A review by wadeallen
Shattered by Dean Koontz

5.0

This is my third Koontz book. I was really impressed with this one. Set in the early 70's in the shadow of Vietnam, the JFK assassination and the counter-culture, it's a short but effective over-the-road thriller in the same tradition as Richard Matheson-Speilberg's Duel or 1986's The Hitcher. However, the main difference here is the story and characters are more realistic. The antagonist is fleshed out incredibly well and as the story unfolds you get a real sense of his motivation, which doesn't take away from the suspense in the least. His targets are a 30yo well-to-do hippie and his newly acquired 11yo step son. The title is representative of several themes in the story: the shattered mind of the psychopath, the shattered psyche of an idealistic but unsure father, and the shattered idea of the United States government. In fact, while this review might make this story sound dated, I found it incredibly timely. One of primary topics addressed is the relationship between law enforcement and the people they serve, and it's examined in an extremely similar fashion that's being discussed right now in 2015 USA.