The Good Guy

Richard Ferrone has a deep, portentous voice, and it gives a distinctively dramatic style to Dean Koontz's newest thriller. The book is a somewhat implausible chase story in which a lonely bar patron is involved in two instances of mistaken identity in the same night, both involving an envelope stuffed with cash and a murder-for-hire scheme. This unlikely hero alerts the intended victim, and the two of them race to stay ahead of the killer. Ferrone's narration skimps on personalizing the characters (as does the novel, especially with regard to the killer), but the suspense whipped up by Koontz's strong pacing is given more gravity and thrills in Ferrone's accomplished performance. G.H. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 30, 2007
Bestseller Koontz (The Husband) delivers a thriller so compelling many readers will race through the book in one sitting. In the Hitchcockian opening, which resembles that of the cult noir film Red Rock West (1992), Timothy Carrier, a quiet stone mason having a beer in a California bar, meets a stranger who mistakes him for a hit man. The stranger slips Tim a manila envelope containing $10,000 in cash and a photo of the intended victim, Linda Paquette, a writer in Laguna Beach, then leaves. A moment later, Krait, the real killer, shows up and assumes Tim is his client. Tim manages to distract Krait from immediately carrying out the hit by saying he’s had a change of heart and offering Krait the $10,000 he just received. This ploy gives the stone mason enough time to warn Linda before they begin a frantic flight for their lives. While it may be a stretch that the first man wouldn’t do a better job of confirming Tim’s identity, the novel’s breathless pacing, clever twists and adroit characterizations all add up to superior entertainment.