Velocity

Billy Wiles has been forced into a game of moral jeopardy by a lurid serial killer who forces him to choose the next victim. The game accelerates, the deadlines grow tighter, the killer becomes bolder and crueler with every communication, the mutilations ever more grotesque, the decisions intensely personal . . . until they finally involve Barbara, Billy's fiancée, who is helpless in a botulism-induced coma. Michael Hayden is masterful at creating the vibrato of beer-based psychoanalysis, the garbled quality of talking around a toothbrush, and the exquisite timing of a winch line turning on a drum, a sound that pulls the listener further and further into this impossible-to-wake-up-from nightmare. Prepare yourself for a Machiavellian extravaganza. K.A.T. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 25, 2005
A diabolic killer plays a harrowing game of cat and mouse with a reclusive bartender in Koontz's latest gripping suspense thriller. Billy Wiles, a 30-something bartender and former writer, is content with his solitary Napa County existence listening to "beer-based psychoanalysis" from tavern regulars; visiting his hospitalized, comatose fiancée, Barbara; and carving wood sculptures. But the simple life gets mighty complicated when he finds a note with a deadly, time-sensitive ultimatum: he must choose between the death of a young schoolteacher or an elderly humanitarian in six hours. Reluctant local sheriff Lanny Olsen dismisses it as a joke until a comely teacher is found strangled and another threatening note appears—offering even less time for Billy to decide the fate of two more people. Who would have guessed that one of those people would be Olsen? After his friend's murder, Billy finds that the cunning killer has gained access to every aspect of his life as the ultimatums grow increasingly more personal. Suppressing horrific childhood memories, Billy scrambles to bury grisly incriminating evidence the murderer has deviously planted. More gruesome deaths and shaky suspicions trap Billy right in the demented killer's lair for just the beginning of Koontz's serpentine showdown. Graphic, fast-paced action, well-developed characters and relentless, nail-biting scenes show Koontz at the top of his game.

May 1, 2006
Koontz is a master storyteller, and his novels are usually startlingly original. In "Velocity", Billy Wiles, a bartender leading a quiet life, is drawn against his will into a serial killer -s monstrous game. This anonymous -freak - makes Billy responsible, through his action or inaction, for the identity of his victims and also keeps Billy frantically struggling to keep himself and his loved ones safe. Billy is an intelligent and highly sympathetic hero in this unrelenting story. Michael Hayden is an effective narrator, reading with clarity and understated drama. Highly recommended for all fiction collections." -Kristen L. Smith, Loras Coll. Lib., Dubuque, IA"

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