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Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Cabell County Public Library | KOO | Adult | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Williamson Public Library | KOO | Adult | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
From Dean Koontz, the international bestselling master of suspense, comes an epic thriller about a terrifying threat to humanity and the singular compassion it will take to defeat it.
Woody Bookman hasn't spoken a word in his eleven years of life. Not when his father died in a freak accident. Not when his mother, Megan, tells him she loves him. For Megan, keeping her boy safe and happy is what matters. But Woody believes a monstrous evil was behind his father's death and now threatens him and his mother. And he's not alone in his thoughts. An ally unknown to him is listening.
A uniquely gifted dog with a heart as golden as his breed, Kipp is devoted beyond reason to people. When he hears the boy who communicates like he does, without speaking, Kipp knows he needs to find him before it's too late.
Woody's fearful suspicions are taking shape. A man driven by a malicious evil has set a depraved plan into motion. And he's coming after Woody and his mother. The reasons are primal. His powers are growing. And he's not alone. Only a force greater than evil can stop what's coming next.
Author Notes
Dean Koontz was born on July 9, 1945 in Everett, Pennsylvania. He received a degree in education from Shippensburg State College in 1967. A former high school English teacher as well as a teacher-counselor with the Appalachian Poverty Program, he began writing as a child to escape an ugly home life caused by his alcoholic father. A prolific writer at a young age, he had sold a dozen novels by the age of 25. Early in his career, he wrote under numerous pen names including David Axton, Brian Coffey, K. R. Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, Richard Paige, and Owen West. He is best known for the books written under his own name, many of which are bestsellers, including Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, The Husband, Odd Hours, 77 Shadow Street, Innocence, The City, Saint Odd, and The Silent Corner.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
When he and his widowed mother are threatened by a freakish killer, a brilliant 11-year-old boy on the autism spectrum teams with an orphaned dog with human intelligence to fight off evil.The boy, Woody, hasn't spoken a word in his life but has created a sophisticated virtual world to escape to and can hack the most complex dark web networks. He's determined to avenge his researcher father, who died in a suspicious helicopter crash. The dog, Kipp, orphaned by the death of his aged, loving caretaker, is part of an underground canine network boasting many other similarly advanced, genetically engineered dogs. (These dogs, who call themselves the Mysterium, are capable of such miracles as retrieving books from the library and reading them at night.) Out of the blue, a man who once worked with Woody's father and briefly dated Megan, Woody's mother, propositions and then threatens her. "I am becoming the king of beasts," he boasts, after having bitten a young woman to death. There is certainly no lack of raw action in the book, Koontz's first following five novels featuring investigator Jane Hawk. It just takes a certain kind of reader to...swallow the plot. Depending on one's susceptibility to heart-tugging boy-and-dog tales, the novel will either be dismissed as a work of cloying commercial calculation or enjoyed as a crafty blend of genres. The worst fear raised by this odd creature feature is that it will spawn a sequel. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Readers who were wondering how Koontz could possibly follow up his remarkable Jane Hawk series can breathe a sigh of relief. His new novel finds him still at the top of his game. Koontz taps into one of literature's oldest themes, the monster versus the innocents. Here the monster is a very sick man, and the innocents are an autistic boy, his mother, and a gifted dog. Adroitly mixing elements of SF and horror, Koontz has crafted a memorable and frightening antagonist in Lee Shacket, a corporate CEO desperate to cover up a horrible accident. Out of a craving for revenge against the woman who scorned him years earlier he blames her for pretty much all his recent travails Shacket turns from a man with a murderous grudge into a monster who commits acts of unspeakable violence. Megan Bookman, the object of Shacket's obsession, is a familiar Koontz hero, an ordinary person who draws on hidden reserves of strength. Of her son, Woody, and the very special dog, Kipp, the less said, the better: Koontz has secrets to reveal about them, and they won't be spoiled here. Scary, sickening (in that good way), and touching, this is a novel that will delight both the author's legion of fans and those who finally decide it's time to find out what this guy Koontz is all about.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Koontz is a master of popular fiction across genres, and a new novel with his name on it is guaranteed to leapfrog to the top of best-seller lists everywhere.--David Pitt Copyright 2020 Booklist
