by Wendy Bull

Created on: April 21, 2008

Mitch Rafferty has a great life. He runs his own gardening business with a very old friend and has a wife who he absolutely adores. They have a nice little house in a nice little neighbourhood and are saving for a family and all the nice things that they want in their lives. He is happy....

.... until he gets a call on his mobile from a man claiming to have kidnapped his wife and who is also holding her for ransom. He wants $2 million in 3 days or his wife dies a painful and horrible death but Mitch has no idea how to get it.

Since reading Velocity by Dean Koontz I have got back into his style of writing and found his last few books to be very enjoyable. This is no exception and I immediately settled into the characters from the first chapter. There is no messing around with back story or scene setting and it is straight into the heart of the story from chapter one. His wife, Holly has been kidnapped before you are even introduced to her and this was very pleasing for me as in other stories Koontz can tend to waffle in my opinion.

Mitch's character is one I really liked as well. He shows such sincere love for his wife and this comes across as such a strong feeling that it made me feel immense sympathy for his situation. I knew he was a fictional character but my emotions really rose while reading this book and I found myself turning pages in genuine anticipation and hope that everything would turn out alright for them.

The kidnapper's intentions and identities were revealed in small snippets through phone calls and various things Mitch finds and this was just right. Their phone calls to Mitch and the capacity to which they could fulfil their intentions was scarily prominent in certain situations and a few times things were said or done that I was really not expecting, leaving me feeling upset or intrigued and even more involved.

I didn't find the tension quite as high as I had in The Good Guy, which was the last Koontz book I had read, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. The situations that were revealing themselves, chapter by chapter, were either high in action or high in entertainment value and I didn't come across any boring chapters. Similarly, the odd chapter was thrown in which focussed solely on Holly and her thoughts over what was happening to her. I like these chapters as it gives you a further insight into not only her but also the kidnappers and the way things were planned in their minds.

Koontz really did manage to surprise me in a few of the revelations as I read through. I usually have a vague idea of the who and why but this book was cleverly written and it made me think of scenarios that were completely off the track and on the opposite scale, lead me away from real motives and villains, making it a surprise when it is finally disclosed for certain areas.

I found the ending to be wrapped up a little too quickly and although you get an overall summary so you can draw your own conclusions, and this is pretty clear what they should be, I would have preferred a more detailed ending, actually spelling everything out for me, as I prefer my fiction to be of someone else's imagination, that's what I pay for after all. The ending was by no means a letdown though and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I just would have liked that little bit more.

Overall, this another thriller I have really enjoyed by Koontz and one I would recommend.

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