About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

THE GOOD GUY
by Dean Koontz
HarperCollins, June 2007
400 pages
17.99 GBP
ISBN: 0007226594


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Stonemason Tim Carrier lives in California and wants nothing more then to be left alone. After a hard day's work at a job he loves, Tim likes to sit at his friend's bar and take in the world around him. The last thing he wants is to get involved with anyone. The quiet life he leads is the one he wants.

One night while he's drinking at the bar, a man goes over to Tim and asks if he is the man that he is expecting to meet. For a laugh, Tim says he is and the man gives Tim an envelope and leaves. Inside is a picture of a woman, a name, and an address along with $10,000. And there are instructions that the woman is to be killed. Tim thinks the whole thing is quite funny, that is until he realizes what he might have gotten himself involved with.

When the real hitman arrives at the bar Tim pretends to be the man who ordered the hit and tells the killer that he's changed his mind but will pay the money anyway. The hitman leaves, taking his payment. But Tim has a feeling that this is not the end of the problem. He discovers that the intended victim, Linda Paquette, happens to be a friend and neighbor of one of Tim's pals. With the help of his buddy, Linda agrees to see Tim and listen to what he has to tell her.

Meanwhile, the hitman, named Krait, discovers that Tim was not his client. He finds out who the victim is and proceeds to carry out his contract.

Tim and Linda know that they'd better get out of her house, and thus starts their running from Krait who now intends to kill both of them. But somehow Krait seems to know everything that they are doing and is close on their tail every step of the way. How does the hit man know everything? Is it possible that he is a cop?

THE GOOD GUY by Dean Koontz is not one of the author's better books. It starts out well by introducing Tim and explaining the type of person he is. It's admirable that he wants to be the victim's knight in shinning armor and save her, but from the very start the reader knows where this is going. Surprise, surprise, Tim and Linda soon fall madly in love with each and bingo, the book is ruined.

Would Tim have still helped the beautiful and witty Linda if she wasn't so wonderfully beautiful and so terribly witty? Would he risk his life for someone who wasn't quite as lovely as she is? Any bets?

The book goes on and on for far too long with the couple on the run. Time and time again we read about where the two will be hiding and somehow Krait, the hitman, finds them sometimes before they get there! In fact, Krait is such a superman that even when Linda and Tim have a substantial lead on him he somehow gets to their destination before they do. This happens so many times that it all becomes extremely boring.

Koontz also gets a little bit too flowery with his descriptions in some of his books and THE GOOD GUY can get pretty flowery at times. In the middle of chase scenes Koontz inserts extended passages describing the clouds and the flowers and the kites that the children are flying. This happens more than a few times and I ended up skipping these passages just to get back to the action.

The ending turns out to be absurd, especially when we find out just who Tim is and how he is able to get help from a very high-powered person.

THE GOOD GUY is not a good book. Too many things were implausible, the romance between Tim and Linda was ridiculous, and the end was just too unbelievable. Dean Koontz has written some marvelous books in his time, but this is not one of them.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, August 2007

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]