Book Review: Velocity by Dean Koontz

Quick Review

Velocity by Dean Koontz
Published 2005
Bob's Thoughts: A quickly paced action tale that forces on man, and the readers, to question what the value of life truely is.
Available at Your Local Booksellers
Bob's Grade: B



Full Review:

I will always have a special place in my heart for Dean Koontz. He was the very first adult writer that I discovered on my own. I grew up in a lower middle class family, without much disposable income, like buying books. I was a voracious reader but had to find most of my reading materials at my local library, my school library or in my sister’s collection of cheesy romance novels. At the age of fifteen I got my first “real” job and with that first paycheck I bought a selection of adult novels, including Dean Koontz’s The Bad Place. After reading that he quickly became my favorite authors.

Eventually, my selections of authors increased but my love of Koontz’s novels didn’t diminish. I quickly added Watchers, Servants of the Twilight and Strangers as some of my favorite contemporary novels. Over the years Koontz has adapted his style and changed things up, some with good results and some mediocre at best, yet the basic heart of his novels have remained intact. Recently, Koontz has upped his output, two Hardcover a year as opposed to one, yet the creative quality has exceeded many of his older offerings.

Velocity is old school Koontz. Sharp, and witty, and fast paced. In many ways this book, as well as his previous novel, Life Expectancy, read like a Richard Laymon novel yet without the juvenile obsession with breast and sex, and with more developed characters and a ending with true payoff.

The set up is intriguing, a bartender named Billy Wiles receives a note one day asking him to make a choice. If he tells the cops about the note and gets them to act an elderly person involved in charity will die, if he doesn’t a lovely blond teacher will die. Initially believing the note a joke in poor taste, Billy is eventually forced to face that this is no joke and a maniacal killer has targeted him for a deadly game.

While the surface aspects of the novel is a rip roaring roller coaster ride, Koontz’s digs deep into the psychological scars of his main character, who has become socially crippled while dealing with the stress of caring for him comatose fiancé. What Koontz does here as he did with the novel One Door Away From Heaven, is examines the decaying value of life. With Billy contemplating suicide, and his fiancé’s doctor suggesting he pull the plug on his lover, Billy must now make choices about whose life is more valuable as he plays the killers sick game.

While Koontz does a good job fleshing out these issues, and developing the character of Billy, something about Billy is just unlikable. As a main character goes, Billy comes off as more whiney than emotionally destroyed about the events of his life and the trials he has undergone. While he fights for the life of his wife, he has given up on his own. Koontz has had a knack for developing characters who life has kicked in the ass, yet they found a way to not just persevere, but thrive. Yet, Billy is not one of them. Yet, this aspect may be necessity for the tale, because Billy must determine the value of his life in order to find the strength to defeat the killer. Yet, it makes the book seem hollow when compared to others like Off Thomas.

Check Out Dean Koontz's Website.