Hailed as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) Dean Koontz has entered a rich new phase of his writing career that is yielding his most imaginative, meaningful, and popular work yet.At the height of his powers as a literary craftsman, he has won the acclaim of critics as well as the allegiance of millions of fans the world over, transforming the greatest fears and hopes of our time into masterworks of dazzling originality and emotional resonance.Now, with the stunning depth and virtuosity of his storytelling, he brings to readers one of his most gripping and richly imagined novels to date--an intoxicating story of adventure and suspense, mystery and revelation, told with humor, heart, and high art. One Door Away From HeavenIn a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction …
Hailed as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) Dean Koontz has entered a rich new phase of his writing career that is yielding his most imaginative, meaningful, and popular work yet.At the height of his powers as a literary craftsman, he has won the acclaim of critics as well as the allegiance of millions of fans the world over, transforming the greatest fears and hopes of our time into masterworks of dazzling originality and emotional resonance.Now, with the stunning depth and virtuosity of his storytelling, he brings to readers one of his most gripping and richly imagined novels to date--an intoxicating story of adventure and suspense, mystery and revelation, told with humor, heart, and high art. One Door Away From HeavenIn a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can't find her way--until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows--or thinks she knows--forever. Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani's effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express.Leilani's mother is little more than a child herself. And the girl's stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani's tenth birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world.Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani's conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky's discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now "gone to the stars."Leilani's tenth birthday is approaching. Micky is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Micky sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself.She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. The passion and disregard for danger with which Micky pursues her quest bring to her side a burned-out detective who joins her on a journey of incredible peril and startling discoveries, a journey through terrible darkness to unexpected light. One Door Away From Heaven is an incandescent mix of suspense and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have readers cheering. Filled with tragedy and joy, with terror and hope, it solidifies Dean Koontz's reputation as one of the foremost storytellers of our time. This is Dean Koontz at his very best--and it doesn't get any better than that.From the Hardcover edition.
Review of 'One door away from heaven' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I remember (correctly? who knows!) liking Odd Thomas. ODAfH starts out fine, with three distinct storylines. Then it makes a slow, painful, nothing-but-cruel slog up to a wholly unsatisfying ending "tying" the three together. The only reason I finished it was because I was sure (?) Koontz was going to make the ending worth it. Big mistake!
The book, as a whole, was unrelentingly violent and cruel, as well as being repetitive and mind-bogglingly boring.
There is a particularly brutal and disgusting scene involving a pet snake about which this snake mom would have appreciated having a trigger warning.
Review of 'One door away from heaven' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
I remember (correctly? who knows!) liking Odd Thomas. ODAfH starts out fine, with three distinct storylines. Then it makes a slow, painful, nothing-but-cruel slog up to a wholly unsatisfying ending "tying" the three together. The only reason I finished it was because I was sure (?) Koontz was going to make the ending worth it. Big mistake!
The book, as a whole, was unrelentingly violent and cruel, as well as being repetitive and mind-bogglingly boring.
There is a particularly brutal and disgusting scene involving a pet snake about which this snake mom would have appreciated having a trigger warning.
Review of 'One door away from heaven' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
The odor of wish fulfillment is a little too strong around this book, affording plenty of opportunities for Koontz to stop the story and climb up on his soapbox about everything from God to assisted suicide to dogs to smart girls to rich people to "bosomy" broken babes. In Koontz's world, there is no such thing as nuance, so anyone who accepts assisted suicide is a baby-killing proponent of eugenics... and ranted over so ham-handedly that readers might start to think even the strawman has a point. A cast of puppets too obviously play out an elaborate set piece, and you'll probably find yourself increasingly skimming as the book goes on.
The many threads of story are overwhelming and jarring, too many characters to really care about, but his worst crime against words comes right at the peak of the climax: the villain suddenly takes a time-out for a half-dozen …
The odor of wish fulfillment is a little too strong around this book, affording plenty of opportunities for Koontz to stop the story and climb up on his soapbox about everything from God to assisted suicide to dogs to smart girls to rich people to "bosomy" broken babes. In Koontz's world, there is no such thing as nuance, so anyone who accepts assisted suicide is a baby-killing proponent of eugenics... and ranted over so ham-handedly that readers might start to think even the strawman has a point. A cast of puppets too obviously play out an elaborate set piece, and you'll probably find yourself increasingly skimming as the book goes on.
The many threads of story are overwhelming and jarring, too many characters to really care about, but his worst crime against words comes right at the peak of the climax: the villain suddenly takes a time-out for a half-dozen pages to reflect on the others, his upbringing, his philosophizing and murders... and then dies.
Despite the overall low quality and lack of any human touch, I was quite entertained by Leilani's reparte. Her aplomb was the high point of the book to me, and I actually laughed over some of the deft banter. It's too bad that in comparison, every other character is a plodding, maudlin collection of cliche, and even her character gets sucked into the vortex of mediocrity a bit past the halfway point. If all of the conversation had been so sharp, I would have forgiven its silliness.
You'll be amazed to learn that dogs are the only beings in existence that can feel and see God all around them, being the chosen species, and by bonding with them you too can come to know the Lord! Just to round out the banality, there's an entire epilogue where our alien visitor saves the world by teaching his friends how to telepathically bond with their dogs, to be followed by all of humanity... just because Koontz hadn't yet managed to pummel his canine worship in sufficiently.
