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Available
Call number
Call number
F Koo
Collection
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:This ebook edition contains a special preview of Dean Koontz??s The Silent Corner. Hailed as ??America??s most popular suspense novelist? (Rolling Stone) Dean Koontz has entered a rich new phase of his writing career that is yielding his most imaginative, meaningful, and popular work yet. At the height of his powers as a literary craftsman, he has won the acclaim of critics as well as the allegiance of millions of fans the world over, transforming the greatest fears and hopes of our time into masterworks of dazzling originality and emotional resonance. Now, with the stunning depth and virtuosity of his storytelling, he brings to readers one of his most gripping and richly imagined novels to date??an intoxicating story of adventure and suspense, mystery and revelation, told with humor, heart, and high art. One Door Away From Heaven In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can??t find her way??until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows??or thinks she knows??forever. Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani??s effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express. Leilani??s mother is little more than a child herself. And the girl??s stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani?? s tenth birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world. Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani??s conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky??s discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now ??gone to the stars.? Leilani??s tenth birthday is approaching. Micky is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Micky sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself. She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. The passion and disregard for danger with which Micky pursues her quest bring to her side a burned-out detective who joins her on a journey of incredible peril and startling discoveries, a journey through terrible darkness to unexpected light. One Door Away From Heaven is an incandescent mix of suspense and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have readers cheering. Filled with tragedy and joy, with terror and hope, it solidifies Dean Koontz??s reputation as one of the foremost storytellers of our time. This is Dean Koontz at h… (more)
Subjects
Original publication date
2001
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User reviews
LibraryThing member gkchandler
"At the mere thought of survival, guilt churns a bitter butter in his blood"
This was 12 pages into the book and I had mixed feelings about the language Koontz had been using. I reached this statment and laughed out loud. There is more of this sort of thing in this book than I see in most books and
At this point the three separate stories being told have not converged. The story of Curtis is, I think, the weakest and I hope it will improve when/if it joins the others. The story of Micky and Leilani and the story of Noah are both strongly written, interesting and enjoyable. The Curtis story is told from the perspective of a young boy and his dog ("Fun. Hey, get his shoe! Shoe, fun, shoe shoe! What could be better than this, except a cat chase...") - perhaps that is why I enjoy it less.
I'm still not convinced that I will finish this... have read another 20 pages and am giving up. This is a little too much like work.
This was 12 pages into the book and I had mixed feelings about the language Koontz had been using. I reached this statment and laughed out loud. There is more of this sort of thing in this book than I see in most books and
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it is a little much. Having said that, I am still reading and am 220 pages into the almost 600 pages. At this point the three separate stories being told have not converged. The story of Curtis is, I think, the weakest and I hope it will improve when/if it joins the others. The story of Micky and Leilani and the story of Noah are both strongly written, interesting and enjoyable. The Curtis story is told from the perspective of a young boy and his dog ("Fun. Hey, get his shoe! Shoe, fun, shoe shoe! What could be better than this, except a cat chase...") - perhaps that is why I enjoy it less.
I'm still not convinced that I will finish this... have read another 20 pages and am giving up. This is a little too much like work.
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LibraryThing member Spiceca
I've come to the conclusion that Dean Koontz is a good writer with everything except for endings. This book is no exception.
The ending wasn't "bad" but it wasn't great and was a little lackluster considering the rest of the story.
The main story had me completely enthralled and kept me up a few
All in all- the story I give 4 stars and the ending I give 2 stars and since it was a long one I balance it out with and average of 3.5 stars.
If you enjoy Koontz this is worth a read but be prepared for his little happy bow-tie endings.
The ending wasn't "bad" but it wasn't great and was a little lackluster considering the rest of the story.
The main story had me completely enthralled and kept me up a few
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nights. I really liked the characters and felt that the ever so tidy ending wasn't completely suited to the rest of the atmosphere.All in all- the story I give 4 stars and the ending I give 2 stars and since it was a long one I balance it out with and average of 3.5 stars.
If you enjoy Koontz this is worth a read but be prepared for his little happy bow-tie endings.
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LibraryThing member jbdavis
UFOs, aliens, an empathetic dog, a crippled girl, and a host of supporting characters overcoming past traumas to reach out to others all are combined by Dean Koontz in a book that is the most compelling statement I have ever seen made about the right to life, no matter what one's condition. As
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always with his novels, few things are what they seem.Two basic plots run parallel before their heroes find themselves coming together to fight off a very evil villain. "What is one door away from heaven," is a question that one character has asked another since her childhood. The answer, along with the overall theme of the book, is enough to make us all examine our lives more carefully ... and be thankful that Koontz's writing reflects his beliefs so honestly Show Less
LibraryThing member Blazingice0608
This one was sort of a mixed bag for me, there was a lot i liked about it, and a lot i didnt like about it. I loved the huge cast of characters, all of which i thought we fun and well developed. The parts where the action was good, it had me completley sucked in, however a lot of the book really
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felt bloated and dragged on. Plus the story itself was just kind of wierd and quirky. Overall a good book, you'll either love it or hate it most it likely. Show Less
LibraryThing member Aloel
In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can't find her way—until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the
Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani's effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express.
Leilani's mother is little more than a child herself. And the girl's stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani's tenth birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world.
Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani's conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky's discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now "gone to the stars."
Leilani's tenth birthday is approaching. Micky is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Micky sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself.
She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. The passion and disregard for danger with which Micky pursues her quest bring to her side a burned-out detective who joins her on a journey of incredible peril and startling discoveries, a journey through terrible darkness to unexpected light.
ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN is an incandescent mix of suspense and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have readers cheering. Filled with tragedy and joy, with terror and hope, it solidifies Dean Koontz's reputation as one of the foremost storytellers of our time. This is Dean Koontz at his very best—and it doesn't get any better than that.
Show More
young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows—or thinks she knows—forever.Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani's effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express.
Leilani's mother is little more than a child herself. And the girl's stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani's tenth birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world.
Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani's conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky's discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now "gone to the stars."
Leilani's tenth birthday is approaching. Micky is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Micky sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself.
She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. The passion and disregard for danger with which Micky pursues her quest bring to her side a burned-out detective who joins her on a journey of incredible peril and startling discoveries, a journey through terrible darkness to unexpected light.
ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN is an incandescent mix of suspense and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have readers cheering. Filled with tragedy and joy, with terror and hope, it solidifies Dean Koontz's reputation as one of the foremost storytellers of our time. This is Dean Koontz at his very best—and it doesn't get any better than that.
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LibraryThing member jayne_charles
This read a bit like an author on cruise-control. Not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the repartee sounded a bit smug and it grated after a while.
There were a lot of bits I did like, including some superb minor characters (F Bronson - brilliant!), and the plot twist that occurs partway
A good read overall, one of Dean Koontz' better ones of recent years
There were a lot of bits I did like, including some superb minor characters (F Bronson - brilliant!), and the plot twist that occurs partway
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through, with just enough clues dropped to grab the reader's attention. I could have happily lost the twins, though.A good read overall, one of Dean Koontz' better ones of recent years
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LibraryThing member tysdad
Strange, but good. Sci-fi and suspenseful. I didn't find much humor in it, and some parts were typical Koontz, but other parts were very different.
LibraryThing member LauraMoore
Uhhh I have a love/hate relationship with Dean Koontz and this book I hated. It was just over 600 pages and I think I enjoyed maybe the last 50 pages or so. The characters were unrelatable and I couldnt connect with anything or anyone in the book. For being such a long book I felt like there was
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little jolts of excitement but the amount of dullness surrounding it choked it out. The plot hops around between the different characters and you litterally have to wait til the book is almost over to understand how they connect and until then your kind of lost. What else can I say this book was just not for me Show Less
LibraryThing member bardin
Dean Koontz? Really! I generally like Dean Koontz, but he really stepped up his game for this book. The chapter about the snake is just brilliant. If you are going to read a Dean Koontz book, this should be the one.
LibraryThing member ct.bergeron
Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never new exsited - a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revealtion. What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows - if she can find the key to
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survival. At stake are a young girl of extraordianry goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and micky's own wounded soul Show Less
LibraryThing member AshRyan
Since this is going to be a rather critical review, I should preface it by saying that I am a big Dean Koontz fan, I grew up reading Koontz, and I loved most of his books up until this one. This is where he got unbearably preachy (in a sort of quasi-New Age/born-again Christian kind of way). I
Similarly, Koontz has lost all sense of restraint in terms of style. After all, why say something in only one way, when you could treat the reader to three witty metaphors, or four...or five (usually three, though, I don't know if there's supposed to be some special religious significance to that)? And enough with the alliterative triplets! Koontz seems to think they're amusing, or poetic, or something, but a "gaggle of giggling girls?" Gag me. To be fair, Koontz can really turn a phrase, and he's generally a fine writer, but it really seems like he's trying too hard...or not trying hard enough to edit. I suppose with the super-blockbuster status he's achieved, Koontz's publisher allowed him to de facto fire his editor.
As for the specific content of the novel, it's part detective story about a drunken ex-cop private investigator who is good at what he does but cares too much, part drama about a deformed little girl living with her abusive mother and stepfather and the neighbors who try to help her, and part road-trip/buddy movie about a little boy and his dog and all the interesting characters they meet on their trek...all familiar, almost cliche elements, but Koontz puts his own touches on each and manages to bring them all together at the end plausibly, though not terribly satisfyingly (the ending is frankly, even leaving aside the stupid theological elements, dumb). The main characters are sympathetic and wonderfully heroic at times (although his spunky heroines are all pretty much the same, just at different ages), and some of the side characters the boy meets during the road trip movie part of the story are hilarious (a Gabby Hayes lookalike in particular is great). The villain, however, is simply a strawman who represents the ideas Koontz disagrees with for him to rail against.
Which brings us to the book's thematic problems, of which there are really too many to discuss here, but some of the major ones can't be overlooked. To be sure, Koontz is right to explicitly criticize (and even label as evil) Peter Singer, a real-life ethicist who is surely among the worst in modern academia (and that's saying something). And Koontz's broader criticisms of utilitarianism generally are often on-target. But he combines Singer with Jack Kevorkian to create his villain (whom he actually calls "Dr. Doom"), thereby attempting to brand anyone who disagrees in any respect with G. W. Bush's "culture of life" b.s. as a monster. And in case you haven't gotten the point yet, believe it or not there are more than one of these thinly-veiled Kevorkian characters (in entirely separate storylines, not just like there's a whole gang of them running around or something). Entirely absent are any considerations of whether a patient is terminally ill with no hope of anything that could really be called a human life in their future, of whether all their other options have been exhausted, and most importantly of whether *they* *choose* to end their own suffering; to assist them humanely and compassionately is literally no different from the most gruesome murder in Koontz's eyes---thus Koontz has his villain dispatch people whom *he* (the villain) views as unhappy indiscriminately, with or without their consent, sometimes with a painless injection, sometimes with an axe. In short, Koontz offers us God as the sole source and arbiter of ethics---an extremely dubious position, to say the least---or (an incredibly extreme version of) utilitarianism, as our only ultimate alternative. It should go without saying that this is a false alternative.
Turning to psychology, Koontz offers us more of the same sort of nonsense. One character is a self-destructive drug addict who likes to cut herself---and Koontz informs us that her problem is...wait for it...too MUCH self-esteem? Is he serious?! Unfortunately, he is. It's perfectly true that the "self-esteem" movement that is so prevalent in our educational system today turns out neurotic, narcissistic sociopaths with absolutely zero ability to relate to other human beings, but this has nothing to do with genuine self-esteem, based on actual achievement. Rather, what Koontz has clumsily taken their word to be real esteem for the self is mere pseudo-"self-esteem", based not on an individual's actual choices or character but simply on having been born, as they are told that "everybody's special" regardless of what they actually make of their lives and selves.
Koontz fares no better when he ventures into metaphysics than he did in ethics. The worst bit is at the end, when the hero asks the villain, who believes that life on earth was designed by super-intelligent aliens, "Well then who created the aliens?" Koontz seems to think that this question obliterates the villain's position, and that the obvious answer is, "God." But he seems to have failed to notice that the same question can be applied to God with equal validity. After all, if life is allegedly so complex as to require an intelligent designer in order to explain it, any designer able to fill that role would have to be even more complex, and thus in even greater need of such an explanation in turn. The only real answer the intelligent design people have to this is that the chain has to stop somewhere in order to avoid an infinite regress, so it should stop with God, who is eternal. But why have God at all, when one could just as easily posit that the universe itself is eternal (and extend this to any "irreducible complexities" within it, though I don't think there really are any in the sense the intelligent design crowd means it)?
The problem with Koontz's attempts to incorporate philosophy into his novels is that he's not a very good philosopher, and this kind of sloppy thinking only hurts his books. He writes (or used to write) good thrillers, and he writes with great humor, and he should stick to that...and get a better editor.
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suppose he'd been hinting at it in his stories and novels for years, but it wasn't until toward the end of the book immediately prior to this one, From the Corner of His Eye, that he became more boldly explicit about it---and since that book still sold millions of copies, I guess he felt he had a mandate to go into full-blown Jesus freak mode in this one. Well, here's one reader he lost. I finally got all the way through this one, but only because I already had it on audiobook and had nothing better to listen to at work one day. This book is still two steps above, say, the Left Behind series, but the fact that it can be put in the same category with it for comparison at all is not complimentary.Similarly, Koontz has lost all sense of restraint in terms of style. After all, why say something in only one way, when you could treat the reader to three witty metaphors, or four...or five (usually three, though, I don't know if there's supposed to be some special religious significance to that)? And enough with the alliterative triplets! Koontz seems to think they're amusing, or poetic, or something, but a "gaggle of giggling girls?" Gag me. To be fair, Koontz can really turn a phrase, and he's generally a fine writer, but it really seems like he's trying too hard...or not trying hard enough to edit. I suppose with the super-blockbuster status he's achieved, Koontz's publisher allowed him to de facto fire his editor.
As for the specific content of the novel, it's part detective story about a drunken ex-cop private investigator who is good at what he does but cares too much, part drama about a deformed little girl living with her abusive mother and stepfather and the neighbors who try to help her, and part road-trip/buddy movie about a little boy and his dog and all the interesting characters they meet on their trek...all familiar, almost cliche elements, but Koontz puts his own touches on each and manages to bring them all together at the end plausibly, though not terribly satisfyingly (the ending is frankly, even leaving aside the stupid theological elements, dumb). The main characters are sympathetic and wonderfully heroic at times (although his spunky heroines are all pretty much the same, just at different ages), and some of the side characters the boy meets during the road trip movie part of the story are hilarious (a Gabby Hayes lookalike in particular is great). The villain, however, is simply a strawman who represents the ideas Koontz disagrees with for him to rail against.
Which brings us to the book's thematic problems, of which there are really too many to discuss here, but some of the major ones can't be overlooked. To be sure, Koontz is right to explicitly criticize (and even label as evil) Peter Singer, a real-life ethicist who is surely among the worst in modern academia (and that's saying something). And Koontz's broader criticisms of utilitarianism generally are often on-target. But he combines Singer with Jack Kevorkian to create his villain (whom he actually calls "Dr. Doom"), thereby attempting to brand anyone who disagrees in any respect with G. W. Bush's "culture of life" b.s. as a monster. And in case you haven't gotten the point yet, believe it or not there are more than one of these thinly-veiled Kevorkian characters (in entirely separate storylines, not just like there's a whole gang of them running around or something). Entirely absent are any considerations of whether a patient is terminally ill with no hope of anything that could really be called a human life in their future, of whether all their other options have been exhausted, and most importantly of whether *they* *choose* to end their own suffering; to assist them humanely and compassionately is literally no different from the most gruesome murder in Koontz's eyes---thus Koontz has his villain dispatch people whom *he* (the villain) views as unhappy indiscriminately, with or without their consent, sometimes with a painless injection, sometimes with an axe. In short, Koontz offers us God as the sole source and arbiter of ethics---an extremely dubious position, to say the least---or (an incredibly extreme version of) utilitarianism, as our only ultimate alternative. It should go without saying that this is a false alternative.
Turning to psychology, Koontz offers us more of the same sort of nonsense. One character is a self-destructive drug addict who likes to cut herself---and Koontz informs us that her problem is...wait for it...too MUCH self-esteem? Is he serious?! Unfortunately, he is. It's perfectly true that the "self-esteem" movement that is so prevalent in our educational system today turns out neurotic, narcissistic sociopaths with absolutely zero ability to relate to other human beings, but this has nothing to do with genuine self-esteem, based on actual achievement. Rather, what Koontz has clumsily taken their word to be real esteem for the self is mere pseudo-"self-esteem", based not on an individual's actual choices or character but simply on having been born, as they are told that "everybody's special" regardless of what they actually make of their lives and selves.
Koontz fares no better when he ventures into metaphysics than he did in ethics. The worst bit is at the end, when the hero asks the villain, who believes that life on earth was designed by super-intelligent aliens, "Well then who created the aliens?" Koontz seems to think that this question obliterates the villain's position, and that the obvious answer is, "God." But he seems to have failed to notice that the same question can be applied to God with equal validity. After all, if life is allegedly so complex as to require an intelligent designer in order to explain it, any designer able to fill that role would have to be even more complex, and thus in even greater need of such an explanation in turn. The only real answer the intelligent design people have to this is that the chain has to stop somewhere in order to avoid an infinite regress, so it should stop with God, who is eternal. But why have God at all, when one could just as easily posit that the universe itself is eternal (and extend this to any "irreducible complexities" within it, though I don't think there really are any in the sense the intelligent design crowd means it)?
The problem with Koontz's attempts to incorporate philosophy into his novels is that he's not a very good philosopher, and this kind of sloppy thinking only hurts his books. He writes (or used to write) good thrillers, and he writes with great humor, and he should stick to that...and get a better editor.
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LibraryThing member Bettyb30
This book was good although not nearly as good as most of Dean Koontz books. To read this one you have to let your mind go and follow the plots as they happen. I enjoyed it but walked away feeling like i was missing something. I actually read this book twice years apart and the 2nd time caught
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little things but still never really put it together. You will have to have a heart too because the main character albeit a character you can't help but feel a bit sorry for. Show Less
LibraryThing member cbloky
it wasn't one of dean koontz best but it was a good read. he kept you interested in the characters as he built the story and as always tied all of them together in the end. if you are a koontz fan the book is defferently worth reading
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
I really enjoyed the story and the characters (although many were very cartoonish), but he just phoned in the ending. It ws just lame.
LibraryThing member JHemlock
Still reading this. A Koontz novel about a boy(who is not a boy and a dog that is not a dog) Imagine that. Great so far. A little too much going on though. Seems to me like he had two or three ideas and decided to put them all in one story.
LibraryThing member ennuiprayer
Amazing that I actually love something from Dean Koontz--that's what I learned from this book.
LibraryThing member Ilana_Weiss
This book is really good, however, one part of the book runs really slow and is a little difficult to get into until the end. It's definitely interesting for the most part, especially if you're into aliens and things of the like.
LibraryThing member bgknighton
Leilani Klonk is under a death sentence, her mother is drugged out and will be no help, her only hope is the neighbors next door. Mi my and Aunt Gen have their own problems. The alien who will be known as Curtis Hammond may be her salvation if he can survive the hunt by the FBI and the evil aliens.
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Great concept, strong characters, good pacing. Show Less