The Good Guy
by Dean Koontz
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Book Reviews of The Good Guy
Book Review: Better badguys please!
Summary: 1 Stars
Life is short - read something else...
Interesting premise, protagonists are well drawn and engaging, a couple of decent hooks and a series of frying pan/fire episodes... what's not to like?
The villains - cardboard cutouts of the hyperefficient assasin and an ultra secret organization... oh and "deus ex machina" -- no need to fret about the conspiracy... a new bad guy will magically show up at the end to explain everything to the hero so that their evil plan can be stymied in the last chapter.
An organization so brutal as to order the murders of a dozen people (including sadistic torture) feels the sudden urge to "play nice" at the end of the book... Geez!
Books - forget about a refund on the purchase price -- how can I get a refund on the time invested in reading the dreadful thing.
Could make a person wonder - was there an editor anywhere who reviewed this or is the author of sufficient stature that everything falling from his word processor is gold?
Book Review: Grabs you by the throat...
Summary: 5 Stars
... and drops you panting 400 pages later. Koontz's The Good Guy is relentless. But the reason it doesn't let you pause is that it is believable. Tim, the hero, is in the very first pages the victim of a misunderstanding: mistaken for another at his local bar, he passes on an envelope with the instructions for a contract killing. Tim decides to warn the girl, the intended victim. It could happen to anyone, even we are forced to wonder whether we would show the same courage.
Koontz writes well, with a dark, sarcastic style that matches the tension and violence of his situations. His images are well chosen and original; indeed, Koontz is superior to many adepts of supposedly more serious literature. The Good Guy is something of a cross between Raymond Chandler and the TV series 24: pulsing with action but richly, idiosyncratically portrayed. It is also a pure thriller: unlike most of Koontz's prose, classified as horror, it doesn't involve the supernatural. I doubt you will hold it in your hands longer than three days.
Book Review: The Dean Koontz Action Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a Dean Koontz action novel...nothing supernatural or otherworldly here. There is not even anything terribly odd. However, if you like Mr. Koontz' other books chances are you'll enjoy "The Good Guy."
Tim Carrier, bricklayer, is mistaken for a hit man while sitting in a bar and accepts a down payment to murder a woman. When the real hit man comes on the scene things start to get dicey.
What really drives this story is the mystery behind Tim, the woman, and the real hit man. We find that in addition to being a competent bricklayer Tim also has some other handy skills. Where did they come from? Why is the woman on someone's hit list? She has no clue. And the creepy hit man is beyond belief. He knows no bounds. How does the hit man always know where the woman is and how does a maniac like him have so many resources to call on?
These are the types of questions that caused me to read this book in one day. There are answers to be had...some more satisfactory than others.
Book Review: Disappointing Ending
Summary: 2 Stars
First let me say that I have enjoyed many Koontz books. One of my favorites was LIGHTNING, and I love all of the ODD books. Second, I disagree with reviewers who say you can't put this book down. I did. I put it down and did not get back to it for two weeks. Did not even feel the "call" that you feel when a really good book is waiting for you. My real problem lies, however, with the ending. As is the case with far too many Koontz books, there is a big let down in the last few pages. Bad guy meets his end. End of story. It happens all too often in Koontz books, it happened here, and I am one reader who is getting tired of these abrupt endings. I want the satisfaction of seeing the villain suffer (a little payback in return for the suffering he has caused); and sometimes I feel the need to know a little more about what happened in the protagonist's life after the story has come to an end. Frankly, it feels like Koontz is so happy to reach the end of his stories that he rushes the conclusions just to be done.Book Review: The Good Guy
Summary: 5 Stars
It is always nice to sit down with a good book, that will take me many miles away, forgetting everything in my day to day life. If you want mystery, action, suspense, and a thrill ride - then, I suggest to read this one.
Tim Carrier "The Good Guy" is your everyday average man - he's a mason. Sitting in a bar, relaxing, having a drink - he is mistaken for a hit man when he is handed an envelope by a stranger. Moments later, the real assassin enters the bar and Tim takes it upon himself to try to stop the hit, which actually just buys him a little time to warn the lady that the hit is for. He intends to stop the hit and as this book carries on - one you will not want to put down - he and Linda Paquette (the one with a hit on her head) run for their lives from a psychotic killer who actually knows their every move.
In the end, a great twist is awaiting for the reader. Koontz did a spectacular job bringing this book home. I finished this book in one sitting. Great read!