Strange Highways

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Joey Shannon, an alcoholic whose life has been going nowhere for 20 years, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father. As he leaves town, he gets a mysterious second chance to relive the night in 1975 when his life began its downward spiral: to both literally and figuratively take the road that he didn't originally take. On this road he is supremely tested by conflict with his successful and charismatic older brother P.J., by conflict between his cynicism and his lost faith, and by conflict between the ultimate good and evil.

©1995 Dean Koontz (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Koontz does it again!

As usual, it was hard to stop each night and put the story down. Excellent story.

meh

I love Dean Koontz but it took me months to finish this one. I think it was the narrator. His portrayal of the main character felt too dramatic so didn't feel authentic to the situations.

Suspensful

Not your average novel, ending was unlike any other novel I've read in a while. Wonderfully narrator however quite funny because the male tries to make a female voice and its so off but added to the listening experience.

Disappointing Without The Short Stories

When I first read the synopsis of this book, it listed not only the title story "Strange Highways" but also many other short stories. I was disappointed when the title story ended and more did not follow. "Strange Highways" was good but not Koontz best work. It was somewhat tedious and did not fully keep my attention. While I still recommend this book, I caution the Audible buyer to focus on reviews of the audio book so that they are not disappointed when all of the short stories listed in other reviews do not follow the title story.

Just Doesn't Stand Out...

I like time travel novels. I have read all that I can find on Audible. Koontz' "Lightning" happens to be one of my favorite time travel books, but this one just didn't cut the proverbial mustard. The writing really feels sophomoric for most of the book. For instance, Koontz constantly removes the suspense and danger the characters find themselves in by telling the listener things like "but he was okay" or "it looked horrific, but she was alive"... the reader needs to wonder about the results of an event before just telling them the outcome. Another thing that bugged me was that when Koontz felt that the reader needed some information that is not common knowledge to make sense of something, it was abruptly inserted and felt like it was read from Wikipedia. It somewhat disrupted the flow of thought. The climax was not that great either. The narrator could have been better. I listened comfortably at 1.5X speed. I don't think I would use a credit on this one, but wouldn't hesitate on grabbing Lightning. If any of my review helped, please click YES below. Later.

A Dean Koontz fan

I love this book and although I enjoy listening to it the reader is just a little too excited in his voice sometimes. It is a book meant to be read in a darker tone. I had this on cassette years ago and really enjoyed the reader on that tape. He had the voice that portrayed the lead character as a person in the life that he had built for himself. Even so this book is well worth listening to for the story itself. It is written by one of the best writers I have ever read.

Horrible Performance

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not. While a fairly good Koontz story (not one of his best), the performance is so bad that it's almost unbearable.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jeff Cummings’s performances?

Probably not.

Could you see Strange Highways being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

A little bit predictable, but it would probably make a good 'B' movie.

My first Koontz book in years.

While I first read Dean Koontz several years ago this is the first I have read in a long time. I was very impressed although I found it a little difficult to see where the story was going at first. Then I began to wonder just where it might end and how. All in all it was an enjoyable and captivating listen. The narrator did a excellent job.

one of my favorites

I had read this book as my first Dean Koontz novel and was supposed to find just as engrossing the second time!

good story

slow start. surprisingly, there was no dog in the story.

But was a very good book. it's worth the read. it kept our attention.