Good book. The book reminded me (up to a certain point, then the plots began to differ) of the movie High Tension. Some of the flashbacks into the heroine's childhood were disturbing, though. ( )

When Chyna's friend Laura is abducted, Chyna's instinct is to follow her attacker. Not knowing Laura is already dead, Chyna risks her life to save her friend. When Chyna herself becomes trapped, her first instinct is to get out alive, until she learns the identity of the killer's next victim.[return][return]I've successfully avoided Koontz books before, and I dont think I will be rushing out to buy the next one.[return][return]I wasnt in the right mindset for this one, obviously, as I rapidly got bored with it, and found little to reengage me with it.[return][return]The main female character - who has a history of abusive "uncles" - is left alone in a house after the other residents are killed, including her best friend. After hitching a lift on the mobile home the killer is driving, she manages to escape the vehicle, without being seen, and takes refuge in the convenience store, also without being seen. She then *follows him back* into the mobile home, having taken the cashier's gun, without noticing that the gunman has pulled down the cashier's trousers and emptied the gun into his backside. She only finds this out when she tries to fire at him, and naturally all the bullets have been used up. Oh for crying out loud!

When Chyna Shepherd crosses paths with a killer, she has to fight for more than her own life. A re-read for me I’m pleased to say I would still rate among the author’s best books. While I might not have thought this was as perfect as I did on my first read many years ago, much of this book remains intense. Yes, the antagonist possibly feels excessive, but not as caricatured as some famous criminals real or invented. Whatever writers can dream up, reality often trumps. But I recall the protagonist being among the first truly strong female characters despite her making one or two stupid mistakes. Being human and ‘not thinking’ makes for a more realistic person. She’s not superhuman. There are spiritual elements, which is often the case in Koontz books, but there’s no reason to buy into these if the reader doesn’t want to. The same elements could be coincidence yet give Chyna strength and determination. Only her belief in them is important. There is some animal injury and death, so that may be a trigger warning for some; I could deal because ultimately what happened is still the killer’s fault, but realistic in context, and not gratuitous. ( )

Awful excuse for a Dean Koontz book. It was rated so high, and was supposed to be a horror on par with King, however it was full of unbelievable, unrealistic character actions with way too much description of the setting, and virtually no dialog. I stuck through it because my OCD won't let me aba... ( )

Now this was the Koontz I remembered. Well done, and akin to its namesake, it’s very intense (see what I did there...) ( )