Strangers

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 29 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

“The plot twists ingeniously...an engaging, often chilling book.” - The New York Times Book Review

A writer in California. A doctor in Boston. A motel owner and his employee in Nevada. A priest in Chicago. A robber in New York. A little girl in Las Vegas. They’re a handful of people from across the country, living through eerie variations of the same nightmare.

A dark memory is calling out to them. And soon they will be drawn together, deep in the heart of a sprawling desert, where the terrifying truth awaits...

©2008 Dean Koontz (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A unique spellbinder that captures the reader on the first page. Exciting, enjoyable, and an intensely satisfying read.” - Mary Higgins Clark

“[Koontz] is a great storyteller, and Strangers features a plot so original you’ll be reading, with chills, well into the morning." - New York Daily News

“Koontz is a master at constructing vivid, eerily realistic worlds that hold readers spellbound. A memorable thriller.” - Booklist

Hard to follow

The storyline jumps all over the place and backwards and forwards in time. Very hard to follow as an audiobook.

Good book

It was a good book, but felt long winded at times.
I think the stores could’ve been told in fewer than 29 hours.

Not as good as I remember

I read this book many years ago and remembered liking it much better than this time.

The narrator was fine for the older male voices but his young men sounded like old Jewish men and his young women sounded like whiny old Jewish men. This book would have benefited greatly from having two narrators , one male and one female.

The ending was incredibly cheesy. I do recall a lot of Koontz books from this time period having this same hokey feeling. At least his writing from then to now is completely devoid of woke BS!

Great story

I loved listening to this story. Very well written. Koontz is a very talented author.

Boring!

This book is long, drawn out and dull. The plot is weak and the story just drags along with very few interesting moments. The end is exactly what you are expecting.

One of the worst in a long time.

PASS.

loved every minute of it another great book, love

love that the book was set in Nevada and you got the details right this is a great book you won't regret listening

Great story, great narration

Always been a fan of Dean Koontz & having read a great many of his books I can tell you this is one of his best.

Excellent story & character development. I was actually a little sad once this book was finished.

The narrator was also excellent, maybe the best narrator I’ve listened to in the year or so I’ve been listening to audiobooks. The way he would change his voice to give each character a distinct voice & the way he injected emotion in his narration was excellent!!

Yes, it’s a long book to listen to, but we’ll worth the time. In fact, it felt as if it wasn’t long enough.

I highly recommend this book.

worst narration ever

I have read this book before and really enjoyed it. Thought it would be a good listen on a long drive, but the narration is so bad I couldn't make it past 2 chapters

Really super long

This is vintage Dean Koontz (early 1980's) and it's a super dated story. When I purchased it, I didn't realize what the publication date was, but it quickly became evident. It was featured during a sale, and somehow, I thought I was getting a newer book. I guess it was on sale because it's so old. That's okay.

I'm disappointed in the apparent lack of research done in preparation for writing this story--or at least certain aspects of it. As a doctorally prepared Clinical Nurse Specialist, I found myself cringing at a lot of the medical/surgical portrayals (one of the characters is a surgeon). For instance, "aortal" is a crossword puzzle word. What we say in real life is "aortic." The character finished her residency and then went on to train in a surgical specialty. He kept referring to it as her residency. More precisely, this would be a fellowship.

Perhaps that's neither here nor there. It just bugs me. The story itself started off good--it grabbed me and held on. However, as it went on (and on and on and on), My mind kept drifting off, but when I dragged it back, I found that I didn't need what I'd missed to understand what was going on. I did some household chores while listening--I went off to throw in a load of laundry and transfer wet stuff to the dryer. Came back and didn't feel the need to rewind the story. Mr. Koontz padded this story above and beyond what would really have been necessary. There was just so much that I didn't need in order for the story to be gripping, intense, interesting, and fun to read. As it was, all that extra padding weighed the story down. I never made it to the end. I got close but--gah!--it was just so tedious and boring to listen to during the last...4-6 hours. Or more, actually.

I don't mind Dick Hill. I've listened to a lot of books that he has narrated. Yeah, he's corny in his emoting and his female voices make me laugh. But he's just so...charming. For that, he gets a pass with me.

long book, it was okay

narration was good, overall book was okay. not one of Dean's best. Have a follow-up book could make it more exciting.