Relentless

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling novelist Cullen "Cubby" Greenwich is a lucky man and he knows it. He makes a handsome living doing what he enjoys. His wife, Penny, a children's book author and illustrator, is the love of his life. Together they have a brilliant six-year-old, Milo, affectionately dubbed "Spooky", nd a non-collie named Lassie, who's all but part of the family.

So Cubby knows he shouldn't let one bad review of his otherwise triumphant new book get to him - even if it does appear in the nation's premier newspaper and is penned by the much-feared, seldom-seen critic Shearman Waxx. Cubby knows that the best thing to do is ignore the gratuitously vicious, insulting, and inaccurate comments. Penny knows it; even little Milo knows it. If Lassie could talk, she'd tell Cubby to ignore them, too.
Ignore Shearman Waxx and his poison pen is just what Cubby intends to do. Until he happens to learn where the great man is taking his lunch. Cubby just wants to get a look at the mysterious recluse whose mere opinion can make or break a career - or a life.

But Shearman Waxx isn't what Cubby expects, and neither is the escalating terror that follows what seemsto be an innocent encounter. For Waxx gives criticism; he doesn't take it. He has ways of dealing with those who cross him that Cubby is only beginning to fathom. Soon Cubby finds himself in a desperate struggle with a relentless sociopath, facing an inexorable assault on far more than his life.

Fearless, funny, utterly compelling, Relentless is Dean Koontz at his riveting best, an unforgettable tale of the fragile bonds that hold together all that we most cherish - and of those who would tear those bonds asunder.

©2009 Dean Koontz (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Critic reviews

"Koontz is a master of the edge-of-your-seat, paranoid thriller and perhaps the leading American practitioner of the form." ( Newark Star-Ledger)
"Koontz is working at his pinnacle, providing terrific entertainment that deals seriously with some of the deepest themes of human existence: the nature of evil, the grip of fate and the power of love." ( Publishers Weekly)

another great Koontz

Another great Koontz! Maybe not 5 star Koontz, but still, he never disappoints.
I read some complaints from others... but I think when you're a fan, sometimes ya need to appreciate the writing and the story for what it is, and don't try to break it down too much...
don't be cynical about the situation and circumstances...
I love his writing style and even if it's not one of my most faves.... lots of times I enjoy that book for its own purposes... just on a smaller scale. If you love Koontz, you gotta read all of his stuff! If you're a new Koontz fan, maybe start with Odd and Frankenstein, and Watchers, .... then you'll know you can't get enough!

Another Koontz Masterpiece? - not this time

Dean Koontz has written some masterpieces but this isn't one of them. There's much movement and action but little in the way of depth. If you're new to Koontz, don't judge him by this effort - go back and listen to Lightning, Strangers, the Bad Place and Watchers.

Dean Koontz is brilliant

Author's sense of humor is as amazing as his ability to keep you in suspense

Really?!?

I have been a big Koontz fan, but his last two novels left me feeling like he must have a ghost writer. This story is not believable, and the characters don't react as real people would in this situation. How people can joke around after having almost been murdered is beyond me. I kept asking myself throughout the story, "Really?" I have big hopes for the third in the Frankenstein series coming out soon, but this attempt was weak in my opinion.

Bad Sound

it gave me half of the book and the audio is so bad sounding it is sad I thought that at first it was just the narrator but it is the same narrator that is on I tunes and it is better sounding there i do not thing i will be staying with audible if this is the quality {and i use the term loosely of their products.

Am I missing chapters at the end? Que paso?

This book is the same category than most of his last books, a promise that never materializes. Is Koontz finding unfinished and unpublished stories and updating them with current technology but not spending time to wrap up complex plots? So short and rushed is the ending that I replayed the last chapters twice thinking I must have fallen sleep only to discover that was it!!! It reminded me of my little niece telling us all a convoluted story and resolving it by saying: "THE END" as she walked away. How is that a story of: a family running away from super evil doers, a ninja like wife, a tormented writer, a little boy wonder who happens to build technology wonders, a dog with who knows what powers, a dark menacing and almost supernatural enemy who tortures women and children, survivors from mass murders, survivalist families with complex underground hidey-holes, kidnaps, cross country chases etc, concludes with little more than a "THE END"...Fin.. :(
Thas is all Folks..

Disappointment

Became a Dean Koontz fan again after reading the "Odd Thomas" series, but "Relentless" gives me cause to reconsider. Great action & character development but felt as if Koontz decided he had enough pages and just wrapped the manuscript up as fast as he could. Would have liked to follow these characters further but didn't get the opportunity.

unliked

the story line was on the ok side of boring. the ending was horrible at best

no ending!!!!!!!!!

Highly implausible. The character of the son was annoying. Realy.....no conclusion.
waste of credit

story or narrator?

I found myself wondering if it was the story itself of the narration of the story that I disliked most. I think it was a little of both. The story was unrealistic, the characters unlikeable, and the story line and plot unrealistic. The narration was borderline annoying. This is the first Dean Koontz book I've downloaded that I would describe as just an "okay" book.