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Summary
Summary
The stunning new thriller from one of the world's bestselling authors. Hostile reviews may have hastened the deaths of some writers, but Cubby Greenwich is made of sterner stuff. At least this is what he tells himself, meanwhile obsessing about the scathing review of his latest bestseller by Shearman Waxx in a national newspaper. A feared and therefore revered critic, Waxx has an aura of mystery about him that has carried him far as an arbiter of taste, but the mystery itself is about to break cover. In an unexpected encounter with Waxx, Cubby says one innocent word, but it is the wrong word, and it seems to trigger an inhuman fury in the critic, who becomes bent on destroying Cubby and everything he loves. For it soon becomes apparent that Waxx is not merely a ferocious literary enemy, but a ruthless sociopath. When Cubby finally learns the truth, can he save himself and his family from the appalling danger they are in? The terror has only just begun
Author Notes
Dean Koontz was born on July 9, 1945 in Everett, Pennsylvania. He received a degree in education from Shippensburg State College in 1967. A former high school English teacher as well as a teacher-counselor with the Appalachian Poverty Program, he began writing as a child to escape an ugly home life caused by his alcoholic father. A prolific writer at a young age, he had sold a dozen novels by the age of 25. Early in his career, he wrote under numerous pen names including David Axton, Brian Coffey, K. R. Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, Richard Paige, and Owen West. He is best known for the books written under his own name, many of which are bestsellers, including Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, The Husband, Odd Hours, 77 Shadow Street, Innocence, The City, Saint Odd, and The Silent Corner.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A bad book review propels this farcical thriller from bestseller Koontz (Your Heart Belongs to Me). Bestselling author Cullen "Cubby" Greenwich is mortified when Shearman Waxx, "the nation's premier literary critic," savages his work. Cubby manages to find the "syphilitic swine" at Roxie's Bistro in Newport Beach, Calif., where the author's six-year-old prodigy son nearly pees by accident on Waxx in the restaurant's men's room. In retaliation, Waxx threatens Cubby with doom and gets things started nicely by blowing up his house. With almost superhuman ease, the book critic keeps track of Cubby and his family as they flee for their lives. While some may take this as satire, the over-the-top villain's underdeveloped motivation and a jokey narrative tone that jars when juxtaposed with terrifying scenes of violence will leave others scratching their heads. By the time Koontz introduces a science fiction element, a lot of readers may have already checked out. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Koontz has injected his opinions about the state of the culture into his crackerjack thrillers ever since Dark Rivers of the Heart (1994), which bristled with indignation over murderous law enforcement against the Branch Davidian religious sect and others. Not since then has he made his perception of cultural disintegration so central to the plot as it is in this outlandish but, once again, smoothly spun nail-biter. Successful novelist Cullen Greenwich Cubby to his intimates at long last gets reviewed by the lead critic of the most prestigious American newspaper. But it's a severely hostile review that indicates that the reviewer didn't bother reading the book a real hatchet job. His wife and child-prodigy son, whose passion at age six is physics, advise him to forget about it, but after he learns that the critic lives nearby and patronizes a favorite restaurant of his, he can't quite. And so, within mere hours, the Greenwiches' house blows up, and they're on the run, linked to the rest of the world by disposable cellphones only. Some critic. The murderous reviewer may have chosen the wrong victims this time, however, for the missus comes from a wealthy and very ingenious survivalist clan, and she's determined to fight back. Asking greater suspension of disbelief, or willingness to indulge angry paranoia about the state of American popular culture, than he ever has before, Koontz still grabs readers as few other thriller scribes can.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2009 Booklist
Library Journal Review
"Cubby" Greenwich is a best-selling novelist with a new book out and reviews hitting the stands. When he's eviscerated by renowned critic Shearman Waxx in a review full of errors, he can't help but wonder at the man behind the critique, the inaccuracies, and the poor syntax. Following one relatively harmless run-in at a local restaurant, Cubby and his family (wife and fellow author Penny, six-year-old son and off-the-charts genius son "Spooky" Milo, and similarly spooky dog Lassie) are exposed to terrors beyond metaphorical slaying. Shearman Waxx is a man bent on destroying not merely Cubby's book sales but the man and his family. He has uncanny knowledge, and Cubby soon discovers that he's not the only author to fall victim to Waxx's psychopathic attentions. Relentless echoes the very best of the Odd Thomas series in voice; this is an exquisite crafting of the thrilling, the unexplainable, and the personal, with the mirth and whimsy that Koontz throws in seemingly effortlessly just when it's most needed and least expected. Koontz fans will snap up. Buy multiple copies. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/09.]-Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.