One Door Away from Heaven

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Anne Twomey

Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can't find her way. When a new family settles into the rental trailer next door, Micky meets the young girl who will change her forever.

Despite her deformed left leg and withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani's effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express. Leilani's mother is little more than a child herself, and her stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani's conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky's discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now "gone to the stars".

While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. So Micky sets out across America to find them: for the first time living for something bigger than herself. One Door Away from Heaven is an incandescent mix of suspense and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have listeners cheering.

©1991 Dean Koontz (P)1991 Random House, Inc.

Fantastic narration

I’m a big fan of Dean Koontz due to my imagination that gets it, and Audible has allowed me to put it to work. I would have to say though that Anne Twomey is one heck of a narrator that and made me visualize the characters clearly, “Good job Anne”, you nailed it

Winner!

if you are a Dean Koontz fan and a dog lover, this is the book for you!

If not my favorite Koontz novel then very close

I first read this just before Christmas back in 2003 and it is, as te title says, possibly my favorite Koontz novel or very close to it.

The story opens with Michelina (Mickey) Bellsong, who is in the process of sunbathing in her aunt's backyard when she encounters a partially crippled though highly intelligent ten-year-old girl named Leilani Clonk. Though at first not inclined to take seriously Leilani's wild stories of a drug addicted mother and a murdering stepfather, a chance encounter with the woman, coupled with Leilani's own perceptive guesses about Mickey's own troubled past, cause Mickey to wonder if Leilani might not be telling the truth. When at Leilani's urging she researches the supposed murderer, Mickey discovers just how little time may be left to Leilani, a point driven home when the girl suddenly vanishes in the night. Completely free of doubt for the first time in many years, Mickey sets out on a daring, reckless mission to bring Leilani home, aided reluctantly by a burned out former police officer turned private investigator and also unknowingly by an orphaned boy who seems strangely out of place among humanity. But only time will tell whether they'll be able to save Leilani before her implacable enemy can put his twisted plans into action.
As usual with Koontz I liked the story, but actress Anne Twomey's cool, no-nonsense narration does an excellent job of bringing it to life and even capturing the Koontz brand humor that permeates all but a few of his novels, particularly in parts involving the orphan boy and his more comical misadventures when attempting to socialize. She also does a fine job with the book's two villains, both the sinister cheerfulness and unpredictability of Leilani's mother and Preston's cold calculation. If you haven't already listened to this one I highly recommend it. You might just enjoy it as much as I did.

Loved the entire book but the end

The book took three peoples fascinating stories to be combined in the end of which I could not wait to see how all of them would meet together. Loved every moment of the book but I felt like the last chapter the author must have needed to submit the book in a hurry to his publisher because it wasn’t a well thought out ending to such an amazing story. Yep there was Out of no where golden retrievers that did not have anything to do with the story in the end lol but I get it, Dean loves golden retrievers. Living by him in S. OC, I have friends that tell me they see Dean dine with his dogs often. Maybe he knows something I don’t know about dogs?? Haha. Regardless of the end, the book is a must read, creative imagination and especially if you love the author.

Fantastic Book

This is a wonderful book. The caricatures plaid the parts wonderful, and it proves that there are life’s that come from other planets, and they are not bad, but good . The performances was great, and the story line was perfect. The story line was perfect.

Great performance.

Great performance. Narrator brilliantly portrayed each character's distinct personality!

We love to listen to audio books while traveling in the car. At times we found ourselves sitting I the car outside of our destination just to find out what happened next. I will admit, however, that this selection is just too long for our current style and frequency of car travel. It took almost a year and a half to finish it! Maybe full time RVrs would do better with the longer books!

Amusing

I really enjoyed this book I liked the characters and the plot. At times tense and dangerous and at times quite funny.

Dean Koontz Never Disappoints

very well written, and thought-provoking. I always enjoy learning something new. thank you for yet another enjoyable, but that makes us all look deep inside of ourselves.

Beautiful Story

I laughed, I cried, and I got really scared at times. It was a lot of fun and I feel like something in my soul
has been nourished by having listened to it. Enjoy.

Love, love, love it!

This book is beautifully written. True work of art. Narrator reads this with the right amount of emotion