The Husband

by Dean Koontz

Review by H. Ann Dyess
 

What do Orange County, dark humor, great dialogue, and creatures that instil page-turning terror until the wee hours of the morning have in common?  If you said Dean Koontz, you've probably been a fan about as long as I have.  In The Husband, Koontz takes terror to the next level of psychological horror.

As the novel opens, Mitchell Rafferty, a landscaper, receives a phone call one sunny California morning.  Gloom descends quickly as Mitch learns that his wife Holly has been kidnapped, and that he has sixty hours to supply two million dollars ransom.  Confusion sets in.  Where is he, a mere landscaper, going to come up with that kind of money?

In typical Koonz-like style, readers follow Mitch as he desperately tries to get a hold of the money while avoiding being set up for his wife's disappearance--and possibly her murder.  However, this is a plot unlike any Koontz has woven in the past.  Instead of his typical world where lines of good and evil are clearly drawn, through Mitch, readers question the integrity of everyone he meets.  Is Detective Taggart in on the plot? His former roommate?  Whom can he trust to help him? 

Using dark humour that only Koontz wields so well, he takes us through yet another tale of psychological horror that ends all too soon.  What's more, his plot twists in The Husband are unexpected--even for a veteran fan.  Many of his trademark ingredients are there, but in this book, the scariest element is that there is no demon, no monster, no morphing DNA or nanotechnology.  The monsters are human, made of the same stuff we are--and that makes it possibly his scariest book yet.

Publisher: Bantam Books (2006)

ISBN: 0553804790  - Hardcover (416 pages)

Publisher: Random House Large Print (2006)

ISBN: 0739326619  - Hardcover (512 pages)