• One Door Away from Heaven

  • By: Dean Koontz
  • Narrated by: Anne Twomey
  • Length: 21 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,359 ratings)

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One Door Away from Heaven  By  cover art

One Door Away from Heaven

By: Dean Koontz
Narrated by: Anne Twomey
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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.

What listeners say about One Door Away from Heaven

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,193
  • 4 Stars
    769
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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    56
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    1,889
  • 4 Stars
    579
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Koontz outdoes himself

This book was so interesting I had trouble putting it down, then I didn't want it to end. Skillfully told, bringing many separate factions together, it is magically woven.

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35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

One Door Away From Heaven

Dean Koontz' One Door Away From Heaven is beautifully written. This work is more poetry than prose and you may find yourself lost in a siren's song, unaware of its lyrics. The main storyline is a step through the looking glass and a hourney with only shadowy ilumination of mysteries encountered. It is certainly one of my top five Koontz favorites.

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

We all depend on other people !

How to review a book by such a superb writer? Dean Koontz has taken three story lines of such divergent subjects to parallel lengths where they diverge at an ending that tells us that only through the goodness of everyone working together can life be worth living. It's at once a theists against the bioethics of perfection and a fast passed thriller. But to describe how he does this only seems to demean his work. He has a deformed 9 year old girl, living with her drug addled mother and her murdering bioethics father; two wounded women trying to make a better life for themselves; a burnt out detective; and a young "extra-terrestrial" boy and his dog. Put these together and you have a strangely wonderful thrilling story.

Koontz is probably the best writer than I know. He can take four beautiful sentences to describe someone's eyes, and rather than sounding wordy, every word feels necessary. I would say that this is my favorite Koontz book but then I read another one and that becomes my favorite. Just read this book. You won't be sorry. He makes very important points is convincingly beautiful stories.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I'm sorry to report that I am thoroughly disappointed by this audiobook.

This audiobook could have been really good but, in my humble opinion, the entire book simply dragged and dragged and dragged. It's hard for me to explain effectively. The storyline could have been really great. It has good characters (by that I mean interesting) but they just don't seem to come together effectively and expeditiously.

I don't know, I'm even lost on how to explain exactly what I mean. I kept on listening thinking surely it would get better, and it did for a short while. Unfortunately from getting better to becoming worse the story rambled on back and forth finally ending in a bizarre way.

This didn't really seem like a Dean Koontz book.

I hope if you decide to listen to it that you totally disagree with me and that you thoroughly enjoy it from start to finish. Maybe it's just me, but that's just not how the experience unfolded for me. St any rate, Happy Reading (or listening )!

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

"Ding, ding, ding,ding, ding"

We have a winner! A great novel with a well executed plot and expertly developed characters. In this novel, Koontz brings strong female characters to the front, two of which are eccentric and have incredible depth. A 10 year old girl's life is salvaged by two women. This child's character has a unique humor, as well as talents, that helps to offset the actions of her worthless parents. Great ending.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Stark Possiblility

I really enjoyed the book and I didnt find it slow just anticipation was ongoing and hard to enjore:). Love it and would recommend it.
The girl remminded me of JUNo way beyond her years.
Thanks for a good read

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

ITS OK

This book moves kind of slow. You are waiting for the climatic part to come along, but its slowly dragging. Finally it gets there, and its not mindblowing.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gave me Shivers. Awe Inspiring.

What did you love best about One Door Away from Heaven?

What I liked best about it was how it revealed the beauty of innocence - and the ugliness of evil - at the same time.

What other book might you compare One Door Away from Heaven to and why?

Innocence, because as in this book, Koontz transmits an awe-inspiring realization of great paradox, energy and importance of which many in society are not aware. Prepare to be enlightened - if you dare.

What does Anne Twomey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brings the characters to life - so much so - I "missed" Koontz's little protagonists in this Audio Book long after finishing it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, at the end, I cried tears of joy and comprehension. What a genius writer for our times.

Any additional comments?

Listening to a Dean Koontz book on Audio is one of my favorite all time, relaxation activities - similar to the experience of fine dining and drinking wine - but a rare satiation for the intellect.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

3 1/2 stars if possible

This book, like many of Dean Koontz's books, was very well written "character development" wise, and pace.
However I had an issue with the plot, it seemed as though the story was going nowhere fast, and when we got there the ending left a less than a satifying taste behind.
I will give the narrator 5 stars though for doing a wonderful job of narrating this tale.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great characters so-so story

This book has one of the most memorable heroines of all of Koontz's work. Unfortunately the story is not as good as the characters. The story drags, which is pretty unusual for Koontz. The antagonists are not as compelling as in better Koontz. Overall, I am still very glad I read it, for I enjoy my memories of the young heroine.

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10 people found this helpful