As we're drawn deeper into the story, we are effectively drawn deeper into Ryan's life, making this a more profound, heartfelt tale.

While the pacing of this story is slower than we've come to expect from Koontz, in no way does it take away from the suspense. Ryan's paranoia about his situation and his search for truth amidst a world of confusion makes for a very addictive read. This is also one of the most spiritual themed novels Koontz has written and maybe one of the most poignant. In the end, Koontz delivers a great little twist that is both powerful and sobering. Even if you are aching for some classic Koontz give this one a chance and enjoy yet another wondrously crafted tale from the master.

Dean Koontz USUALLY writes great books. But this surely wasn't one of them.This one spun around and around, and never seemed to find its center.
Red herrings were all over. As Ryan flit around from place to place in his very own special jet, being a very special rich person, so did the story line. Suspense built and then, it just crashed and burned. DEAD BODIES sealed in acrylic and on display as sculptures, a hippie father, monks, jet setting life style of a spoiled dot com guru, identical twins, harvesting organs, poisions, a panic room, Chinese secret agents, ghostlike appearances of long dead nurses, special needs children, security systems,Edgar Allen Poe! I will pray for you. OUCH. THIS novel was all over the place.ENOUGH all ready!

YHBTM had some pretty good foundations to rise from,but,unfortunately,it never got off the main floor and worse-never really developed into much at all. I won't rehash the plot here again,as it's already been said countless times by other reviewers,but I will make a list of some of it's more inexplicable points in no particular order.
1.Spencer Barghest-a strange man that Seemed to have a sinister pivotal role but turned into Nothing.
2.Jimmy the Paranoid Burned-out Hippie Dude Father...uhh..Huh?? Why didn't "Bramble" kill him??
3.The Evil Dr. Dougal Hobbs-apparently either forgotten or allowed to keep on doing what he was doing at the finish.
4.Ismay Clemm-a Fascinating character who Promised well,but was soon dropped from the action and basically did nothing in the end.
5.Samantha-the weird girlfriend with issues she could never say out loud (even though she was a novelist)Her actions are never clearly explained for those of us that either can't or don't understand about "Subtext"-a word that is much overused but never really explained either.
6.Wilson Mott-another character of interest that was never much developed.
7.Teresa Reach-a dead woman Much written about but of apparently no connection to much of anything in the end.
8.The "Deja Vu" in Denver....why was it needed?
9.George Zane and Cathy Sienna-2 Very Much loaded with Potential characters-especially the somewhat mysterious but formidable Cathy Sienna-who ended up doing little more than driving the main character around.
10. Groves of Red Bamboo??
11. The Tapping..the Tapping...WTH??
Dean Koontz can and Has done Much better than this latest obviously rushed book. Sadly,I cannot say that I would recommend this one to anyone seeking a page turner. The Real Villain gets away-the "Hero" loses everything-the Girlfriend turned strange and goes away and the "Other" Villain (who could do things that would make James Bond sick with envy)never gets what they wanted to begin with. I won't even go into the ending,other than to say it came out feeling somewhat Flat and Had to,of course,include...what else?..Golden Retrievers...Enough Said...

Throughout his career Dean Koontz has often explored the foils evil weighs upon us as human beings, but rarely (if ever) has he done so as effectively as he does in YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME. Koontz has always been at his very best when he is willing to let his guard down and really dig deep into the human psyche, exposing what it is that shapes the lives of man. To this end, the protagonist in YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME is one of the most profound and deep character Koontz has ever created.

Having amassed a great deal of wealth during the dot.com boom of the 1990's, Ryan Perry seems to be a man with everything going for him. A lavish lifestyle and a beautiful, successful girlfriend. Then he discovers that he has a hereditary heart disease which threatens his life and everything changes. Given less than a year to live unless a compatible donor cam be found, Ryan feels the weight of his own mortality and begins a desperate proactive race to save his life. Eventually a donor is located and the transplant is a rousing success. However, Ryan soon discovers that there can be severe consequences for pursuing a goal with blinders on.

What makes YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME such an engaging novel is how effectively it explores the ripple effect which choices we make have on the lives of others. Guilt and the insatiable desire for revenge are not so strange bed fellows here. However, dark as this novel is (and it is indeed one of Koontz's darkest), there is some sense that we as humans have the power to control our darkest side even when the most horrific monstrosities have been waged upon us. There is also a sense that life goes on and something can be made of the pieces, even after evil has scarred us so deeply.

YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME will not be everyone's favorite Koontz novel. Those seeking a quick pleasure read for a long plane ride will do better to look elsewhere. However, those who wish to read a deeper work of fiction which will stay in their thoughts for some time will be rewarded with Koontz's best novel since the first ODD THOMAS book.

There is alot to admire about Koontz's writing and unfortunately you will not find too much of that in "Your Heart Belongs...". I liked the beginning but it sadly went downhill from there. Koontz is a very talented writer and it does show--in his dialogue and brushstrokes of narrative, but the main problem is...the story.

I hate to knock a good writer and only give him 3 stars but while his style, especially at the beginning was excellent; the rest of the story just did not have the punch which Koontz normally has. Some sections were totally boring and as soon as you begin to realize he is going to pull the old "haunted heart" trick I almost wanted to gag. Dean can do better than this I am sure.

The main character, Ryan, is a self-made success living the good life. In the middle of it all, he becomes ill, needing a heart transplant. After the operation, strange things start to happen and soon it is obvious that someone is out to get vengeance for the donor of that heart. Lots of suspense and also very sad at times. Enjoyed it.

For thirty-four-year-old Ryan Perry, life is good a year after the heart transplant that had saved him from certain death, until he begins to receive strange messages united by the theme, "Your heart belongs to me," and discovers that he is being stalked by a mysterious woman who bears a striking resemblance to the donor of his heart.
This is one of those novel's where Dean Koontz is more literary, a talented writer whose thrillers, overall, are some of my favorite. Though his writing is excellent, his literary psychological novels are not my favorite. The first part of the novel (Half way through) is slow, and if you read the book flap you'll be in for no surprises at all. (I avoid reading book flaps for this reason). The 2nd part picks up the pace a bit and the 3rd part maintains that pace. Other than Koontz's elaborate prose, the thrills and the 'pull you in plot' is lacking.

"From the day we're born, Ryan, we should all be afraid, but not of dying"

I must say my least favorite Dean Koontz book. Lacked flow. For a super bright character I thought he did a lot of dumb things. Didn't get the whole thing with girlfriend. Went from supernatural to super Chinese Ninja. Still trying to figure out why some characters are even in the book. Don't want to be more specific and give stuff away.

We all know that Koontz has got a few hobbyhorses, a big one being his obsessive hatred of euthanasia proponents, a theme which has permeated several of his books and come close to ruining at least one (One Door Away From Heaven). It seemed to me that this book was moving along the same lines, and I came very close to not bothering to finish it after the description of the cadaver "art" in the euthanasia activist's house and his need to keep photos of "victims" as a form of pornography. However the ending surprised me and went some way towards redeeming the shallowness and misinformation of the first half. Some reviewers have described the ending as contrived and a let-down, but I didn't find it to be either. Sure Ryan could have discovered that there really was a conspiracy against him, and gone on to defeat the conspirators and live happily ever after - and it would have been just like 10,000 other thrillers. Instead it turned into a thoughtful exploration of a rich man forced to face the consequences of what his money can buy. To me this seems like a partial return to the multilayered and meaningful stuff of which Koontz is capable, after some of his recent all-action-and-no-depth efforts (notably The Good Guy). More of this Mr Koontz, but please give the euthanasia bashing a rest. We're all entitled to our opinion on this subject but I'm sure I'm not the only reader getting tired of the heavy-handed way yours is shoved down our necks.

A certain suspension of belief is required when reading the typical Dean Koontz novel. After all, most of them contain monsters, the supernatural, or at least the mystical. But here Koontz spends almost the entire book making the reader think that the main character, Ryan Perry, is - at best - a seriously deluded person. And though you expect twists in his books, the one contained here - the explanation of most of the strange events, is paper-thin, and mostly unbelievable. It's like he had the seed of an idea for the book and decided he wanted to impart some social conscience to his readers in the last pages.

His relationship, or rather the reason behind the death of the relationship, with Samantha is written poorly, and obscurely - with her only willing to tell Ryan that if she spelled out the reason to him, that it would be meaningless to him; and then when, during the wrap-up, you learn the truth behind it - again, it makes no sense that Sam would have acted the way she did.

It used to be that I would buy a Koontz book without hesitation. Sadly, this is the second recent clunker of his that I've read - the other being One Door Away From Heaven. He's also bent on this whole "Dogs are the salvation of the human race" BS that first cropped up in 'Heaven', and comes back in the last chapter here. I'm still a fan of his work, and wouldn't mind seeing another Odd Thomas novel; but I'll be checking reviews now before purchase.

Dean Koontz is by far one of my favorite authors, but this recent contribution is almost an insult to his body of work. I tried to like this book, I really did, but the descriptions are just overwhelming and the plot and characters underwhelming. You don't need page after page explaining how the light reflected through a pepper trees leaves or how the sun dappled across a window pain to reveal yet even more reflections. Enough! Get to the story. When the story finally pulled through, there really wasn't much of it. A story more adaptable to a daytime soap than anything! But despite me not enjoying this book, I know even more die hard fans than me will read it as well so I won't post any spoilers.

Mr. Koontz your absolutely amazing, this just doesn't have the magic you normally exhibit.

Having tossed aside Koontz's novels since "The Husband", it was with great hestitation that I purchased this novel. I was curious to see how he would rebound after the "Odd" series and his previous tedious dog story.

I was surprised and happy to find I actually finished this one and while it lagged in several places, it held my interest. Koontz defintely did his homework about heart transplants and cardiomyopathy so for those interested in such it gave a glimpse of the disease. I was a bit confused with some of the early apparitions and other strange happenings in his home but when I put that aside I found I wanted to know the outcome.

All in all, this novel is more like the "old" Dean Koontz although somewhat flawed and confusing at times.
My rating is based on the moral of his story; one we all need to take to heart in these times.