The Husband

Mitch Rafferty considers himself an everyday guy, lucky to have a small landscaping business and a modest home he shares with his beloved wife in L.A. When his wife is kidnapped and the ransom is set at $2 million, he is determined to play the kidnappers' game despite his inability to even envision that huge sum. Narrator Holter Graham enhances the story with his skillful pacing; Mitch springs to life with unexpected determination, tenderness, and unbearable tension. Thanks to Graham's delivery and Koontz's plot, the listener feels astonished along with Mitch as the twisted events unfold. Unfortunately, however, even Graham's capable delivery cannot redeem the disappointing conclusion. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

October 15, 2006
Many of the elements that denote a Koontz work are here: mystery, suspense, violence, and tropical suburban California. When landscaper Mitch Rafferty receives a call from his wife, Holly, she announces that shes been abducted; her kidnappers demand a $2 million ransom. Mitch, an ordinary working Joe, doesnt have that kind of money, but the kidnappers know how he can get it. Listeners root for Mitch, who wants nothing more than to live with Holly and raise a family in safe seclusion behind their rose-entwined white picket fence. He wont employ the same questionable methods to rear rational-materialist children as his egg-head parents did, methods that employed sensory deprivation, semistarvation, nudity, and severe verbal analysis. Holter Graham is an excellent narrator, with an interesting ability with accents, but he does not develop enough distinction between his male and female voices. Recommended only for libraries that have either a large budget or a very small audio collection of Koontz titles."David Faucheux, Louisiana Audio Information & Reading Svc., Lafayette"

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