Sole Survivor: A Novel

The plot begins with character—a man deeply depressed by the loss of his family; a sole survivor who would rather prefer not to survive. He watches the waves; and the reader, swiftly drawn in, watches with him. Then things change. Soon, Dean Koonz’s Sole Survivor is a fast-flowing tale of danger and mystery. There may be another “sole survivor” out there, and Joe is chased by strangers with complex technological resources and apparent immunity to use them. With his own life in danger, he’s desperate to learn what really happened on the flight that killed his family.

Sole Survivor starts slow, speeds up, and pulls the reader along with fascinating questions and mystery. Through twists and turns of plausible solutions that fast become implausible, the author brings readers to that ultimate question—how on earth can the story end?

Fitting and resolving the plot perfectly, the author does end the tale, with mysteries of life beyond life entwining together with mysteries of terrifying death. If I’m oddly unsatisfied at the resolution, that probably says more about me than the book, and I really enjoyed the read.

Disclosure: I had just flown. How could I resist?

Reading the book description is misleading.....I am not into the genre of this type story; however, I continued listening to the story in hope it would provide more then spiritual understanding. The author is too descriptive in his narrative of items - for example, describing the rising sun as Joe sits on the balcony of his apartment - the description goes on for a good 7 minutes, or so it seems. And this type of descriptive style goes on throughout the entire book. Not the type of story telling I enjoy, I like stories to move right along and build more on characters then scenic descriptions. I don't need 5 minutes to tell what kind of book he had in his hand, especially when the book means nothing to the story. The story, in my opinion, was pretty anti-climatic, but I get it, if somebody is spiritual or believes in the super-natural, then this story is for you.

Dean Koontz is one of the finest wordsmiths working in the literary world today. His language is succinct, specific, and charged with background tone. In all of those regards this novel does not disappoint.

Sole survivor follows one man who is struggling through profound grief and destitution after the death of his wife and daughters aboard a flight that tragically crashed in the American hinterlands. And within the first few pages, a mystery begins to coalesce around the event and we are sucked into the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed the headlong rush toward the conclusion of this novel. Unfortunately, that conclusion felt incomplete and less than satisfying. Just a few more pages and a slightly different outcome would have made this an easy five stars for me...but I can't fully endorse the story as it ultimately turned out.

In short, a good but not great novel by an amazing novelist.

Joe Carpenter often lives through an event that he himself did not experience--the death of his wife and two young children in the crash of Nationwide Flight 353. During these flashbacks, Joe watches his family face their final moments as the jetliner plunges from the sky, hitting the earth with such devastating impact that the sound is heard more than twenty miles away.

Joe is lost without his family. He gives up his job as a crime reporter, preferring to stay at home and mourn; overwhelmed by grief, he longs for release from his misery. Nothing penetrates his funk, not even the possibility that he is being followed by two men driving a white van. Ignoring the alarms blaring in the back of his mind, Joe simply assumes it is a case of mistaken identity, and that the men in the van are with the police or some other governmental agency.

On the anniversary of his family's death, Joe visits their graves. At the cemetery, he encounters a woman photographing their tombstones. Joe angrily confronts her, only to have her tell him that she 'is not ready to talk to him yet." Joe is confused by her strange actions, and moved by her tremendous presence. Just as he begins to question her further, the white van pulls up. The woman flees, pursued by two men who emerge from the van. They disappear over a hill, and Joe hears gunshots in the distance.

Joe, realizing the men are not concerned with him, takes advantage of their absence to search the van. Armed with the files he obtains, Joe pursues the connection between these strange events and the deaths of his wife and children. His investigations eventually lead him back to the mystery woman (who he has now identified as Rose Marie Tucker), who confirms what he has already begun to suspect: the crash of Flight 353 was not an accident. The reasons behind the crash are startling, and have implications which may affect the entire human race (analyze the name "Joe Carpenter" if you want a clue as to just why).

Sole Survivor is typical Koontz, which means it is a well written, well plotted suspense story, well worth the time you'll spend on it. It also means readers have to deal with Koontz's tendency to overexplain. Readers don't need to be reminded several times that a public restroom reeks, or be told twice within several pages that Joe believes he is on a "sacred mission". Stuff like this gets on your nerves after a while.

Another flaw is that the book seems about a hundred pages too short. Koontz spends a great deal of time (close to 80% of the book) setting up a denouement, which, when it finally occurs, is over way too fast. Instead of developing the plot through action, Koontz has Rose deliver a lengthy soliloquy which acts as a bridge between the set up and the book's abrupt ending. The suspense would have been enhanced if some of the information had been revealed earlier in the narrative.

Despite these quibbles, it's still a decent read. One bit of advice, however-- don't read it on a plane.

The story focuses on a man named Joe Carpenter who lost his wife and two daughters in a plane crash. A year after the crash, Joe has quit his job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Post, and done nothing with his life except sit around and mourn the loss of his family. One day Joe pays a visit to the graves of his wife and daughters only to discover a strange women taking pictures of their graves. When Joe apporaches her, the woman claims to be the sole survivor of the crash that killed Joe's family. Before, Joe can find out who she is or what is going on, he is forced to flee the scene when mysterious men begin shooting at the woman, who also manages to get away. Joe becomes convinced that the crash that killed his family was anything but ordinary, and sets out to discover who the woman is, and how she could have survived. Unfortunately, things only get worse for Joe when he begins to realize that he has stumbled into a conspiracy regarding the crash, and that the people involved are willing to kill to keep their secrets safe.
I have been a fan of Dean Koontz's work for many years now. While I usually enjoy most of his books, there are some that are better than others. Sole Survivor was a book that I always put off reading, because it has always received mixed reviews. I finally decided to put my doubts aside and read the book. After I finished with Sole Survivor, I wanted to start over and immediately read the book again, because I did not want it to end. This may be one of the best books Koontz has ever written. Koontz manages to get you hooked into the story right away, because he does a great job at establishing the hero of the story Joe Carpenter and what he is going through. Then when you throw a woman who survived a crash that supposedly left no survivors into the mix, the story only gets better. But what really makes the story exciting and hard to put down, is the fact that Joe soon discovers that the plane crash was no accident, and that there is a conspiracy surrounding it. Joe is forced to fight for his life and put his reporter skills to the test to find out what is going on. The best thing about Sole Survivor is that Koontz manages to combine elements of a conspiracy story to add paranoia, and elements of a chase novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Overall, this has to be one of Koontz's best books. Sole Survivor showcases Koontz's character development at its best and an exciting and suspenseful story that makes the book impossible to put down once you have started. I think that this book would even be enjoyable for those who do not like to read. From beginning to end, it almost feels like you are watching a movie play out. Hopefully a movie of Sole Survivor will be made one day, because this is the perfect type of story to be brought to the big screen.

Loneliness is possibly more debilitating than many physical illnesses.
Joe Carpenter is lonely. More, he is broken. His wife and his daughters
died in a tragic and unexplained plane crash. He pain was so all encompassing,
all he could do was to try to draw away from it. That never really works, as lonliness
and pain can find you anywhere. They are insidious.

One day while visiting the graves of his family, he met a lovely woman
who was taking photographs of the grave site. He had never seen her before,
but was impressed by her presence, as well as her strange beauty. This
chance meeting would change his life. The appearance of this woman
in the lives of the families of others who died that day would affect them as
well. Tragically.

This is a story that has more than one hero, and more than one villain. It is fast paced
and it has a great ending, which sells a book for me any time.

The version I read (listened to) was an unabridged audio version, and did it ever need to be abridged. The pace was excruciatingly slow. Koontz seemed stuck on full description mode - scenes which took three to four minutes to play out took about twenty minutes to describe. The entire book moved in slow motion, even the action sequences. I found myself not paying attention for long periods of time, but I never had to back up and begin again. Each minor plot point was repeatedly pounded into my skull. I've heard that a good writer shows instead of tells. In this book, Koontz did both ad nauseum.
The story is about the mysterious circumstances surrounding a plane crash, a doctor (one of the two sole survivors of the crash - even the title doesn't work), and a surviving family member, a former newspaper journalist. If you can stay awake, you will follow the journalist as he pursues the doctor, avoids the hired thugs of a major corporation, questions the metaphysical and supernatural aspects of his encounters, and explores the depths of his own depression at great length.
I almost rated this a 2 due to Koontz's well-written prose (occasionally silly, usually beautifully written, but way too much of it), and the fact that the story did become interesting during the last hour or so of the reading. Unfortunately, the brief interest only held for a short period and the story dwindled to a close, long and slow but still leaving larqe questions unanswered. If the story were reduced to no more than 10% of its current volume, it would be enjoyable. If the story adequately explored everything it hinted at, it would have been much more interesting. As it was, I only finished through sheer determination.

Well, it seems like Koontz is a pyromaniac at heart. In three of the first four Koontz books I read, there was a serious fire of some sort (Fear Nothing, Dragon Tears, and Sole).
This one gets off to a pretty good start, and intrigue is quickly built on the mysterious organization that is apparently after the hero. There are great chase scenes with nonstop action, and it seems like the "bad guys" are unstoppable. The hero's sudden aggressiveness at the beginning is surprising, but a welcomed change-of-pace for Koontz. His emotion and state-of-mind are nicely expressed.
The main weakness is the pseudo-science that is to explain the "impossible" and mysterious happenings that take place, especially with the plane crash. There is always some suspension of disbelief required for a Koonz, but this amount is a little too much to swallow. The ending also feels a little too open-ended, with not enough finalization. The suicides are a little too much, and there are a few times when the bad guys are a too obvious in their "secret" pursuit, like at the used car lot scene.
Still not bad, and enough of a payoff to make the read worth it.

Time and time again, Dean Koontz has the uncanny ability to re-invent himself with courageous, outlandish stories that captivate his readers with every riveting page. After brief hiccups with "Winter Moon" and "Icebound", Koontz delivers the strangely gleaming piece "Sole Survivor". Using the incredibly common fear of flight, he reels the audience in with a tale of despair, curiosity, corruption, and hope.
The protagonist of "Sole Survivor" is Joe Carpenter, who is still trying to relieve himself from his grief-stricken world a year after the tragic plane accident that took the lives of everyone on board--including his wife and two daughters. He feels he has no reason to live, no purpose to continue, and shows no effort to communicate with others. While paying his respects to his beloved, deceased family at the cemetary, Joe encounters a strange woman named Rose, who claims to have been the sole survivor of the crash. Joe is exasperated by such a claim, but before he can get further answers, Rose vanishes without a trace.
The events following his unusual encounter with Rose lead Joe to investigate numerous possibilities--perhaps Rose was not the only survivor on the plane, perhaps his wife and daughter could be alive somewhere, and if they are not alive, why was he spared? As Joe gets closer and closer to the answers, an awful truth becomes more and more clear. "Sole Survivor" is a tense, thought-provoking masterpiece that undoubtedly will be a supreme favorite for fans of not only Koontz, but the genre. Joe's emotions and actions are marvelously rendered in a brilliant web of dialogue, terror, and humor. With yet another tour de force work, Koontz again solidifies himself as a genius of suspense, creating one of his most moving and poignant efforts to date.

Joe Carpenter is a man paralyzed by grief and anger. On the one year anniversary of the plane crash that killed his beloved wife and daughters he visits their cemetery and spots a woman taking pictures of their grave marker. He approaches her and sets off a series of events that make him question if the death of his family and 300 others was the intentional work of officials attempting to cover up something that could possibly change mankind for all time. As he digs for the truth he witnesses and discovers strange, terrifying, incomprehensible events, and finds evidence that is impossible for him to ignore. He finds a purpose for living once he realizes he may be the only person left alive to expose the truth.
Dean Koontz usually writes so much more than an eerie, suspense filled page-turner and SOLE SURVIVOR is no exception. He creates characters who are human, people you care about and anguish with, everyday people stuck in extraordinary situations. He's outdone himself with the character of Joe. Poor, tortured Joe. His grief is expressed so vividly I felt his sorrow and my heart broke about a million times as he's reminded of his wife and girls in nearly every thing he does.

Any book that can keep me on edge like this one did and make me care so much about a character gets my recommendation. There were a few parts that dragged a little bit but overall it was an interesting, emotional and nail-biting read.
Koontz writes an thrilling story and he continually surprises me but it's his talent for characterization that keeps him on the top of my favorite author list.

Joe Carpenter, once a crime reporter, has still not made peace with the loss of his wife, Michelle, and young daughter, Nina who died in a mysterious airplane crash one year ago ... Joe's life came to a screeching halt after that incident. He went into a state of mourning from which he had not yet recovered. On the anniversary of their deaths, he called his mother-in-law, Beth who was a support to him, and later drove out to cemetery to visit their remains. During the drive, he imagined the scenario as the plane was going down, and his wife and child were gasping for their last breath, his wife reassuring their daughter ...

At their grave site he saw a petite woman who was talking photos of the grave stone ... Joe spoke to her but she only replied, "I am not ready yet to talk to you." ... He asked why she was photographing but she vaguely replied, "I'll be back when it's time." She gazed around and saw a white ford speeding towards them, she mutterred, "B@st@ards" and ran off ... Joe got invovled in the chase, and ended up crushing one of the men to free up Rose Marie Turner, the mysterious woman he had met.

Joe learned her name from the goons who were chasing her. He felt she was somehow connected to Flight 353 which had crashed. He searched for more information about her identify with the help of newspaper reporter friends. He visited the family of other victims who had died in the crash ... Bad things started happening to people who were associated with the crash, odd coincidental accidents and unexplainable suicides ... Rose Turner had visited some of the families, a mysterious presence who provided them solace. Joe Carpenter dug further, he went to Colorado Springs to meet with Barbara Christman a person on the Safety Board who did not agree with the official explanation of why the airplance had crashed ... He suspected, she knew something which she did not reveal to the public. She had taken an early retirement, after the incident ...

Joe Carpenter is provided highly unusual classified information from Barbara about an odd conversations between the Captain and co-pilot before the crash ... Joe investigates this oddity and also the passenger list on which he discovers the name Rose Marie Turner, who appears to be the sole survivor of the crash, although officially no one survived. Joe does everything he can to find Rose Marie Turner ... After he tracks her down, the book twists into some peculiar pathways, which just do not bring a fitting conclusion to this saga. I give it 3.5 stars ... there could have been a much better conclusion. A great mystery and search fizzles out.

Erika Borsos [pepper flower}

Passable Koontz, but he's written better.
Koontz's less impressive efforts fall short because his explanations for whatever bizarre phenomena are occurring in his stories are unconvincing or forced, and such is the case here. I won't spoil it, because Sole Survivor is still worth a read, after you've gone through Koontz's better books and are still hungry for more.
What's good: as always, the characters. Koontz's protagonist characters are always sympathetic, and his psychopaths the most credible in literature. The action is steady, but gets off to a slow start.
What's not so good: the slow start, for one thing. Too much time is spent discussing the searching behavior syndrome of survivors, which is interesting but goes on too long. And the explanation for what's behind the bizarre phenomena driving the story is one of Koontz's weaker attempts. He's done better at the same kind of thing in previous books - which I won't list, because I don't want to give anything away.
Still, a good read. It doesn't disappoint. The miniseries was pretty good, too.

Sole Survivor was one of the most suspenseful Koontz books I've read, and I've read them all.
Joe Carpenter's wife and two daughters were killed 1 year ago in an airplane crash. He's quit his job, moved and not given any friends his forwarding address...he's in a deep depression trying to cope with his families demise. That's when something strange starts to happen: people appear to be following him, a bizarre lady is at the graves of his family taking a picture and friends of his are committing suicide for no apparent reason. He's in a race against time to figure out why he's being hunted, what this lady has to tell him and how this relates to the fatal plane crash a year prior.
One reviewer commented that they did not like the character of Joe, that he was whiny and annoying- for me, Joe was a likeable character and well-developed. I think his feelings of loss were realistic- what do you expect after he just lost his entire family- to have moved on in 1 year's time? I thoroughtly enjoyed Joe's ponderings and the deep-thought that was put into this character and his feelings put into words. There were many sentences and paragraphs that I wanted to take a highlighter too, they seemed so profound. I can't say the same for every Koontz book...
I'd recommend this book for Koontz fans. I enjoyed every last bit of this book, up until the ending, which was not as exciting as I expected...but still worthwhile.

Dean Koontz delivers a rocky build-up to the closing scenes in Sole Survivor, but it ultimately stumbles badly on the hocus-pocus of evil government with good science & stock chase scenes pulled from only the worst of B-movies.

The main character, Joe Carpenter, is lost in a world without his wife and daughters, who were killed in a mysterious plane crash. But a chance meeting with a woman photographing the gravesite, who briefly tells Carpenter about the crash, leads to a shoot-em-up with the woman nearly being killed by her pursuers.

The reader then enters a realm of mediocre sci-fi as Carpenter, a former crime reporter for a major daily newspaper, begins to piece together snippets of clues to find out for himself what happened during the crash and if any of his family actually survived.

Family members with loved ones killed in the crash are visited by the mystery woman. Many of the people then become victims, killing themselves in violent ways, but are seemingly at peace while acting on the whim. As Carpenter closes in on revealing the secret, the good versus evil falls into the lap of big government, a big corporation and the mystery woman who knows everything.

If Koontz wanted the book to read like a draft for a possible X-Files episode, then he was successful. But even the producers of that once highly successful program would have needed several pens to edit a story that had so much potential, only to fail due to Koontz ultimately plummeting into the world of cliches.

This book opens with the sad tale of Joe Carpenter, devoted husband and father, in a deep depression after losing his wife and two daughters in a catastrophic plane crash. His misery is so well rendered and so realistic, it could make you cry.

On the one year anniversary of the crash Joe goes to visit the cemetery where the remains of his wife and daughters are buried. He is surprised by a visit from a stranger who is photographing the grave marker and then by armed assassins who go after that stranger to kill her.

From there this book takes off at breakneck speed with all the suspense of a spy thriller. It will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. It also blends classic Koontz fantasy in the last quarter of the book. It is all done so well that you can suspend belief long enough to enjoy a truly terrific read.

I highly recommend this book! In the event that you would like to try another Koontz classic - read Lightening, my personal favorite.

One of the knocks against Dean Koontz is that many of his novels share too many similarities - the abundant bougainvilleas, frequent hip bumping, intelligent dogs, sadistic academics, children wise beyond their years, etc. With SOLE SURVIVOR, Koontz breaks out of his traditional mold and delivers an emotionally gripping tale of a man who cannot come to grips with his wife and daughter's fatal plane crash. When a woman reaches out to him, implying that something about the plane crash and the subsequent deaths of many surviving loved ones is suspect, fast-paced action ensues. I have read around a dozen Koontz books, and for the most part, they have varied in quality with an inverse relationship to the prevalence of supernatural elements within their pages, and SOLE SURVIVOR is no exception. The supernatural aspects are kept to a minimum, and when they're included, they sully the story (in my opinion, of course). Nevertheless, this is definitely one of the better Koontz books I've read.

SOLE SURVIVOR by Dean Koontz (or Dean R. Koontz if you are a traditionalist) is a book that only those who buy Koontz reflexively or those who have read/heard reviews would buy. The book itself offers no clue as to what might be found inside. But hidden between the covers is a rather entertaining tale.
On the anniversary of his family's death in a plane crash a man discovers that he is being watched by some sort of police or government agents. At the family's grave site he meets a strange woman taking pictures of the site and is then interrupted by the watchers. He discovers that they are from a pharmaceutical company and that they have planted a tracer on his car.
Slowly he becomes convinced that there was a survivor of the plane crash. He finds evidence that she has visited with the families of other crash victims. But for some strange reason these families wind up committing suicide shortly after her visits. Her visits make them happy and convince them that their loved ones are o-kay.
He digs more deeply and finds that a lot of shady things have happened in connection with the crash and its investigation. He is eventually led to the woman who did survive the crash. But unlike the title suggests, there were two survivors. The other was a young girl. He then learns the truth behind their identities. She had worked at a secret genetics lab and the girl was one of the results. The project was trying to code for psychic abilities. They had some success. One was a boy who could take over a person's body. He was the cause of the strange suicides. The other was the girl.
This girl was unique. She had an ability to tap into the other side. She was proof of life after death and she could deliver that message in an instant. But there are forces that are out to stop her from spreading the message. The story climaxes with the man protecting the girl and hiding her so that she can grow to full power.
This is a good conspiracy story. The evidence builds at a good rate. Unfortunately, as with most stories of this type, there is no real resolution at the end. Instead we know of things that are in motion and what could happen. But since this is supposed to be the real world very little can be done to really alter things. But it is still a good book and one that is hard to find out about.

Kept my interest for about the first quarter of the book, then got a little outrageous, then wandered. The repetitive dialogue annoyed me. The story dragged on and on until I didn't care to know the big reveal. Quit at chapter 16. Did I miss anything? I skipped the entire plane crash scene in the first chapter. I'm terrified of flying. No, I'm terrified of crashing.

Joe Carpenter lost his wife and daughter in a horrible plane crash a year ago. No survivors. He was grief stricken to the point of suicide. While visiting his wife and daughter's grave site, Joe spies a woman taking pictures of their gravestones. Shocked, he tries to find out what this lady is doing. His brief interaction with her is electric! Ruth claims she was aboard the same fatal flight his wife and daughter were. Furthermore, she claims to have information on their whereabouts. What? They're dead right? Before Joe can get any information out of this woman, she disappears. He decides to track her down and finds out she was indeed aboard the flight according to the newspaper that listed her among the passengers. He investigates further to find out she has been in contact with other surviving family members and they are no longer grieving because of the "news" that Ruth shared with them about their lost loved ones. In fact, they're happy. However, when Joe tries to find out what this information is, the surviving family members begin a mass suicide. What is going on? Did his wife and daughter survive the plane crash like Ruth did? You'll have to read it to find out.
Personally, I loved the book. I couldn't put it down and read it in a day because I HAD to know if Joe's family had survived the crash and why they hadn't gotten in touch with him for an entire year. A word to the wise though - do not read this book if you're about to take a plane flight anywhere. :-)

This is yet another intriguing book from the master of menace.
Dean Koontz has always been my favourite author,and though this is not my favourite of his novels, it is unique and will definitely keep you intensely interested.
It is somewhat different from his other novels in that it moves slightly away from his usual structure and form but the plot is in the same what-the-hell-is-going-to-happen-next vein,that is a testament to his profound ability of bringing the story and characters together with easy grace.
His lucid manner and descriptive prose meld into an easy read. There was one specific difference in this book for me in that it left me feeling uplifted once I'd finished it,moreso than his other books.I especially like the way in which Koontz tries to teach the values which he holds in high regard, without sounding like an evangelist.
The book is a harrowing account of a young man's anguish after losing his family in an aircrash, and his journey from the doldrums to a place where he can once again love and care as he did before.
A breath of fresh air.
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Master storyteller Dean Koontz weaves a tale that may in fact answer that and more questions...

Follow a father's quest to find answers about a plane crash that took his wife and daughters from him long before their time.

I agree with an earlier reviewer, the only possible outcome for this story has to be something out of the ordinary and that it certainly is!

I could empathise with Joe Carpenter, who a year ago (in the story) lost his wife and two young daughters in a horrific plane crash. He has panic attacks where he relives over and over again what he believes would have been their last moments. He feels there is no reason for living and is just drifting...when a bizarre turn of events see him participate in life once more with his main aim to discover what actually happened on Flight 353...against the odds!!

This was a fast paced story which was exciting, thought provoking and had just the right amount of science in it to not get bogged down...and just the right amount of supernaturalis to give questioning humans more to wonder about.

This was Dean Koontz number 31 for me. Previously I had tried to read it and never made it through before becoming overwhelmed with boredom. This time I managed it. The beginning is pretty good, and it's great towards the end, but there's a good sized chunk of middle that I had to force myself through. Some parts just dragged on and on, like when Joe was trying to meet up with Rose and was driving all over the place. I just felt like the book could have been a lot shorter. Like I said, towards the end it was very interesting and rather touching (I even cried a little). I would recommend that only already big fans read the book. But first, read the really good stuff, like Intensity, Twilight Eyes, and Whispers. Other favorites of mine include The Door To December, Lightning, Strangers, Watchers, Icebound, and The Funhouse.

Thankfully David Bernie was the narrator of this book. I tried to listen to several others on tape and the narrator was so bad that I gave up after one or two tapes. This was an interesting listen UNTIL...it got into stuff that I consider way too new age as well as touches of the cult of scientology. Unlike Stephen King who has good and bad guys and seems centered on a reality of evil and goodness, Koontz's books have been disappointing. There are several that are really quite good. I don't remember the title of the one about the Golden Retriever, but it was spectacular. The Door to December and The Husband are both fairly good, but I do believe I've reached the limit of wanting to read or listen to anymore Koontz books.

Want some good authors? Try Lisa Scottoline, Stuart Woods, Greg Iles, Susan Isaacs, James Grippando, VINCE FLYNN, Thomas Cook, John Dunning, Stephen White, David Baldacci, Ann Rule, Steve Martini, Jack Olsen, Jeffery Deaver, John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, Robin Cook, David Hosp, Stephen King, etc. These are great authors with great books.

Sole Survivor
Joe Carpenter's family is killed in a plane crash along with everyone else on board. While visiting the gravesite he meets a woman who claims she was on
board. Someone doesn't like her being there and try to kill them both convincing Joe she may be telling the truth but she has fled. What is the truth? Joe must find out for the sake of his family. Of course some things are meant to be a secret and there are people who don't want that secret out.
This isn't the greatest Koontz book ever written but I disagree with a lot of the negative opinions of it by other reviewers. It's still an extremely worthwhile purchase and a great read. My main criticism is it could have been longer. Buy it, read it and form your own opinion but don't let others opinions put you off reading it.

This was my second Dean Koontz book after The Eyes of Darkness and I found the book to be full of thrills and chills. The very premise of Soul Survivor is one that keeps you guessing and trying to figure out what is happening while at the same time worrying you about the main characters. The plot had me totally bewildered and I kept trying to figure out what all the intrigue was all about. The scene at the elderly folks' house was downright chilling and gave me goosebumps. The idea itself is quite frightening and the whole book gave me the creeps. I enjoyed the fast pace of the novel and it was due to this great book that I have continued reading and enjoying the terror that is Dean Koontz.

I very much enjoyed Sole Survivor because it allows the reader to enjoy the story on different levels. One level is Joe's struggle with the loss of his family and ultimate redemption at the realization that there is complexity and order in the universe, not just random chaotic events that are unstructured and meaningless. Another fascinating aspect of the book was the government research into and manipulation of paranormal activity for self serving interests. (wich most likely is really taking place) I will agree that this book had a hollywood ending, but I thought the entire book read like a movie script..and a very good one at that. Sole Survivor should be affirming to those with faith in good and God, as well as challenge the current thought process of those who lack it.

... Will we EVER escape Mormonism? Because more or less that's what you'll be learning about in this book. In fact, it involves a goody two shoe Mormon who flew an airplane nose down into the ground and killed it's passengers.
Let me save you the trouble of wasting your money and time: a widowed man is traumatized because his wife and little girl died in a plane crash. Months later secret agents and a Mystery Woman start following him. Associating with the woman puts him in danger because she knows something--the truth--about the plane crash. They both go on the run (as in all of Koontz's books) and Mystery Woman reveals that the spirits of his wife and child are literally alive in some "next life", a dimension where ghosts simply hang out in bliss. She shows him how to see this dimension, his wife and kid, and how anyone can visit it without any aid whatsoever...
The logic is that if more people had proof of a real God and a real next life, it would threaten powerful politicians... Most people believe in some form of God today and what have politicians done except use that belief to manipulate their people? ...And if these agents REALLY knew of this next life and God, why the hell would they go around killing people if they'll have to answer to God?... Try his "Midnight" or "Watchers"...much more exciting reads...

Dean Koontz is probably best known as a "horror" writer because of all the years that he went toe-to-toe with Stephen King during which the two of them seemed so easily to dominate that particular genre. But with novels like Sole Survivor, which I "read" in audio book format, Koontz has shown that he is also capable of writing a first class thriller.

Joe Carpenter, on the first anniversary of the deaths of his wife and two little girls in a devastating plane crash, is a broken man. He finds himself unable to go back to his newspaper job and living in a garage apartment while hoping for death to mercifully take him. But for reasons that he cannot fully explain to himself, suicide is one option that he has considered and rejected. He prefers to slowly starve himself to death while continuing to grieve at a level that never seems to lessen.

When Joe is finally able to force himself to his family's grave site that day his life takes a sudden turn that is to change it forever because of the stranger who is taking a picture of the headstones as he arrives. Rose, the tiny black woman with the camera, tells him that she was on the flight that killed his family and that, when she is better prepared, she has something to tell him about the crash. Before she can say more she is forced to run for her life from the two gunmen who suddenly rush the graves, and Joe finds himself sucked into a mysterious plot to hush up the truth about the plane crash that claimed the lives of 230 people.

Joe soon comes to the realization that his life is in danger from the same people who chased Rose from the cemetery, but because Rose has gifted him with the reason to live that he didn't have after losing his family, he is determined to find her and to get the answers that she has promised him. He still has the skills of the newspaper reporter that he had been before the plane crash, and over the next few days he comes to believe that Rose really did what seems to be the impossible by walking away from the horrible crash that so completely destroyed the bodies of all on board the plane that day.

Dare he hope for other survivors? Why does someone want to kill everyone who comes into contact with Rose? Who is behind the conspiracy to keep the truth about that fatal flight hidden and is the government involved? Joe only knows that, if he is to survive his brush with Rose, he has to find the answers to those questions, and he has to find them soon.

Sole Survivor is an excellently paced thriller, one that keeps the reader guessing along with Joe as he tries to unravel the mystery that has claimed the lives of his family. We feel some of the same emotions that he feels as his bewilderment morphs from hope to despair, and back to hope, while he fights both for survival and a reason to live the rest of his life. David Birney, reader of the audio book, does a good job expressing the various emotions that Joe Carpenter experiences during the course of this story and his reading style adds to the high level of suspense and mystery that builds all the way toward what proves to be the novel's satisfying ending.

After a tragic airplane accident which kills his wife and daughters, one man is left as the "sole survivor" in his family. Devastated by his grief, he is tormented by a feeling of meaninglessness and no will to live...until a survivor(?) from the crash appears, with a little girl in tow. This one is for anyone who has ever wondered about life's meaning and what is in store for us after we die. While you may not get THE answer...in capital letters...or even a full theory about life's ultimate meaning or life after death, what you DO get is a riveting book that tugs at the heart. This one grabbed me from the start and never let go. I'm not a fan of otherworldly or horror type books, so this is really saying something.

I love Sole Survivor for the simple reason that it's well-written and displays the human spirit at its best! Joe Carpenter has lost his wife and two little girls in a catastrophic plane crash. No one survived. Or so he believes, until he's visiting his family's gravesite one day and encounters the 'sole survivor'! Rose Tucker is that person. Petite, with an ethereal beauty, you wouldn't expect her to possess the strength of will she demonstrates in this story. The mystery is set, the chase begins, and Joe is racing toward a denouement that will blow his mind, AND the readers'minds as well. Koontz at his best. By the way, I saw the FOX network miniseries. It was good. Intensity is still my favorite miniseries, but that didn't take anything away from my enjoyment of Sole Survivor. Now I'm hoping that Mr. Koontz will do Lightning as a theatrical release. Years ago, when I read Lightning, it was my opinion that Rutger Hauer would make a wonderful Stefan, the anti-hero in Lightning. Now, I'm thinking Russell Crowe...An idea worth putting out there!

I picked up the audio version. I enjoy Dean Koontz's books. This one however was...difficult to rate. I would like to give it a 3.5 He is a talented writer, exceptional storyteller, but this story got caught up in too many metaphors, similes and poetics. I hit fast forward a couple of times because I couldn't handle the speakers miserable drawn out recounting of "everything" he encountered. His inflection was the same throughout the entire story. It isn't really a complex story line, just wordy. I couldn't get myself connected with his character, Joe. I love quirky storylines and plots, but couldn't get interested in this one. I can understand why others rated it higher though. I think Koontz has a way of connecting to people. Maybe not to the same folks all the time. I have friends that I would recommend this book to (not the audio version). I have other friends that I know wouldn't be able to get into the story. To each his own.

. . .wrote a psychological / thriller that was also (very) borderline religious?? That is what we have here. There is a God-like entity (maybe a couple of them), a devil-like entity and a supporting cast. I didn't like the first 100 pages (bored), I didn't like the last 100 pages(too weird), the rest was just okay.

I've been recommended Dean koontz books before but if never read any yet. This book I could not put down if my life depended on it. I would would sneak it everywhere just to find out what happened. It did get a little slow at some parts, but it always sped up. I loved how he described everything in great detail. It actually felt like I was there. It was full of emotion and action and humor and suspense... it was amazing. Joe Carpenter is really confused in this twisted turn of event s that he can call his life. I usually relate the characters story to my own and see how I would do in a situation like that. I absolutely loved this book and would recommend this book to ANYONE.

I originally purchased and read this book back in 2002 when I was flying to visit some family in Houston, Texas. It wasn't entirely intentional to grab a book about a plane crash as I prepared to board my plane, but that's exactly what I did.

Sole Survivor actually starts out really well and becomes an instant page turner. I've always been fascinated with plane crashes and the way Koontz describes the horror in the cabin as the plane plunges toward the earth is truly terrifying. There were moments, while flying, that I had to pause because of how remarkably detailed it felt at times.

The story follows Joe Carpenter, a former crime beat writer for a daily in Los Angeles whose life is uprooted when his wife and two daughters are killed in a plane crash.

On the one-year anniversary of the accident, Joe visits the gravesite of his lost family and is met by a strange woman named Rose, who tells him that there is more than meets the eye to this story, but before she can divulge any earth shattering details, gun shots ring out through the cemetery and chase her away.

Joe then sets out to find out who Rose is, the details behind the crash that killed his family and why, all of the sudden, family members of survivors are violently killing themselves after their lone encounter with the strange woman from the cemetery.

As he uncovers more information on the crash, Joe convinces himself that Rose is the lone survivor and that there is a massive cover-up underway involving scientists, experiments and an ending that feels like it's been ripped from a comic book more than a fear inducing thriller.

And that's the overall problem. The book starts out extremely well and is very effective at creating a true conspiracy involving potential government agents and an unknown, possible supernatural being. Unfortunately, the ending lost me - as it was too silly for my liking.

Overall, the book grabs you from the start, but doesn't live up to its potential.

Having read innumerable Dean Koontz books over many years, I became somewhat "Koontz'd" out about 5 years ago. I was given both The Husband and Sole Survivor as gifts by my husband, who was unaware I had decided to (temporarily or permanently) take a break from the standard Koontz-world inhabitants - nice but troubled guy, great wife/girlfriend, cute kid & wonderful dog. However, the old attraction held and I did read both books. As for Sole Survivor, I must say I enjoyed this book alot more than I thought I would. The protagonist, Joe Carpenter, has lost his wife and daughters in a horrific plane crash. A year later, he is still not coping and is just basically bitterly existing his way through his isolated life. At a one-year anniversary visit to the cemetery, he meets the mysterious Rose, and the story begins. What follows is a definitely exciting chase-and-run story, with plenty of horrific events and revelations, and there are definitely some edge-of-the-seat situations. As in alot of Koontz novels, the good guy is kind of bad, and the bad guys are REALLY bad. Amazingly, all the action takes place in the space of a few short days. Admittedly, the final explanation is somewhat far-fetched and stretching, but it does accomplish the purpose of tying everything together at the end. The epilogue section is also a nice touch. I'm not saying I will instantly buy every book the incredibly prolific Koontz puts out, but this book was definitely a nice return from my Koontz-hiatus.

This was a very interesting book - well, an interesting premise. The most interesting and saddest parts - the psychic test study kids - were the most interesting parts and there wasn't as much about them as I would have liked. And, really, the end was a little unsatisfying as nothing was done about those kids. And the side-story that turned into the main one, about religion, was a disappointment and a surprise to come from an author like him. Still, his books are fun reads and he is a good writer.

Sole Survivor has recently become one of my most favorite fiction books. Dean Koontz is also one of my favorite authors because he is able to cause me to desire to continue reading in order to find out what happens next, sort of anticipating what new things will pop up. Joe Carpenter, probably the most interesting character ever featured in any Dean Koontz's books that I have read, is coping with the loss of his family, while at the same time, is thrown into an amazing plot, guaranteed to keep the reader on edge. His wife Michelle, along with their two daughters Chrissie and Nina, perished in the crash of the Nationwide Flight 353. Everyone on the plane was killed in the crash... or were they? Joe's anger over his lost loved ones, fuels him to continue pressing for the truth about their deaths after strange things begin to happen around him with the appearance of Dr. Rose Tucker. Joe is chased and does some chasing himself with the help of trustworthy people along his journey who cause the reader to question if they really are who they say they are. The science fiction aspect of the book is incredible, using vocabulary that makes every word of make-believe sound more realistic than any true life experience. The mysterious Rose and the small, underdog organization she belongs to add intensity to the events in the story by providing for surprises here and there, just to keep the plot going. It is impossible to predict the outcome of the story while reading it because of the many new discoveries that Joe makes along his journey to discover the truth. I thought it was interesting to consider how Joe wanted to die in the beginning, but quickly changes his opinion of life and desires to live, perhaps only to get revenge for what happened to his wife and children. Some of the mental images I had while reading the book were frightening, only because they come at such intense times and are so unexpected...some also seem a little strange due to the science fiction part of the plot. There is a healthy amount of murder and destruction in the story, but nothing overrides the eeriness provided by unknown and unexplained phenomena. I had only two aggravations while reading the story, one was the constant flashbacks to the plane crash of Flight 353. At some points they interrupt the action of the book and can be almost boring to the reader who is waiting for the next spur of excitement. The other part of the story I did not enjoy so much was the language. I believe using profanity while writing a novel simply shows a lack of interest by the author at that particular part. Koontz could have taken more time to express emotion in ways other than fowl language. Those are hardly noticeable, however, when one considers the overall enjoyment a person gets from reading the book. Along with an mind-boggling story, included in the beginning pages of the book is, what I believe to be, the greatest poem ever written by Dean Koontz in his infamous Book of Counted Sorrows. The ending of the story is a perfect conclusion to an outstanding novel. The emotion experienced in even just the last chapter is enough to make reading the book memorable. The ending also provides a feeling of triumph for the characters, and yet, has us still wishing the best for Joe and Nina in the future. Overall, this book was incredible and I recommend it to any person of any age who enjoys fiction novels, especially science fiction.

I just got done reading Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz and was overall disappointed. I read and own his book Watchers (which I think is an awesome book) and this one no where compares to it. Sole Survivor starts out slow, which is understandable because it is building the story line, but throughout the book it never really picks up a whole lot. There is a lot of rambling, and I had to keep reading parts over again because I would get lost in all of the scientific and off-topic jargon and unneccesary details and descriptions. There are some really good parts in the book that get you to the "edge of your seat" and some really decriptive scenes that play well in the story, but all in all I was just really bored with it. I almost quit reading it several times, but managed to finish it. I probably won't read it again.

Knootz is quite crafty and a master of keeping your interest I was trying to figure out how he would end this one. But a channel energy thriller like this truly makes you think about the after life and spiritual powers. The plot thickens as they try to explain it to those who have touched their lives through this experience. Quite imaginative and provocative at the same time. The conclusions it suggest about life are compelling and teaches you the importance of evaluating your purpose.

The beginning of Sole Survivor starts strong and slowly builds intensity. Then, for whatever reason, the pace is thwarted by a constant repeating of the inner turmoil Joe Carpenter is suffering from the loss of his wife and children. There are times I had to put the book down for a few days because the urgency to keep reading wasn't there. The ending is a bit abrupt with a lot of unanswered questions surrounding "Nina" and the organization that sought to kill her. I'm a huge Koontz fan, but this one isn't as strong as some of his other works (e.g. The Husband, Mr. Murder, Cold Fire). At least there wasn't a Golden Retriever in it.

I liked the first two Odd Thomas books so decided to give this one a try. The book starts off ok but around page 340 the story takes a turn that almost made me put it down.

Although it is not essential to the plot the author spends a couple pages proselytizing for "scientific" creationism. I'm as willing as the next to suspend disbelief in the interest of a good ghost story but here the author goes beyond that to insert a view that mirrors a growing scientific illiteracy in the U.S. If you are upset with the attempts of the religious right to subvert science education you might want to skip this book.

"Sole Survivor," by Dean Koontz, is an edge of the seat ride through every emotion possible. Joe Carpenter is a widowed alcoholic who lost his family in a horrible plane crash the previous year. The anniversary of his wife and two daughters' deaths include a car chase, spontaneous combustion, and the unlikely union of Joe and a mystery woman named Rose. Joe has no idea what Rose's intention is, but, according to her, it is to unite him with his family. Is there a chance that Joe's youngest daughter Nina is still alive? Who is trying to kill them? More importantly why? The questions are infinite, but the answers are incredible.
Koontz's biggest strength in "Sole Survivor," is using suspense to reveal the theme of the book. No matter how many times in life a person wants to give up on life, there is always something, no matter how insignificant, to life for. Too many times, Joe is stuck in a dead end, creating tension in the reader. Without giving out too much of the book, mind-boggling events happen. Experiences that take the reader to new heights of their own existence. Joe himself turns into the root of this suspense. Rather than going back to his simple drunken ways, Joe pushes on. What if all this work is for not? Then Joe has renewed his integrity. Taking the reader on one of the most thrilling rides of his/her life.

Annotation: Joe carpenter's family was lost in a plane crash. Now a year later, a woman appeared to Joe claming she had information regarding that horrible night. This book takes the reader along with Joe as he investigates and discovers the truth about the plane crash that striped his family from him.
Author Bio: Dean R. Koontz was born in Everett Pennsylvania in 1945. He published his first story in 1966 while working as a high school teacher, and continued to be published while teaching. Koontz has gone on to write many New York Times best sellers. He has also had stories made into movies.
Evaluation: I would rate this book a four out of five. It was it was a fast read, and exciting because most of the timeline is within a few days. The idea behind the science fiction in the final outcome of the story is interesting but almost a little too far out there to believe as possible. The book is hard to set down, because it always leaves you on the edge wondering where Joe was headed next. Koontz gives detailed description and paints a colorful picture through his words without putting in boring unneeded details. Parts of the book really made me wonder what the government and other organizations have out there and are keeping from us right now. I would highly recommend reading this book.

Koontz is one of my favorite comtemporary writers for several reasons: 1- he is a VERY ADEPT WORDSMITH 2- he writes COMPELLING PLOTS 3- he makes you THINK ABOUT IMPORTANT ISSUES

I think Koontz suffers in the reviews here because many people just want escapism in reading - because he writes so well, and weaves very suspensful plots many people get hooked on the books in the beginning, but don't "understand the ending" when he shifts and uses the story to actually provoke the reader to think and examine deep issues. Koontz unashamedly pushes the reader to examine good and evil from a God-oriented perspective - many call this "preachy," I call that an easy reason to dismiss the author and not think.

I found the ending very satisfying. The character development is (as is usual for Koontz) VERY thorough. Whether or not I liked the actions of the protagonist, I never thought he was unbelievable. The pace is incredibly fast, the language spectacular, if occasionally over the top.

If religion offends you, or seems quaint and old school; if you just want a nice story with a tidy ending then don't read this book (or any other Koontz). But if you want a great story that will make you ponder the effects of good and evil and how they are promulgated; a story that will possibly make you rethink how you live your life, then grab this book now!

Believe me, Sole Survivor is the most suspensful and heart-quickening thing i have ever read in my entire life! i could not get anything done until i finished this book. i felt like being thrown into a dark and bottomless world, in which i tried desperately to find a way out, almost fell into despair until the end of the novel. The spellbinding story had haunted me for weeks! i love Joe Carpenter and Nina, i think they are just so cool.i hope Mr.Koontz would have a different ending though, b/c the original ending doesn't have a strong emotional appeal to me. i really like Dean's writing style. Although i think some parts ( espeacially some descriptions of the settings, and Joe's despondency) are overdone and redundant(Joe's feeling of losing his family are repeated over and over and over), the overall affect of his writing is riveting and spetacular. Dean's language is lucid and polished, easy to follow. therefore, as a esl speaker, i find his books easier, and more enjoyble to read than those by other authors. This is probably why his books have won readers worldwide.i love you, Dean!!!

I like listening to unabridged books on tape with my morning coffee, my eyes take an hour or so to wake up. Sole survivor was my first experience with Mr. Koontz work but won't be the last. I was spell bound, on the edge of my seat, seeing everything that happened in my mind's eye. I feel foolish, since I've avoided any Dean Koontz novels for years. If you believe all things are possible, you can't miss this chilling tale that twists and turns until you're sure the threads can't run together and be tied up at the end. My husband and I were visiting our son in our motor home when we began this tale of awesome power and total helplessness and vulnerability in the same vision. We then proceeded to listen to it that evening as well...well past midnight and into the morning hours. Exhausted but enthralled we drank tea until three. I'm not easily impressed by writers. I'll read almost any book because my favorite authors don't write enough but am highly critical of those who found a really good agent to sell their material. I only listen to unabridged novels and am even more selective with them. A reader can be a ruiner but it was wonderfully done. I'm looking forward to my next experience with this writer and am going to have to swallow a lot of negative words when I see my daugter in June. I refused to read books by her favorite author, until now. Don't always judge a book by its cover. A brief synopsis on the cover can be very misleading. Read, listen, enjoy. I intend to. I'll be back to write more, if I'm disappointed with other works; hopefully, Dean Koontz had and has more than one good novel in him.