ARC REVIEW The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz

I'm sad, not that this book was sad but I'm sad that I didn't like this one as much as I had hoped. The idea the concept it really intrigued me but the execution was not what I expected not after Ashley Bell, which I really loved. It was well written Koontz has an excellent active setting but does tend to get a little to wordy, and as much as I like backstory reading an almost repetitive internal monologue gets tedious. I could not empathize with Jane, I could not connect to her. You know she is FBI and had a loving husband and has an adorable boy that she entrusted his care to two friends, she just seemed to cold and methodical to me and really whiny at other times. Everything she is doing is out of love but she has let her obsession take over, she's paranoid and doesn't trust anyone but a limited few, but as they say you're not paranoid if "they" are actually out to get you.

The Silent Corner is the first book in a new series for Koontz it follows Jane Hawk whose husband unexpectedly committed suicide, afterwards she became convinced that he was all part of some massive conspiracy and his death was part of it. Jane has gone to the silent corner, a term used when you are not off grid but hidden on the grid. She is questioning people who have had loved ones commit suicide and has figured out just where this may have all come from and through some shady people and the use of blackmail she just might have figured out the exact person who is behind the whole thing. Jane must trust someone, that someone in a short time won her trust and friendship and can help her get to the bottom of it.

Overall, I was disappointed with it. Disappointed in the same way I was disappointed in Fear Nothing and Seize the Night, I stopped reading Koontz for a while after that. I don't think I'll read the next book because I frankly just don't care what happens.      

ARC REVIEW Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz

I have been a fan of Dean Koontz since I was in my early teens. I stopped reading reading his books for a while and picked them up again after Odd Thomas. Ashley Bell reminds me of all the reasons why I love Dean Koontz. It gives you strong emotional ties to the characters, a dark story with an evil mastermind behind it all and a twist worthy of M. Night  Shyamalan. The writing is beautifully written and fast paced and pulls you in so the rest of the world fades away. I can see this being a new series to follow in line like Odd Thomas. But if not I'd be perfectly happy with this as a stand-alone.

Bibi Blair is a unique person, a published author and only twenty-two years old and she has just been diagnosed with cancer. But Bibi isn't one to just give up, the doctor says she has less than a year and Bibi views that as a challenge. Two days later Bibi is cured. She claims that a man with a dog came into her room and cured her. Bibi's parents are a bit of the new age hippies buy an appointment with a psychic. The psychic doesn't deal with your typical mediums, she works with scrabble tiles, and in the tiles she finds the phrase "to save a life" and when asked who? It gives the name Ashley Bell. From that point strange things start happening. Bibi is on the run from the unknown  mysterious "wrong people" who are every where and seem to know everything. Now Bibi must try and figure out who Ashley Bell is and why she needs saving and saving from what or who.

I loved the characters Bibi is a great strong female lead and her fiance, a Navy SEAL, they have a connection so strong he knows something is wrong with her even from half a world away. I even liked the sadistic villain. I ,in particular, love the twist I wasn't expecting it, in fact I didn't know what to expect from from this book so I was pleasantly surprised with everything. It really was reminiscent of his earlier works, every good aspect of them was in this one. I love the insertion of the golden retriever, it's become trademark Koontz; it's almost like it's his way of of putting Trixie in his books.