Mr Murder - Dean Koontz

...Marty Stillwater, Koontz' hero in Mr Murder, coped. He coped admirably. Marty IS Mr Murder, a crime fiction writer from California. He's a very successful author, appearing in one of Americas biggest celebrity magazines who were the very people to give him this unwanted nickname. He lives with his psychologist wife and two young daughters, all is well in the Stillwater household. Until Marty finds himself having blackouts. He can't remember anything ...
...believe Marty, they remember the Mr Murder nickname and a bizarre photograph of Marty in the magazine looking like a freak from hell and dismiss the whole episode as a publicity stunt thought up by an author who has a new book out soon.

The Stillwater family are on their own.

The rest of Mr Murder is a fast paced chase through counties and states across America, Marty takes his family and does the only thing he can in ... more

What would you do if you discovered there was someone who looked exactly like you? What would you do if this person decided it wanted to kill you and take over your family? If your double was so exact a replica of you that friends and neighbours couldn't tell the difference? If this double had amazing self healing powers meaning that you couldn't kill him easily to save yourself, your wife and your children?

Marty Stillwater, Koontz' hero in Mr Murder, coped. He coped admirably. Marty IS Mr Murder, a crime fiction writer from California. He's a very successful author, appearing in one of Americas biggest celebrity magazines who were the very people to give him this unwanted nickname. He lives with his psychologist wife and two young daughters, all is well in the Stillwater household. Until Marty finds himself having blackouts. He can't remember anything while he is in one of his 'fugues' (as he calls them) and starts to fret that he may have a brain tumour. When he finds out what's really going on I'd imagine a brain tumour would be preferable, at least he could get treatment for a physical condition.

One day he goes home and as he's standing in his office a figure appears in the doorway. The Other. Marty could be looking in a mirror; The Other has the same face, build, hair. The only thing that separates the two men is the fact that The Other is a killer and Marty simply writes about killers. He gets the better of The Other in a brief battle that leaves Marty half strangled, Marty shoots his nemesis and leaves him for dead while he calls the police. The problems start when the police don't believe Marty, they remember the Mr Murder nickname and a bizarre photograph of Marty in the magazine looking like a freak from hell and dismiss the whole episode as a publicity stunt thought up by an author who has a new book out soon.

The Stillwater family are on their own.

The rest of Mr Murder is a fast paced chase through counties and states across America, Marty takes his family and does the only thing he can in the circumstances. He runs. The Other follows, there are shady people chasing The Other and other people chasing the shady people. It's a free for all, everyone wants blood except for Marty who just wants the whole nightmare to end.

Brilliant is how I'd sum up this book. Even more brilliant than usual, Koontz has used the minimum characters and wove his story around these people. He is so descriptive in his writing that Marty and his family cease to be characters in a book, you can feel their anguish as they realise that at least one of them will die and you relate to their pain. The sections of the book that concentrate on The Other and his state of mind are distressing, he fantasises about how he's going to discipline Martys children when he takes their dads place. The parts where the children are concerned left me cold, Koontz has named the children Charlotte and Emily (I have 2 daughters of roughly the same age, one called Charlotte and one who's middle name is Emily) and this added for me a touch of realism to the book. Perhaps Koontz didn't need to elaborate as much as he did when talking about the children but in real life kids do get hurt by maniacs, they do get abducted and they do get killed. It wouldn't be a Koontz novel if he glossed this fact over, the simple truth is if a man is out to get your family he'll try and get all of you not just the consenting adults.

The story itself is fast. Marty and his family are running for their lives and the pace of the book reflects this. You're reading on the move, never sitting still for a moment. Koontz uses his talent for description to his (and the readers) advantage as he writes of racing along highways trying to keep one step ahead of the people that are behind. The body count is high although he doesn't really dwell on each murder too much, a quick explanation of how the murder is committed and how much blood is spilled and then we're transported to the next location.

The thing I really like about Mr Murder is the way the chapters alternate between focusing on Marty, The Other or the various people chasing The Other. This makes it easy to get inside the head of the characters and allows you to examine their motives and actions. Strangely Marty's wife is the stronger character out of the two, strange because Koontz rarely creates strong female characters preferring to make the man the hero in his books. Paige Stillwater is a brilliant character, where Marty falters in his decisions Paige is there in the background quietly counselling her husband and convincing everyone that things will be fine. The children are pretty strong characters too and Koontz has put across perfectly the resilience that children will display when faced with danger and upset. Their panic when they realise they're involved in this awful situation is heart rending but they bounce back in the way you hear of 'real' children facing their own mortality and rather than cowering they're there in the background helping out as much as they can, which isn't much but emotionally they're rocks to their parents.

I'd say this is one of Koontz' best. I've read many of his novels and not one has held me in the way Mr Murder did. I found it impossible to put down at times, resulting in some very late nights when the plot was particularly tense. Believe me though, the plot is tense all the way through - it just gets even more tense at times! If it was a film you'd be on the edge of your seat and frightened to leave the room to make a cuppa because you can't see a lot of the twists coming. The major twist at the end ties up all the unanswered questions you might have and because it deals with many of the loose ends I honestly can't tell you any more of the plot without spoiling it for you.

What genre does it fall into? Quite simply it doesn't. In essence it's a thriller, with a touch of horror and a slight air of fantasy. Fans of any of these types of novel will enjoy reading this and I'd wholeheartedly recommend this one as a perfect introduction to Dean Koontz.

Thanks for reading - now go and beg, borrow or steal a copy of this book and let me know what you think.
 

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