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)

Bad syntax

Dean Koontz lays it on thick again, taking what could've been a decent story and ruining it with squeaky, shallow protagonists, vile, shallow antagonists, and spoon-fed foreshadowing reminiscent of a cheap tv thriller. I can't help but wonder who wrote the review that prompted the writing of this book. I'd love to read it.

Disappointing

I am a big fan however it seems in this case as though the author took every tortured thought he ever had and joined them all together in a boring, implausible plot. Not up to his usual standards.

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

Very Disappointing

Having heard positive things regarding Dean Koontz's book, I was looking forward to reading my first Koontz novel. What a let down. Although the suspense did build, the ending was ridiculous.
Trying to insert such lame humor into a horror story absolutely did not work.

"Ridiculous"

Apparently, Mr. Koontz couldn't decide whether to focus on horror, humor, science fiction, mystery, or a good old fashioned thriller--so he wrote this. An absolutely ridiculous and unfocused novel. Don't waste your time. The only thing "Relentless" about this novel is its absurdity.

Relentlessly disappointing

When did Dean Koontz start writing half novels instead of full length ones? I don't care if there's a sequel or will be one in the future, that doesn't give the author the right to ignore the necessity of a story arc or an actual ending. Koontz didn't pull this crap with the original Odd Thomas, it had a story, and ending, and left itself open for more books in the series.

The events at the end of the book could have taken place at any point within the story, and would not have forced the novel to end. It was so weak it made my stomach turn in revulsion, and this is coming from a person who has been reading Koontz's books for fifteen years.

In addition to this, the issues that have plagued Koontz's novels for years are so prevalent here that they are impossible to ignore. Identical characters with quirky traits and/or names, dark pasts/childhoods, and who either know someone with or personally own a dog. It's been forgivable in the past because at least the story itself was interesting, but the entire plot of this novel came off a long winded and uninteresting non-sequitur. I'd give this one a pass people, it was phoned in from the start. As much as I like Koontz's work this is not worth your time.

Disappointing

There was a good beginning, but a poor ending. I was waiting for more and never got it.