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A review by paulabrandon
The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
2.0
Talk about coming up with an intriguing premise and then going nowhere with it!
Tim Carrier is in a bar having a drink when a man comes in, and seems to mistake him for someone else. Indeed, he's mistaken Tim for a hitman! Before Tim can stop him, in comes the hitman himself, who confuses Tim for the man who wants someone killed! Tim tries to call the hit off, it doesn't work, so Tim sets out to save the target, Linda Paquette, himself, also putting himself in the line of fire.
After that set-up, the book is nothing more than one, long, mostly boring chase as Tim and Linda flit from place to place, trying to evade capture. This is interspersed with the perspective of the hitman, Krait, who also flits from place to place, passing judgement on the insides of various people's houses, and sometimes killing the odd person or two who get in his way. Meanwhile, Tim, Linda and Krait spend a lot of time musing about society in general, and engaging in dialogue that is not how normal people speak. It's all wrapped up with a fairly anti-climactic showdown, and a silly conspiracy over why Linda was targeted in the first place.
I mostly skim-read this and didn't miss anything. Tim and Linda are so virtuous to the point that they're actually snore-inducing. I learnt far more about Krait than was necessary. As far as psychopathic hitmen go, he rated high on the boring and tedious scale.
I loved Dean Koontz when I was a teenager, moving from YA horror to adult thrillers. I think I need to have a stern word with my twenty-years-ago self. It's her fault that I'm still picking up Dean Koontz books today!
Tim Carrier is in a bar having a drink when a man comes in, and seems to mistake him for someone else. Indeed, he's mistaken Tim for a hitman! Before Tim can stop him, in comes the hitman himself, who confuses Tim for the man who wants someone killed! Tim tries to call the hit off, it doesn't work, so Tim sets out to save the target, Linda Paquette, himself, also putting himself in the line of fire.
After that set-up, the book is nothing more than one, long, mostly boring chase as Tim and Linda flit from place to place, trying to evade capture. This is interspersed with the perspective of the hitman, Krait, who also flits from place to place, passing judgement on the insides of various people's houses, and sometimes killing the odd person or two who get in his way. Meanwhile, Tim, Linda and Krait spend a lot of time musing about society in general, and engaging in dialogue that is not how normal people speak. It's all wrapped up with a fairly anti-climactic showdown, and a silly conspiracy over why Linda was targeted in the first place.
I mostly skim-read this and didn't miss anything. Tim and Linda are so virtuous to the point that they're actually snore-inducing. I learnt far more about Krait than was necessary. As far as psychopathic hitmen go, he rated high on the boring and tedious scale.
I loved Dean Koontz when I was a teenager, moving from YA horror to adult thrillers. I think I need to have a stern word with my twenty-years-ago self. It's her fault that I'm still picking up Dean Koontz books today!