Lindsey and Hatch Harrison have suffered the most cruel and torturous experience of parental life, watching their son Jimmy die from cancer. But is seems Lindsey isn’t yet to be spared of further grief.
A blizzard makes driving conditions treacherous and a seemingly freak accident, a truck blocking the highway, results in the couple’s car breaking through the safety barrier and plunging hundreds of feet down an icy ravine into a bitterly cold and swollen river.
Hatch is unconscious and despite lindsey’s brave and determined battle to free him from the restraints of his seat belt, she can’t keep his head above water for long. Nor can she do anything to stop the hypothermia setting in, and watch Hatch’s life draining away.
When the emergency services arrive they seem to be showing little interest in Hatch, concentrating on keeping Lindsey alive although she feels she has nothing much to live for. First her beloved child is painfully snatched away after just five short years of life, and now her husband has been taken away from her too.
On arrival at the hospital Dr. Nyebern and his dedicated team are ready to assess and consequently start proceedings of resuscitation or as Nyebern calls it reanimation. After a massive 80 minutes of clinical death, signs of life are present. Nyebern’s exploration into an unknown field of bringing people back from the dead has paid off. Although it wouldn’t be known until later if brain damage had been sustained or complications would set in taking back the reclaimed life as had happened many times previously, for the moment Hatch is alive.
He makes a good recovery, and starts to live his life for the moment, happy, contented, thankful to be given another chance. He shows no obvious signs of ill effect from his experience, other than the dreams that haunt his night times. The same bizarre dreams he had during his brief liaison with death. The dark dreams that place Hatch in unfamiliar surrounds, looking through a strangers eyes, speaking his words, temporarily living his life. The life of an angry and vengeful man who seems capable, in fact determined, to commit vile acts ultimately resulting in death.
This is Dean Koontz at his best. Hideaway is a fantastically descriptive novel that succeeds in doing what I feel good writing should, it fills your mind with images, totally absorbs you, takes you away from the boundaries of normality and introduces you to a world that is beyond the average imagination, frighteningly surreal.
You’re given little tasters of the plot developing as it twists and turns throughout the book but never too much at a time. The end of each chapter leaves you with a yearning for more. At over 500 pages novels often fail to take you on a continuous journey of intrigue and suspense but this one rises to the challenge in an articulate manner.
If you’re a Dean Koontz fan then I’d be surprised if you haven’t already come across this book. If you’ve yet to encounter Koontz, then Hideaway is a great introduction to his writing. Die-hard fan or casual reader, I’d be surprised if you are left anything less than completely taken by this book.
You can buy Hideaway online from whsmith.co.uk, or amazon.co.uk for the normal price of £6.99 although it’s currently on sale at both sites for £5.59 (exc p&p).
on another web site I asked people what their favorite book was and dean koontz came up a few times. nice op, I think I might have a read
Dalesman 17.07.2001 08:46
Nice Op, sounds like an interesting book I may dash out and get it for the Hols...Thanks Andrew
sylviesinc 15.07.2001 22:44
Thanx for your comment on my last op. Because of this and a mention of you by "from the continent" I looked at your ops. I read this one because I am a Dean Koontz fan and your op is a very enjoyable read. I consider that anyone new to Koontz would be encouraged to read him.
Jul 5th, 2001
(Jul 9th, 2001)
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