The Husband

By: Dean Koontz

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

With each and every new novel, Dean Koontz raises the stakes—and the pulse rate—higher than any other author. Now, in what may be his most suspenseful and heartfelt novel ever, he brings us the story of an ordinary man whose extraordinary commitment to his wife will take him on a harrowing journey of adventure, sacrifice, and redemption to the mystery of love itself—and to a showdown with the darkness that would destroy it forever.

What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill? We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.

Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch’s wife and he’s named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn’t care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He’s confident that Mitch will find a way. If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He’s got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything.

From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is a thriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist, every shock, every revelation…until it lets you go, unmistakably changed. This is a Dean Koontz novel, after all. And there’s no other experience quite like it.

©2006 Dean Koontz (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The Husband moves like a roller coaster without brakes….Without a doubt, Koontz is America's No. 1 author of thrillers today … The Husband is one of his finest novels."—The Denver Post

"Dean Koontz thrillers are the perfect way to chill out on a hot summer day."—The Chicago Tribune

"Fast-paced.... Koontz often pulls the rug out from under his readers' assumptions about his characters and their motives."—Associated Press, Book Review

Oh my goodness this was amazing!

I definitely binged this book way faster than I had intended. What a crazy story! So many twists and turns and typical Koontz weirdness that keeps me uncomfortably on the edge of my seat. I wish it was twice as long!

Great Read. Classic Koontz.

Excellent narration, tight story, protagonist married men can relate to. Would highly recommend to any Koontz fan.

All in the name of LOVE.

This book is great. The world really does not have men like Mitch. Dean Koontz kept me on the edge of my seat and sitting in my car long after i reached my destination.

The twist was SOOO worth it!

Great book and it kept me on the edge of my seat! All I kept saying after the end was "no way, no way, no way!!!!" Once again, LOVED IT!

Big

As in good story, "but"...I thought all the twists and spins on the familiar kidnapping story were interesting and entertaining and I especially liked the launch. I like stories that evolve from a simple premise and I am not a particular fan of Dean Koontz so maybe this is why I found things to like about this book. Not typical D.K.

As usual, though, the good parts were all taken by men, and Dean is a guy's writer, his books the male equivalent of "chic fic".

I loathed the last kidnapping scene, where the killer-to-be talks very slowly about his uninteresting involvement in a fundamentalist Christian sect in New Mexico. Every time he said "In New Mexico" I groaned and fast-forwarded my iPod. I think the kidnappee felt the same way but she didn't have the fast-forward button in her real-life situation. I was disappointed that Dean couldn't get through one whole novel without introducing at least one boringly flat, extreme, unrelatable, mono-dimensional character. I liked the take on fundamentalism though, that these "Christians" can also be murderers. Anyway, this guy took up way too much of my time and slowed the story's pace unnecessarily.

Most of the other characters were well-presented, however, and the dialogue was compelling.

Now that’s a Book!

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read! Great narrator too!!! Really great story. One of the best for a road trip.

A must read for Koontz fans

Loved this book and as usual it kept me wanting to continue to the end, hard to put down! Dean Koontz is quite masterful in keeping the reader glued to the pages and this was no exception!

My First Dean Koontz

I was going through a period of reading a lot of contemporary fiction and memoirs but I kept coming across Dean Koontz and finally decided to read Husband, in December 2006, and loved it -- it was great to read a Thriller again. I then read Frankenstein: The Prodigal Son and that was quite a departure, but excellent after I got into it and I plan on reading the sequel ... some day.

Slow in places but kept me interested

Worth a read but the abridged version might be better.

outstanding

One of Dean Koontz best books. The Husband keeps you on the edge of your seat with many twist. A must read, or this case listen to.