[.ca] Hideaway (ISBN 0613127331)

The most frightening of all!:
He strikes again with this fantastic story that the movie made a mockery of. The concept totally misplaced. Real evil and terror of situations that are out there. Sometimes we hear about these, sometimes we're not. Other movies I've seen that didn't even come close to the evil perceived in this. Let's not forget the flip of the coin. The oldest battle in time- Good versus Evil. Who wins out? Who loses? What could you lose that you hold so dear to you? This story makes you think of all those little things that really matter. Read it and find out for yourself.

Suspenseful and chilling thriller!!:
Hatch Harrison and his wife Lindsay are driving home from a vacation. Before they have time to react, Hatch and Lindsay become involved in a horrendous car accident that results in Hatch passing away. By the time they are taken to the hospital, Hatch has been dead for over an hour. However, Dr. Jonas Nyberg specializes in bringing people back from the dead, and manages to revive Hatch. Hatch and Lindsay see this as a gift from God and begin to live life to the fullest. They even adopt a handicapped 10 year old girl named Regina. However, just as things seem like they couldn't get any better, Hatch makes a startling discovery. Hatch's return from death has somehow linked his mind, with the mind of a deadly serial killer. As Hatch begins to see the victims through the killer's eyes, the killer also becomes aware of Hatch's presence. Now Hatch and his family are put in danger when the killer becomes obsessed with tracking them down. Hideaway is definately one of the best Dean Koontz books I have ever read. The book drags you in after the first page, and keeps you there until the very end. This book is extremely captivating and terrifying. The premise is what makes the book so great. The subject of near death experiences and the afterlife is one that is extremely interesting. Koontz's take on the subject is very creative and original. The character development is amazing in this book. Koontz tells the story from two different perspectives. One being Hatch, and the other being the killer. You come to see the story through the eyes of both characters which makes the story very well rounded. The killer is perhaps one of Koontz's best villans because of how savagely brutal he is. The description that Koontz uses to describe each kill, will make you flinch at times. Overall, Hideaway is one of Koontz's most terrifying and dark books. The characters are all great, the book is filled with action and suspense, and you will love Koontz's take on near death experiences and the afterlife.

Strong Start, Disappointing Finish:
Hideaway is one of those books which start out great, with a big bang, and goes downhill from there. The start of the book starts with Lindsey and Hatch, the main characters, in a major auto accident that sends their car toppling down an embankment and into a river. Koontz illustrates the excruciating details of this accident beautifully. He really puts the reader rigth into the car with his characters. After that, however, the book slowly slides downhill. It begins when Hatch starts experiencing 'visions' of horrible things that he soon realizes aren't nightmares, but actual events. Hatch has apparently carried back the ability to psychicly link-up with a serial killer, who also happens to be possesed by an evil spirit. It also just happens that the serial killer was also brought back from the dead by the same doctor who brings Hatch back from the dead. It also happens that this serial killer was that doctor's son. It also happens that this serial killer wants Hatch's wife Lindsey and their newly adopted daughter for his 'collection' of bodies that he is dedicating to Satan in an attempt to earn his way back into hell. Have all of the 'it also happens' gotten to be as ridiculous to you as they did to me? A word about the characters in this book. Usually, Dean Koontz comes up with believable characters that I like and can root for (or against). In this case, I think he really screwed up. I began to hate the main characters in this book, Hatch and Lindsey, as soon as they decided to go ahead with their adoption even though they knew they were likely putting the child in the way of a serial killer. What kind of people are they? Who wants to root for someone like that? After that point in this book I kept hoping that the two main characters would 'get it' while the child was somehow spared. This is not a great Dean Koontz. I seriously hope that people do not pick this up as their first DK book. I can't imagine that they would read another after that.

At his best:
This book does display Koontz at his best. While the topic isn't exactly likely to happen, somehow Koontz pulls you in & makes you believe it CAN happen. When you're near death & almost die, what does that do to you? Can it change you, change who you are- does it open a door to another world? While the thought of dying is scary enough, imagine if you survived, but you were changed. And not for the better. What would you do? This book is full of suspense, mystery, terror, horror, astonishment & heart-pounding moments! Go get it & read!

A Painful Slog toward an Ugly Destination:
Very difficult book for me to get through, then an ending that made me wish I didn't bother. I could hardly keep my eyes opened through Koontz's drawn-out medical "drama" and his melodramatic evil characterizations. I simply found the book boring, but decided to stick it out. It did not scare me; it did not make me laugh; it did not satisfy me in the end. Life is too short for this type of over-written and under-plotted and under-characterized work. I couldn't bear to give the book only one star, because it was obvious Koontz was trying really, really hard to make a literate and informative book. But I never gave a damn about the phony characters--from peter perfect resuscitation patient to the doctor that just loved his darn patients too much to the evil man in sunglasses that lived in the realm between life and death, I couldn't buy it. It felt contrived, like most of the books from Koontz.