Rating: 
Summary: Wish he would have done more with the plot
Review: This is a story that starts out great, has a few inspired moments, and then ends very disappointingly with too few questions answered. The idea is very good. A man (Hatch) is brought back from the dead after drowning in icy water. This has been done in real life after a limited amounts of "dead" minutes, but the novel has the main character "dead" for eighty minutes before revival happens. Apparantly, based on the rules of the book, when one is gone that long, one comes back with certain powers. One of these is the ability to see what other people in the same situation can see. What makes this even juicier is that the person Hatch seems to share this ability with is a flat out nutcase serial killer. Koontz does very well here to try and create a person about as evil as modern mass publishing will let him. The bad guy, Vassago, wants to kill the right combination of people to somehow allow him to get back into hell, which he apparantly liked before also being revived. While torturing and killing a virgin or two (as well as some non-virgins) pretty much pushes the envelope as to what the publishers will tolerate, we should probably be thankful Vassago doesn't get to carry out what he REALLY wants to progress to. All this sets up well, as we get the obligatory scenes where Hatch starts discovering his powers. We also see Vassago already established, and Koontz does a good job of teasing us by giving Vassago's background little by little. But I wish he would have given us more on the details of these powers. First, Vassago seems to also have some other powers besides being able to see through Hatch. One of these is night vision, and there is a hint of increased physical strength and speed. I would have liked to know more about these powers, and see them used more. I also realize that we are dealing with a killer whose oars are not entirely in the water, so any logic Vassago has can be chalked up to that fact. But in my book, if he wants to go back to Hell, he seems to be certainly qualified based on his "first" life. If not, one murder would probably ice it, but he seems to need this elaborate chain of them, culminating in one really nasty one to insure his goal. But I guess you can't have a novel about a serial killer unless you get a good example of the "serial" part. This is not bad, mind you, but I found too many holes in the motive. All that I could live with better if it weren't for the ending. I find it too quick, too simple, too "we've seen it before". Without revealing it, I was just disappointed that after this big mental buildup between the two, there could have been some, let's say, "quality" time between them. Time to match wits face to face, and using the powers both of them have. But all of this does not come to pass. Ann Rice may overdo it in explaining the rules to her worlds, but as least we do know the rules. I would have liked to have seen more of them explained in this work.
Rating: 
Summary: Read the book- stay away from the movie
Review: This is in the category of Dean Koontz books that are incomparable. Other books have been made into movies and won best picture, and that doesn't have this level of evil. The adopted daughter is a very crucial part. When someone dies and is brought back to life after a certain time period, you wonder what did they see, or go through. People talk of experiencing various things. This puts a spin on all that you've ever read or heard about. It is a great read and the scariest of all, is that there are people out there who are truly this evil. Stick to the book and don't destroy your images in your mind by watching the movie. If Mr. Koontz was disappointed ... what do you think?
Rating: 
Summary: A Painful Slog toward an Ugly Destination
Review: Very difficult book for me to get through, then an ending that made me wish I didn't bother. I could hardly keep my eyes opened through Koontz's drawn-out medical "drama" and his melodramatic evil characterizations. I simply found the book boring, but decided to stick it out. It did not scare me; it did not make me laugh; it did not satisfy me in the end. Life is too short for this type of over-written and under-plotted and under-characterized work. I couldn't bear to give the book only one star, because it was obvious Koontz was trying really, really hard to make a literate and informative book. But I never gave a damn about the phony characters--from peter perfect resuscitation patient to the doctor that just loved his darn patients too much to the evil man in sunglasses that lived in the realm between life and death, I couldn't buy it. It felt contrived, like most of the books from Koontz.
Rating:
Summary: A Painful Slog toward an Ugly Destination
Review: Very difficult book for me to get through, then an ending that made me wish I didn't bother. I could hardly keep my eyes opened through Koontz's drawn-out medical "drama" and his melodramatic evil characterizations. I simply found the book boring, but decided to stick it out. It did not scare me; it did not make me laugh; it did not satisfy me in the end. Life is too short for this type of over-written and under-plotted and under-characterized work. I couldn't bear to give the book only one star, because it was obvious Koontz was trying really, really hard to make a literate and informative book. But I never gave a damn about the phony characters--from peter perfect resuscitation patient to the doctor that just loved his darn patients too much to the evil man in sunglasses that lived in the realm between life and death, I couldn't buy it. It felt contrived, like most of the books from Koontz.
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