M. Tetzner

I am not going to say that this is a hidden gem or anyting - far from it.
When I read this one other review here, I must admit that one pushed me over the edge. You know, the girl that says she's been into the horror-genre for 25 years and this one finally scared here.
As expected, nothing here scared me, but I don't know about you: do you ever really get scared, literally?
Having said that, considering the many terrible reviews the book got at amazon (among some good ones), this was decent. Nothing special. But not bad, either. If I was to truly recommend someting, though, I'd say "the killer's wife", which I finished today.

About 15 or 20 novels into the work of Dean Koontz, I have now come across the first one I truly hate. Except "icebound" maybe, but that's, you know, "early work". But "Brother Odd".... I have hardly ever listened to anything this stupid. I guess it has to do with the character ODD Thomas, which many absolutely adore, I just wonder why? I almost hate him. It's hard to explain. It's like Odd has to come up with something witty in every SINGLE sentence he says, and another reviewer stated that he soon becomes a "cooler than thou" kinda bro. I totally agree. I am also wondering if I am starting to suffer from attention deficit disorder, I just could not listen to this nonsense. These mysteries are just no fun at all. It's all about Koontz wanting to express his funny side, which he does have (Frankenstein....often funny, I think), but this is too much. I have an hour left go go, may Odd have mercy on me. And can some psychopath please show up and kill all the monks. Just kidding.

yep, definately thumbs up. the lady reading the book does an excellent job. she's the kind that likes to act out the character, rather than just reading the book, and maybe once or twice she went over the top. however, I have listened to many horrible female voices, trying to imitated the male characters and all that. this one is a winner.
plot: very very thrilling. there is this one concept that I think I have come across before in a novel by tess-gerittsen, which I won't mention in order not to spoil the experience. let's just say that an exquisite psychopath (if you are a psychopath-conaisseur, like me ;) is being portrayed here, one that will send chills down your spine. everything is explained with psychological detail, depth and wit. the tension never stops, partly because it's quite short (7 hours). totally put it in the bag.

I have read a lot of Koontz and was a bit skeptical, seeing that Golden Retriever on the cover page....thinking maybe this is going to be real bad, real corny and all that (especially since Koontz' dog just died.)
But surprise surprise. after reading many reviews on this book on amazon as well, I think it's time someone steps up and mentions that this book is not really about dogs and dog rescue, though though this plays a certain role.

there is actually something like a plot as well, and I was really really impressed by "moon girl", the novel's most shining character and villain, I am not saying that she is the most vicious koontz-creation ever, since there are so many, but she is certainly second to none. the way koontz fleshes out the character there is a super dangerous and also erotic charge emanating from this character, very interesting. and the villain a woman, that's quite rare. Big plus.

amy the dog-fanatic and rescuer has an interesting story to tell as well - and guess what: there are supernatural elements in this story. and there's lots of really brutal sadistical people after her and her boy-friend.

so don't be too concerned, this is not all "cutsy" stuff (though some of it). it is, however, a light and good suspenseful read, way better than I had thought it would be. the ending is in my opinion completely ridiculous, and I am wondering if he screwed it up on purpose, but this story does not really need a clever ending, it's just not that type of read where you just can't wait for a ingenious conclusion. the ending is silly but it doesn't really matter with this book. will most certainly entertain you.

First of all, congratulations to Stephen Lang, for doing such a superb job with the book, I enjoyed him the second time now, he also reads "by the light of the moon" by Dean Koontz. This book, together with "The face" ranks among my top 3 Koontz-books, absolutely world-class. The audio book breaks down pretty much in 3 seven hour parts and I can honestly say that the middle part represents the strongest I have come about in the thriller-genre. While some argue that the book is too long, I think that everybody who brings an appreciation for creativity to the book, will fall in love with this one, leave alone the suspense. Is the book too long? Sure it is, Koontz-novels almost always are. However, I would have to contain myself not to call this book the work of genius. While I do not want to spoil anything here, let's just say that the evil force behind it all has been fleshed out in *creative* (the key-word to the book) detail, keeping the listender mesmerized and literally sweaty handed. The way Koontz ties up the loose ends are brilliant, tongue-in-cheek and even good for a laugh. The characters are extremely likeable, a former weakness of Koontz, and just a certain form of "literature" that shows up again and again throughout the book shows, Koontz still has a deep, playful passion for writing and the fact that he is kind of a mass producer does not take away from the quality at all. The plot unfolds a bit slow at the beginning, but this time there is a method to the (descriptive) madness. The horror gets so real. The listener will get over-compensated for a not so spectacular beginning. This book will split the critics down the middle one more time, as they will love or hate it, this one is more complex (like "the face"), and less linear than for example "the husband". In my opinion, this 700 + books is merely about 50 pages too long and he should have taken it out of the last third, but who am I. It's the journey that counts and this is a MASTERPIECE

absolutely the worst koontz so far, nothing to add to the previous reviewer. get "the face" which takes some time to get into, but is well worth it. actually, I have listened to 60 percent of the audiobooks by koontz here and read another 5 or so books by him, they are all decent. "life expectancy" is also not bad at all. obviously, this is a koontz-fan writing, but this one was written more than 10 years ago and is very weak.

There are some parts in this book that are among the best if not THE best that I have ever read in the horror genre. There is a great part involving a monkey, an even better "hallucinogenic" meeting between two men, a cat and a dog and a real spooky conversation with a cop (or is it?) in a car.
I certainly have read tons of horror from Lovecraft to Clive Barker and Koontz to Poe. In THIS book I experienced the first time in my life that the author managed to get "into my head", leaving me with sweaty hands at some point.
Unfortunately, these are bits and pieces that will last the the equivalent of maybe 4 to 8 pages in a book and look at how much time there is, overall.
All in all the first 65 percent are very entertaining and in parts world-class - the best, maybe, I have ever read.
Then disaster strikes. I recommend reading reviews on the real book on a website of your choice and it will become clear, that, as always, there are heated debates about Koontz' attempts to be that literary juggler of words. He manages to bore in the last third of the book like it's running out of fashion. It's nuts, he just destroys everything. So if I may make an unusual suggestion: get it, there is great stuff. Once you get into the boring part, just stop it and start a new book. Most folks wouldn't follow this advice for we are partly looking for an experience of completeness in a book, but this is nevertheless what I recommend. After all, there is some great thrills and what use is there to listen to hours and hours of literary craziness of absolutely zero value?

Oh boy, I guess there will be about as much content in this review as in the audio itself. To make it short, this is an endless rambling of relatively useless drivel, that keeps one wondering where this man gets all his credentials from. I also own a DVD collection on sales success, one of them featuring this author, and I experienced the same thing, namely thinking, sometimes almost sreaming, SO WHAT!!!
It is boring and conducted in such a way that one always wonders if maybe a minute down the road the meaty part of the audio will begin, so why should I be like him and drone on and on, wasting your time? I won't. This is not a how-to, which is ok, but if you want some general but inspiring material on the profession of sales, why not turn to Tim Connor's "soft sell" which is also available here at audible.com, or, if you own your own company, high trust selling by Todd Duncan. There is just nothing here.