False Memory - Dean Koontz

Advantages: Thrilling, entertaining, brilliant read.
Disadvantages: Slow start

...Looking for horror in False Memory, I can see it in Susan’s agoraphobic condition. Imagine a well-adjusted, happy estate agent suddenly too frightened to leave her home. Her life comes to a standstill; she can’t do her job or even look out of her windows in the daylight without fear. Then after months of anguish the mysterious rapist cruelly adds more layers of fear. She fears that it has happened - she fears it happening again. Although ...
...believed because she can’t remember it happening or explain how the rapist gets into her secure home. The horror for Martie is that she fears for her friend’s well being and with the sudden onset of her own phobia another layer is added. How can she cope with looking after her friend if she fears harming her and what if her phobia is as long lasting as Susan’s? Another great fear is that she will harm the man that she loves who ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent read
Disadvantages: none

Martie Rhodes, once a strong independant woman, who designs video games for a living is reduced to a quivering wreck, afraid of her own shadow. Susan Jagger, Martie`s best friend, is agoraphobic, and seems to be getting worse every time Martie sees her. Dusty, Martie`s husband is a house painter, and while on a job he has to stop his half-brother Skeet from jumping off a roof after taking a cocktail of pills. What these people have in common, is ...
...her friend Susan for therapy sessions, Martie suddenly develops a severe case of autophobia, but calms down once she`s settled in Dr Ahriman`s office. His office also has the same effect on Susan. What is the secret behind Dr Ahriman`s ability to calm people down? After Skeet is admitted into a rehabilitation clinic, Dusty goes to his apartment to get him some stuff. While there, he finds the name of a doctor he hasn`t heard of written down on a ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliantly captivating story, wonderful characters, hard to put down!
Disadvantages: None

This has to be one of the 'fattest' books I have read. The only reason I bought it, as oppose to a 'normal' sized book, is because of its author, Dean Koontz. I have read quite a few of his books now and find his writing style fantastic. In fact I find the style easier and more enjoyable to read than Stephen King who at times goes on far too much for my liking. I can deal with a little desciption but not pages at a time. Anyway back to reviewing ...
...put you off. Don't think that you don't have the time to read such a massive book and therefore should opt for something else. You will surprised at how fast you will get through it! It hardly took me any time - the story is truly captivating. The story mainly centres around a couple, Martie and Dusty Rhodes. Martie has a friend, Susan, who suffers from agoraphobia and being the kind and caring person that Martie is she encourages her friend to ... Read review

Advantages: Keeps you turning the pages faster and faster
Disadvantages: Usual lengthy unnessary descriptions

...before he had that obviously false hair piece in his jacket pictures, I was sceptical about this latest offering. For me, his writing was becoming too predictable. What a fool I was! Having read everything he has ever written, this has got to be his best. Ok, it still has some of his trademark over descriptive bits, like how dark the night is and the sort of houses and their decor - but if like me, you skip these pithy sections, the pace is quite ...
...starts with Martie (Martine) Rhodes, a video games designer who is happily married to Dusty (Sherwood) Rhodes, a house painter in southern California. Upon taking their faithful mutt (are they anything else in Koontz's books?) for his morning walkies, Martie suffers what she believes is some sort of panic attack. As a firemans daughter, brought up to be strong and independent, she shakes off this foolishness and goes to visit her best friend Susan ... Read review

Advantages: A genuinely compelling novel, even though you know what's going to happen
Disadvantages: A bit long?

A book which delves into the less pleasant aspects of the human psyche, it could easily descend into cliché and be a dismal failure. Instead, the book succeeds brilliantly. The central character is Dr Mark Ahriman, a genius psychologist whose gift is put to the pursuit of power in self-centred games involving human pawns whose minds he controls with use of characters from a novel and Japanese haikus. It's a bit creepy really, the way in which mental ...
...real life? Does it already? Best not think about that. The good guys being toyed around with are Martie and Dusty Rhodes, whose love affair is deep and touching, and somehow permeates every part of the book. And of course, they win, though not without the odd mishap on the way. That they would was always going to happen, of course, but I greatly enjoyed seeing just how they managed it. There's no great twist in the tale at the end, (though the ... Read review