"Your Heart Belongs to Me," released late in 2008, adds yet another supernatural tale to Dean Koontz's impressive bookshelf. "Heart" makes it FIFTY bestsellers for this popular, prolific author. Long-term fans know that Koontz varies his stories from terrifying to inspirational. This one falls somewhere between the extremes. The expected elements of the unexplained are balanced this time by a protagonist grounded firmly in reality and our modern times.
We're drawn into the privileged life of 34-year-old Internet whiz Ryan Perry. He's made millions by developing a wildly successful social networking website. Could this tale be much more topical? Perry is young, living the life of the newly affluent, and deeply in love with a down-to-earth (and beautiful, of course) would-be author, Samantha Reach. So far she has deflected Perry's proposal of marriage. She toils tirelessly on her debut novel in a rented apartment above a garage.
Evil lurks in our lovable millionaire's heart - literally. He's healthy, fit, and an avid surfer; yet his own heart begins to fail him. Scenes describing the onset of Ryan's heart failure unfold in vivid physical and emotional detail, so real that the reader may find himself checking his pulse for irregularities. As the internet tycoon's heart betrays him, we follow along as he descends into an irrational paranoia - one Perry can afford to indulge with clandestine investigations into Samantha's relatives. Perry senses evil and conspiracy all around him, all the while questioning his own motivations and sanity.
Eventually our hero must fall under the cardiologist's skillful knife to receive a replacement heart. This is where the spooky part of the story begins to unfold. "Heart" jumps forward several months after Perry's transplant to pick up the narrative aftermath. As readers, we wonder why Samantha still won't let Ryan get closer. In fact, they've all but ended their earlier relationship. Perry's nearly unlimited resources, it seems, aren't enough to win the heart of the woman he loves - nor to protect him from the grim dangers of the new heart now beating in his chest. A mysterious and deadly woman intrudes in Ryan's life of luxury with one simple message:
"Your heart belongs to me." She vows to take it back.
One of the keys to great fiction, especially the kind of supernatural tales of terror at which Koontz excels, is 'willing suspension of disbelief.' Koontz makes you believe. He always has. We feel the protagonist's pain, real and imagined, physical and mental. We fear for him and suffer his frustrations and suspicions. We hope he will survive this frightening pursuit. Defeat the devil without or within, get the girl. We want Ryan Perry to live long enough to know true love, and long enough to spend his fortune on something other than private detectives and elaborate defenses.
Somehow, after decades of successful suspense novels, Dean Koontz manages to keep his prose fresh and engrossing. His vocabulary is astounding. Keep a dictionary at hand. Here's a sample, from late in the story:
"The woman roamed ceaselessly...through shimmering nimbuses and quivering penumbras. Her languid movements might have seemed lethargic to some..."
Koontz has never relied on serial characters to drive his literary achievements. He builds his characters the old-fashioned way: through dialog and revealing actions. No page is turned without a sense of danger lurking just a paragraph or two away. Devoted readers know to leave the light on, and to be sure to set aside Koontz's books not too long after midnight.
Koontz doesn't pad his chapters. "Your Heart Belongs to Me" barely exceeds 300 pages - far shorter than similar works by Stephen King. We have to savor every scene. We turn the pages slowly, knowing the unanticipated ending will arrive much sooner than we'd like it to. We also know that every word counts, so we read carefully for the clues we're sure are there in the details.
This story, like so many before it, ends too quickly. Koontz is stingy with his clues, however. Three twists await readers in the final few chapters. Only one of them was less than a total surprise. The author continues, with this release, his emphasis on the spiritual and his recurring theme of redemption.
Does millionaire Ryan Perry survive the perils of his transplanted heart? Will he finally convince his reluctant lover to marry him? Or is she the one he should have feared the most, after all? To find the answers to those questions, and to a couple others you didn't think of, you'll have to buy or borrow this bestseller. Dedicated fans won't be disappointed. New readers will find out why Koontz has sold millions of books. If you love Stephen King's dark tales but hate the wait between, bring "Your Heart" into your home. You won't regret the decision.