'Relentless' is Just That

Review of RELENTLESS (Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged 2009)
By guest blogger Star Lawrence
Author, Dean Koontz; read by Dan John Miller

Dean Koontz is not a poor man's Stephen King. He is his own kind of sweet, kind of overwritten, and kind of totally spellbinding self. Some people can get into that like a hot bath, others can't stand it. I am a bather . . .

RELENTLESS is one of his best yarns to date, in my humble. Yet, it is festooned with characteristic Koontz touches, which include a protag who is so grounded and loving he makes your eyelids slowly descend, only to snap open on such lines as, "We did not know then that by day's end, one of us would be shot dead."

Cubby is a novelist, a loving husband, the jokey father of a seriously smart kid (referred to by a bad guy as a "weird little Einstein"), and oh, yes, Cubby has a big secret in his past, the kind of horror you would never associate with anyone you would ever meet. You never would. Koontz would, though.

Don't laugh, but a famous book critic wants to wipe out Cubby, his wife, their weird little Einstein, and their little dog Lassie, too!

This may sound funny, but I assure you it's suspenseful and warped as hell.

Of course, I won't tell you what happens, but it involves a deus ex machina shaped like a crystal salt shaker. But you knew that, didn't you?

Anyhow, even hard-core thriller lovers will get into this one. John Dan Miller has a pleasing tenor, rendering even the most banal inter-familial banter interesting and believable.

You're just never ready for the odd line that jumps in. "I don’t think you're ready for this, Dad, it's not a salt shaker anymore."

Star Lawrence owns a recession-coping site called Do the Hopey Copey at http://hopeycopey.blogspot.com. She can be reached at jkellaw@aol.com.