The Husband was a book I could not put down. It is about a man who suddenly is thrown into a world of strange circumstances. The man's wife is being held for a large amount of ransom...much larger than he has, since he is just a landscaper. The book almost reminds me at times of the movie "A History of Violence", but it is better than that, much more thought provoking. Why would these men who kidnapped his wife assume he even had money? Where are they keeping her? The scene on the road out of town late at night was very scary, but even after that the book still had a ton of action in it.

Seriously, Dean, this was a good story. Holter Graham did a fine job with the audio. Sure, the ending was a bit predictable, as well several scenes here and there. But don't let that stop you from reading the book... or letting Mr. Graham read it to you.

Now... Dean... how about a favor for a fellow Bedford Countian... (you DO remember Bedford County, right?)... and get working on Frankenstein #3?!?!

The story line itself was wonderful and creative, yet i felt robbed when i finished to book. I found nothing but the very predictiable, a sappy ending which should have been replaced with yet another twist. The wording was meant for someone with a reading level of a 4th grader. In the hardcover edition, the font was large and drawn out to 416 pages, when it could have been condensed to only 200.

Koontz is a great writer and this book brings together the sensitive side with terror and suspense. Kept me guessing til the end.

This was just a terrible book. I started to read this and half way through I asked myself, is this really a Dean Koontz book? The plot is simply boring, far fetched, and the conflict that Mitchell battles could have been solved so many easy ways, but is dragged out only to fill pages. Once you finish this book you'll feel like the author just didn't really care. Almost like he lost interest and by the end just gave up. The end of the book leaves so many open questions and is as anticlimactic as possible. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

When was the last time you read a book with superglue capabilities. I had been a big fan of Dean until he got repetitive and overly commercial then came "The Husband". I was boarding a plane with two and half hours of boredom streaming in front of me and I was desperate. 'The husband' beckoned me...was he back? I took the chance. Page one...nice start...page two uh oh...page 3 he had me. The rollercoaster ride began and I willingly sat in front, hands held high, enjoying every turn, drop, twist, and unexpected scare. Dean you're back and so am I.

I have always enjoyed his mix of suspense and a type of science fiction or fantasy for a good suspension-of-reality sort of read, and so I promptly read novel after novel end to end. I had been on a bit of a Koontz break (for many years). This was a wonderful book to pick up after all that time. It was a great page-turning read. There was no sex and very little bad language. There was some violence, as befits the genre, but it was not gory (save one brain-splattering scene).

Other Koontz books that I particularly enjoyed were Watchers and Mr. Murder.

I don't have much experience with Dean Koontz, having only read one of his other books, Brother Odd. However, he's quickly becoming a favorite of mine. There's something inherently odd about the plot and characters in a Dean Koontz book, and I enjoy getting away from the monotony that some other writers fall into. The Husband starts with a bang and never slows down, adding a few strange details (such as some messed up parenting) to make sure the story doesn't seem predictable. It kept me entertained, and it's definitely worth reading if you like thrillers and don't mind a little gore.

This is the first 1 sitting read I've read in a long time. I was not able to put this book down. Mr. Koontz sets the premise in the first 3 pages and immediately you're hooked....trust me, you will not be able to stop reading this one until you get to the very last page. I'm a somewhat newer Koonz reader (started with the Odd Thomas books--also terrific), but this was outstanding. I finished it last night and immediately handed it to my wife and said "Read this."

Enjoy...

I listened to this book on CD. I couldn't put it down (figuratively speaking)! Dean Koontz at his best with tons of excitment and action. Characters are very well developed and his language is suprisingly poetic. The actor who read the book was perfect, with a clear, melodic voice and great timing. My only regret is that it only took me 1.5 days to get through the book. A great read (or is it a great listen)?

I was a big Dean Koontz fan in the 80's and then got tired of what he was writing in the 90's. I am glad that I picked up the Husband. This book kept my attention from begining to end.
Great read.

Loved this book, it was a bit predictable in parts and threw me off on other parts. This would be a great movie. A true love story with action and horror all rolled in one.

Just what is the price YOU would pay for the love of your life? An interesting question, and when left to Dean Koontz will leave you gasping as you travel into the world of one man who dearly loves his wife.

As ususal, Dean Koontz tells the story using great detail, allowing your mind to completely visualize the events that have taken place.

The book recently had the movie rights sold to it. I honestly can say, I cannot possibly wait to see this on a big screen. Hopefully, Dean will lead his devoted readers down the twisting and turning paths of love as he writes or influences the screenplay writer on this wonderfully crafted book.

I've only read one other book by Dean Koontz so I can't compare this to his previous work. I bought this book because I wanted something light and entertaining to read while I was lying around for a few weeks after surgery.

It was a quick read, and it was entertaining. Definitely a good idea for a story. It had one plot twist that I didn't see coming at all. I thought Koontz started to take the easy way out toward the end of the book-- wrapping up complications for the main character rather too neatly, so as to bring the book to an end.

The main character has an intense love for his wife. I understood this the first time it was described-- I didn't need to be beaten about the head with this information again and again. Their relationship is completely perfect, and I found that to be just a tad unrealistic -- not to mention, boring. Now imagine if they'd had some problems in their relationship, or if the main character had some inner motivation of his own NOT to get her back-- that would have set the stage for some interesting conflict.

Anyway, it's an entertaining and quick read!

I consider myself a pretty big fan of Dean Koontz. I've read 11 of his novels (12 with this one) and have enjoyed them all, except one. I'm not a big reader, especially recently. I haven't read a book in almost a year, but I decided to get back into reading with a Dean Koontz novel. "The Husband" takes a story that we've seen so many times in movies and novels and puts a Koontz-spin on it. It's still not COMPLETELY original and is a little bit contrived, but it's still very good. I was hypnotized by the first 50 pages or so, barely able to put it down. The novel begins with Mitch, a gardener working on a house with his co-worker Iggy. Then Mitch receives a phone call, with a man telling Mitch that his wife Holly has been kidnapped. The man wants two million dollars (and with Mitch being a gardener, this is going to be a bit difficult to acquire) and to prove how serious he is, he instructs Mitch to look across the street. Quickly and suddenly, a man walking his golden retriever is shot dead. After being questioned by police, including Detective Sandy Taggart (who may or may not be involved with the kidnapping), Mitch begins trying to figure out how to get two million dollars. To reveal anymore would be to spoil the novel, because Koontz throws about 18 twists into the remaining pages. Two come in such quick succession; you've barely caught your breath from the previous one. Koontz chose to take a path on one aspect of the story that he's used before. The main character is a victim of odd childhood and (as usual) it's something that never happens to people in real life. This is important to the story, but I've seen it in a Koontz novel before (I can't recall what novel it was though) so that was a demerit. The other complaint I have is his decision to turn one of his kidnappers into those stereotypical crazy ones we see in other similar stories. Of course, kidnappers are crazy as a majority...But I'm referring to the ones that walk into their victims rooms and begin talking about nonsensical things. Luckily, Koontz makes the scenes between Holly and said kidnapper vivid enough to hold the reader's attention. Another thing I liked about the novel is the fact that (until page 173) we don't see the story from Holly's perspective. In most novels of this kind, every other chapter is from the victims' perspective...But Koontz leaves us wondering. The novel, as I said, is really good. It kept my attention throughout and there were times I didn't want to put it down, but Koontz (especially after about 200 pages) kept piling on needless plot twists. The other complaint I have (although, I did like the ending) is that Koontz seems to take the easy way out. Not to give too much away, but Mitch commits more illegal acts in the last 100 pages of the book than most of the bad characters in the book do...Some of his crimes were more severe, in fact. I wish Koontz had showed how Mitch gets himself out of trouble, instead of cutting directly to the epilogue. Despite it's flaws (and I realize I spent more time listing its demerits than its merits) you will enjoy this novel. It's a good read and damn near-prime Koontz.

GRADE: B+

I've read several Dean Koontz books and none of them seem to really bring me in like Odd Thomas did. To me, The Husband is typical Koontz. The story starts off well from the beginning and builds from there. It builds and builds, then it just seems like he says, "well, I've gone on for 300 pages, better end this one real quick." The ending just has a thrown together feel to me.

That aside, it's still an enjoyable read and shouldn't take you more than a day to finish.

This book is superb, a thrill a minute. Thanks Dean! Please write more novels like this one...

I have not read a Dean Koontz book in a while. I read a number of his earlier books and really enjoyed the stories because they not only had real persons in them but there was always something out of the ordinary in the story lines. His current book, The Husband, lacks anything out of the ordinary and didn't strike me as all that interesting and was quite predictable. Very much unlike Mr. Koontz's stories of old. I miss that.

I want Dr. Ahriman back! He's so funnnny. (Beloved auteur: hear me whine. Find a way to revive Dr. A...pleeeez! ) I loved The Husband, but it is one of Mr. Koontz's darker books. Here he out-Harris's Thomas for the villain's venal perversity, drags us over rough terrain a la The Fugitive and offers up some pretty darned good poetic flourishes (both good and evil) to get us to the final rainbow/sunny scene which, it has been mentioned in professional reviews above, make for a "disappointing" ending. But who cares? The book's a blast for the most part. Nobody's perfect, not even Mr. Koontz.

Flat? Boring? Dull? Lifeless? All the above. Sorry, Dean, you need to slow down the production and write stuff you would be proud of. The first plot twist came on page 136. I made it to 140. Tell me I quit too soon.

The Husband by Dean Koontz is an excellent thriller. There have been comparisons of this book to a Hitchcockian type of storyline; I agree and think that is high-praise. Koontz departs from some of his more supernatural type of books to a thriller in the "Intensity" and Mr. Murder style. The protagonist in the book is Mitch Rafferty, a passive gardner from Southern California. Rafferty is working in a client's yard when he receives a telephone call from an unknown person(s) that has taken his (Mitch's) wife Holly. Mitch must come up with two million dollars within a short amount of time to save Holly. The story races by as Koontz keeps the twists and turns coming. Koontz paints a nice portrait of Orange County with his vivid prose.

I have not read much Koontz in the past few years. This book reminded me of what I have been missing. I highly recommend this entertaining book.

Koontz wastes no time hooking the reader, and he never lets the tension slack. He's so adept at creating believable, likable, person-next-door characters that it's impossible not to think, "What would I do in a similar situation?" which of course nobody would every want to be in. One twist caught me so off-guard, I was as dumbfounded as the main character. It's a great achievement when a writer can make readers so empathetic with his characters. Koontz just keeps hurling obstacles at the poor protagonist until it seems impossible that there could be a happy ending. And he doesn't always promise one--but he does always deliver a satisfying ending. If you thought all Koontz did well were supernatural thrillers, this one will change your mind.

I enjoyed this book, detailed plot and different than most of his other books.

Dean Koontz's latest novel is a great thriller that I found myself not wanting to put down. Like Stephen King, I feel some of Dean's best writing is when he is not involving the supernatural playing card in the deck. The characters seem a little deeper, the story very plausible, and the tasks, tragedies and triumphs a bit more heartfelt, making you, the reader, care that much more about the outcome.

The journey to that outcome centers on a man named Mitch Rafferty. Mitch lives a simple life with his wife in Southern California (if that is even possible, but bear with me here). He owns a small landscaping company, while his wife is a secretary at a Real Estate firm. Mitch and Holly enjoy the simple things in life, and dream of raising a family of their own soon. One day while on a job site, a call on his cell phone changes his life forever. On the other end, he realizes his wife is in danger, and she is not alone. A man tells him that they want 2 million dollars raised in ransom for her release, or she will be killed. He is given only 3 days to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. The confusion and terror start here; Mitch doesn't even have $100,000 in the bank let alone 2 million. They seem to know how much he does have in the bank, right down to the penny. They also seem to have an eye on him at all times, audibly telling him in real-time to watch a man across the street right before he is killed by a long range rifle. They do this to tell him they mean business, and that if he goes to the police, they will slowly cut his wife up into pieces.

Mitch loves Holly more than anything in the world, but don't think for a second that Koontz saturates us in the meaning of family, love and life. We get that description in good doses, but the theme here is all about surprises, shock value and the continual tests and tasks Mitch must face in order to bring Holly home safe. The novel is a thriller to say the least. From the first page to nearly the last, Mitch Rafferty suddenly has to become something different in order to do anything for love. More of his family becomes involved, though at first indirectly, and this is when we are introduced to his brother Anson, who ultimately plays a bigger part in the whole thing than we can imagine. Koontz does an excellent job of developing the characters of Mitch and his older brother, who are different in more ways than one. Last but not least is Holly, the loving wife of Mitch who has found herself in a dark place and has to spiritually and cunningly try to outwit one very psychologically profound abductor.

Detective Taggart is another character that adds a whirlwind of suspense to the overall setting. Taggart is good at his job, so good in fact, that he quickly finds holes in Mitch's story regarding the day the pedestrian was gunned down near his job site. As Taggert begins to pursue Mitch with guarded skepticism, Mitch realizes that his bloody and harrowing journey to save his wife's life is only going to get more complicated as time goes on. The only knock on this novel was the ending. Koontz wraps it up in a way that you are not really expecting, necessarily, but at the same time it leaves you perhaps a tad disappointed with the simplicity of it. A lot of loose ends are left open for speculation as we do not get to see what all happens with the clean up of the aftermath left in Mitch's wake as the final few hours tick away in a sprawling web of gunman, kidnappers, police, and pedestrians. We do learn the fate of Mitch, his wife, one of the kidnappers, Anson, Taggert, and Julian Campbell (a business associate of Anson's) but other characters that came into play are I guess, just hauled off to the morgue in obvious fashion.

The scene in the desert with Mitch facing off against two gunmen at night was superb. Koontz did a good job of describing the landscape it takes place in as well an envisioning the fright and caged animal scenario that our main character is facing. Despite some nitpickings a reader may find, I myself loved the story. You'll find all the suspense, mystery, and psychological string pulling you could ever want in these 416 pages.

A real page turner. I let one coworker borrow this book and then the next, I wonder if it will make it back to my bookshelf. Buy it, you will not regret.

This book was ok. I think the ending had many loose ends that weren't really explained. It was definitely a page turner and I enjoyed reading it. I guess I was just expecting a little more. I've read better Dean Koontz novels. This is not one of the good ones.

Again and again Dean Koontz surprises and delivers with phenomenal books. This is an excellent read, and I highly suggest it for fans and first time Koontz readers alike!

The Husband was a good read; nothing over the top, just a straight forward suspense novel. Dean Koontz is always an enjoyable read.

I had rated this book a "two" in relation to other Koontz books I have read. The book is entertaining enough, but is not very unique in relation to other books that Koontz has written. Koontz appears to have somewhat of a formula when creating main charachters. Often there is a primary charachter who appears to be rather basic at the beginning, but through later description becomes more complex due to an unusual background. Koontz books often have the aforementioned charachter utilize their unusual background to overcome difficult obstacles usually in order to save a loved one.

I believe Koontz tries to express certain generalties, some of which have moral and religious undertones:

In the end, good overcomes evil and often evil by its destructive nature, destroys itself.

Love is worth fighting and dieing for.

Love is stronger than evil.

What does not kill you, makes you stronger.

Evil knows no socioeconomic boundaries.

The key to happiness is love, not material gain.

Evil lurks where you least expect it.

I listened to this while driving cross country. It definitely helped the time pass by and was entertaining, but it did get a little slow at times.

Mr. Koontz is on my top 5 list of best authors. He is undoubtedly best at relieving to us that evening the worst case scenario, can be turned into something jaw dropping awful. He can develop his characters throughout the story and does very well at description.
One thing he is not good at, is endings.

The Husband is about a young man who leads a simple life. As gardener, Mitch, the main character, lives in a quite neighborhood with his wife. On a particular day, where the book begins, he receives a call telling him that his wife has been kidnapped and it will be 2million to ransom her.
The entire book is from that point until the next day.

Koontz did an excellent job at dialogue and the actions of the characters. I was drawn in completely during the middle of the book. Mitch's life is forever changed through many events that take place here on. But his love for his wife is what drives him forward. A very realistic and understandable motive.

The ending.
After reading Velocity, which had such a high powered, climaxed ending, I was sorely disappointed at this one.
I honestly could have put the book down after so and so chapter and be just as content. The ending was not thrilling and the main climax of the story was already over before the end.
And that is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

Though, the characters were believable and the main plot was understandable, I did enjoy this book. I read many chapter in class and was thoroughly interested. It kept my attention and I understood everything that was taking place.
A wonderful Koontz novel to add to my collection.

This book had me from the get go just like all of Koontz' books do. I loved it.

I have read Dean Koontz since I was in high school almost 15 years ago and I have to say I haven't been disappointed in his books yet.

I have noticed lately that the books are different from the pure horror he used to write and focus on making an ordinary life turn crazy in just a few hours and for just a few days. This is the direction that The Husband goes in. I picked up the book and was immediately sucked in. I find that I am able to suspend reality in his books when I need to and just accept the situation and how the characters handle it as he writes it.

Mitch and Holly were great characters - just your average lower middle-class married couple who just want to make their place in the world, they both have goals and they both love each other dearly. Then Mitch receives the phone call and his life is turned upside down. A series of twists and turns follow, a lot of them that I did not expect at all. There is some backstory thrown in from time to time and it helps you understand things better and does not take you out of the action.

Definitely a must-read and I believe that I may re-read it sometime in the future. I enjoyed Koontz's older books, but I enjoy this turn he has taken too. His characterization is wonderful and makes the characters really come alive.

Koontz has delivered another great book. He is a masterful suspense writer and has written another great book. Of course, not everything is truly plausible, but that's not why I read his books. Koontz books are difficult to put down because they are compelling and the reader wants to know what happens next.

"The Husband" shocked me with a twist that had greater torque than any I've read recently.

If you shy away from the more horrific Koontz novels, such as "The Face," and prefer his stories that emphasize enduring hope, and good conquering evil, you will embrace this brilliant work.

I was a little hard on Dean Koontz (for good reason) after I read the Taking, which was absolutely dreadful. I actually swore I would never read Dean Koontz again. Despite this, I read The Husband and (surprise, surprise) quite enjoyed it.

The Husband draws the reader in quickly, setting up an intriguing premise. A young married landscaper of modest means (Mitch) gets a call on his cell telling him that his wife has been kidnapped and that in order to save her he must raise a ransom he can't possibly afford. Koontz effectively conveys the isolation, confusion, helplessness, and fear that Mitch feels as his world closes in around him and he races to save his wife.

While I enjoyed the novel - a have a few beefs:

1. It's great that Dean has a robust vocabulary, but he needs to cut back on the use of adjectives and adverbs. It's excessive and distracting, bogging down the narrative flow of this, and his other novels.
2. Another maddening trait is his tendency to explain his characters motives at every turn. In The Husband, there are scenes where mental games are being played between kidnapper and quarry. I would have preferred that Koontz let the reader draw their own conclusions and let the scenes play out, without revealing the strategies involved.
3. Why do Dean's villains always need to seem so earnest? The kidnapper in this novel (the one that remains until the end of the novel) reminds me of the killer in Intensity. Sure, the character is sinister and creepy, but that doesn't make him interesting.

On a positive note, the pretentiousness of some of his other work (notably `The Taking') is not present here. Dean's love of dogs is evident, but thankfully dogs play a relatively small role in this novel. Koontz ratchets up the tension in The Husband and keeps the plot racing along at high speed. Despite my complaints about his writing style, Koontz keeps the suspense high and delivers a solid thriller; he just needs to edit his work a little.

(Reading some Elmore Leonard would help)

I was a little hard on Dean Koontz (for good reason) after I read the Taking, which was positively dreadful. I even swore I would never read Dean Koontz again. Despite this, I read The Husband and (surprise, surprise) quite enjoyed it.

This novel draws the reader in quickly, setting up an intriguing premise. A young married landscaper of modest means gets a call on his cell telling him that his wife has been kidnapped and that in order to save her he must raise a ransom he can't possibly afford. Koontz effectively conveys the isolation, confusion, helplessness, and fear that Mitch feels as his world closes in around him and he races to save his wife.

This is the best Koontz novel that I have read (although I am admittedly not a hardcore fan have only read 6-8 of them) I do think that Dean, while he has an impressive vocabulary, needs to cut back on his excessive use of adjectives and adverbs. It may just be me, but I find Dean's penchant for adverbs distracting, bogging down the narrative flow of his novels. The other maddening trait that I find with Koontz is his tendency to explain his characters motives at every turn. In The Husband, there are scenes where mental games are being played between kidnapper and quarry. I would have preferred that Koontz let the reader draw their own conclusions about whose playing who during these verbal games and let the scenes play out, without exposing the strategies involved. Generally speaking, he needs to edit his work a little more aggressively. (I think reading some Elmore Leonard would help)

On a positive note, the pretentiousness of some of other work (notably `The Taking) is not present here. Dean's love of dogs is evident but thankfully dogs play a small role in this novel. I'm not sure what Dean has against academics, but he does like to villainize them; something he does again in The Husband.

Koontz ratchets up the tension in The Husband and keeps the plot racing at high speed as Mitch fights to find out who kidnapped his wife and why and then to get her back alive. Despite my complaints about his writing style, Koontz keeps the suspense up and delivers a great thriller.

This novel lost its element of suspense for me about 1/3 of the way through. By that time, I just didn't care if the protagonist, a humble and gentle gardener, got his wife back safely or not. The background/childhood of the main character was quite bizarre, pretty much unbelievable. Once again the female/wife character has more hutzpah and personality than the husband. Frankly, I don't know why she married this milkquetoast fellow in the first place. I've had enough Dean Koontz novels, I think.

I have read all of Dean Koontz' books and am grateful that they are not all of the same vein. Mr. Koontz changes themes and this book is an example of one of those changes. I found this book a quick read, a great read, with many 'oh wow' type twists in the plot. High literature, no it is not; but then, that isn't why we read Koontz. We read Koontz for the simple pleasure of a good story well told. Mr. Koontz is a great storyteller and what more can one ask, or want? Thank you, Mr. Koontz for an enjoyable read. Now ........ can we have some more, please? (smile)

Although I enjoyed this book in general as a "summer read," I was disappointed. This novel just wasn't "Koontz" enough for me. I should have not expected so much being that Velocity and Life Expectancy were simpler novels as well, but I thought this one would be different. I felt like i was reading the scrip to a lifetime movie.

I bought this book because I'm a huge fan of Dean Koontz. I especially loved his "Out The Corner Of His Eye", which was very thought-provoking and original.

The Husband is not nearly at the same level. It's a quick read though, and you'll find out what lengths a man will go to in order to save his beloved wife from kidnappers, but there's nothing original or surprising about it, well, except for the disclosure about the hero's brother.

The premise is great and the story literally starts off with a bang. However, at the end of the book, many details are not wrapped up, leaving the reader with a lot of questions. It's almost as if Mr. Koontz had a deadline to finish and an ending to write. Perhaps his editor told him any ending would suffice?

Another shocking aspect is the level of writing. Almost every other sentence (not paragraph) had the word "and" written two or three times in it, and in a couple of sentences, I counted 5 uses of the word "and" - in a single sentence! By any measure, this means run-on sentences. Instead of using a period, he uses a comma and the word "and". Actually, I was a little bit shocked that this was written by Mr. Koontz. Perhaps he is going the way of many authors and has started using a ghost writer?

Perhaps I'm just being picky, but when I purchase a book costing almost $30.00, I expect a well-written and exciting story. Next time, I am going to be a little more careful before I buy a book based on the author's name alone. With some writers, including Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson, their quality seems to go down over time, until finally, you no longer expect their former greatness. I hope this will not be the case with Mr. Koontz.

If you want a quick read, and are not too picky about the level of writing, this book is fine. Just don't expect this book to be the usual Koontz; it's not nearly as good as his previous work.

I still find it interesting to watch Dean Koontz shift from being a supernatural horror novelist to more of a mainstream writer. His latest, The Husband, has no real supernatural element to it at all. Doesn't really matter, however... It's still an enjoyable read.

Mitch Rafferty is a landscaper whose life changes with a single phone call. While out on a job, he gets a call from someone who has kidnapped his wife and wants two million dollars in little more than two days. Obviously, he doesn't have that kind of money but the kidnappers chose him for a reason. His brother *does* have that kind of money, and this is a vendetta against him, not Mitch. Mitch loves his wife dearly and will go to any lengths to save her, but he's really just a pawn in a much larger game. When his brother turns out to be someone vastly different than who Mitch believed him to be, he undergoes a transformation from helpless pawn to active player. The backbone he grows during the two day ordeal allows him to do things he would have never thought possible, and take actions to make sure his wife survives.

The storyline here was good. I was able to sympathize with Mitch, and understand the desperation he felt. Once the plot twist with the brother was played (and I didn't see that one coming), the dynamics of the story changed a lot, and I had a hard time putting the book down. Koontz doesn't do quite as much "see how clever I can write" ramblings as he has in a few of his latest books, so I didn't feel his presence nearly as much. Overall, it's a good read that I easily could have gone through in a single sitting had I had that much time available to me...

I listened to this on audio CD. Dean Koontz has long been my favorite auther, but he's disappointed me in recent years. None of his recent works seem to grab me the way his earlier novels did. Strangers and Lightning are two of my favorites, but there are many, many good ones. I enjoyed this one, just not as much as his other novels.

I have loved Dean Koontz books since his very first one and even when he wrote under the name of Leigh Nichols was it? Just to confuse everyone?!!! Anyway, this is one that is worth your while.

A few of Koontz's books in the past few years kind of turned me off and disappointed me. For a while it seemed he held some sort of fascination with talking dogs and crazies having a fetish about eyeballs. It got a little too far-fetched, weird, and unbelieveable for me. But I still LOVE his books and never ever miss reading one of them and always look forward to his next one.

THE HUSBAND was a big happy come back for me! This book is good and full of surprises from the start. Mitch is a good guy, who owns a gardening business and loves his wife, Holly. They have an ordinary, good life going on for them. Then WHAM BAM -- everything goes haywire!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holly is kidnapped, a huge two million dollar ransom is expected, people are watching every move Mitch makes, and things and his life are not what he thought or expected. The kidnappers are pros and NOT messing around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who are they? And how do they expect a normal guy with a blue collar job to come up with two million bucks? Let the games begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pace starts out fast and gets faster. You cannot turn the pages quick enough. There are plenty of surprises and nothing is what the reader expects it to be. The changes in Mitch's life and in Mitch himself are quite startling and keeps the reader's attention.

This is Koontz at his best and I highly recommend this one! Do yourself a favor and read this book and don't contact the police!!!!

Thanks! Pam

Koontz's latest, The Husband starts off very strong for about the first third of the book but drags a lot through the second third, and completely falls apart in the final third, with the ending being highly predictable. In addition, all of Koontz's characters are one-dimemsional and, if that's not enough, they lack credibility as well. For example, Holly, the kidnapped wife never for a minute seems afraid of her kidnappers, with her main concern being that her husband hold it together. Further, at most, Koontz provide a very scanty description of her appearance and personality which limited this reader's ability to develop a strong reason to really care about her. If all of above reasons aren't enough to think twice about reading this book, Koontz's ending is unbelievable (i.e., after all the laws the husband broke while attempting to rescue his wife, he's able to go on with his life as if he did nothing wrong) and Koontz leaves some key issues unresolved (e.g., what happens to the ransom money?)

The popularity of Dean Koontz, whose newest thriller, The Husband, topped the New York Times best-seller list, rests on two guarantees: the Koontz protagonist, always an ordinary person, wounded by life, and usually burdened with a bad childhood will be unusually easy to identify with, while the Koontz villain will be so impregnably vain, so intricate in his self-justification, and so nearly omnipotent that you won't be able to resist viscerally hating him. His serial killers are free from all human qualities, and unlike, say, Hannibal Lecter, they're never allowed to be even superficially charming or magnetic. In that sense, the Husband is really just a parable, and its message is stark: evil must be spelled with a capital E, the world is black and white, and any conception of psychological cause and effect is just muddying the waters. Pushing this message is Koontz's only real concern here, and he forgets -- for the most part -- to be entertaining.

The Husband here is Mitch Rafferty, a landscaper happily at work in a flowerbed when he gets a call from his wife, Holly. She's been abducted, and her kidnappers demand a two million dollar ransom. Just an ordinary guy, Mitch doesn't have that kind of money. But the kidnappers know how he can get it...

Mitch loves Holly. He wants nothing more than to live with her, and raise a family, in seclusion behind their rose-entwined white picket fence. What kind of people would get in the way of a dream like that? Koontz knows, although he thinks his readers may need reminding. The primary character arc in The Husband is Mitch's awakening awareness of, as Koontz variously puts it, "Evil with an uppercase E," and "unalloyed evil," and, most alarmingly, "evil of a purity ... that he had been educated to deny existed." Mitch has been raised according to mod parenting techniques by behavioral psychologist parents, who have ruthlessly trained him to believe that evil is a mere superstition. Mitch's parents stand in for what Koontz perceives as elite opinion; they are, of course, tortured to death about halfway through. The rest of the novel is a similar over-response to moral relativism.

For all his grandstanding, Koontz shies away from any definition of the nature of evil. Most of the bad guys here aren't even rudimentarily developed, and die before speaking more than a few lines. Of the two who are developed, the chief kidnapper and his criminal rival, neither, Koontz insists, are motivated by greed. It's similar to the way he's insisted in earlier novels that his serial killers had pleasant, trauma-free childhoods. There, it seemed like Koontz was rebelling against a cliché, but in The Husband, something weirder is happening.

So, if these baddies are not driven by greed, what has pushed them towards a life of crime? You might suppose that they're crazy, especially after reading the darkly cryptic gibberish that Koontz gives them to speak. But no: "Some might call this madness, but Mitch knew its real name." Koontz never comes out and says it, but he appears to believe that the evil are evil at an atomic level, and born that way. Which seems even more twisted when Mitch realizes, further on, that while a crazy man deserves compassion, "an evil man was owed nothing more or less than ... the fury of a righteous justice." Mitch and Holly are revolted at the touch of these evil men, and killing them, they feel nothing, neither remorse nor pleasure.

I'm not sure what response, exactly, Koontz expects from us, the readers. After you demand that evil be given an uppercase E, what do you do next, agitate for a more Gothic font? Nevertheless, he demands the capitalization frothily, on every page, and with every motion of his story. There's certainly nothing wrong with depicting pure evil in literature, especially in this type of psychological horror. But The Husband really isn't literature at even a low-grade, it's shoddily conceived evangelism. And that's why Koontz is not popular outside his homeland and why he is not memorable at all: He lacks universal reach, he lacks a voice of his own...What he has been doing recently is cheap morality preaches disguised as thrillers...Not recommended.

From the first chapter, this book sucks you in. I had to read it in one day b/c I had to know what happened. Chapters are short so it's an easy read. Very well written with attention to detail. Would recommened for anyone.

One of the serious pitfalls of the so-called thriller is with the writer trying to pack ten pounds of jeopardy into a five-pound bag. Instead of adding to the horror and suspense, the story breaks into comedy. And that's not good at all. It's also exactly what happens here.

The characters are just a tiny bit unrealistic. Oh, maybe more than a tiny bit--the last kidnapper, for example. He's a foolish romantic with about a sixth-grade mentality but he is a nearly super criminal who is able to plan and carry out intricate actions. The hero's brother is even more unrealistic, a genius with the one-dimensional morality of a tiger. I never believed once in the people, after the first fifty pages or so.

But enough said. This starts well enough but goes steadily downhill into an improbable ending. By the way, what happened to the bag of money? Who ends up with it?

This book is a disappointment for readers of Dean Koontz. Instead of making the impossible believable he chose to write an everyday action/adventure book. This book has a few twists but it is easy to put down and walk away from. If you want a page turner or something that will give you a scare, try his older books.

Once a fan of Koontz, I am sorry to say, not only was this the worst book I have ever read by this author, but may be the worst book I have ever read. After plunging his protagonist into a depth of preposterously despairing situations, the author unabashedly insults the reader's literacy by instantly removing his character from soul wrenching tribulations without a hint of justifiable explanation. It is as though the publisher misplaced several chapters of the manuscript it was presented with.