The Good Guy by Dean Koontz Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Good Guy
Book Review: Good Guys Can Win
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a standard Koontz thriller with tension increasing to the point you wonder how the good guys can win. Unlike The Darkest Evening of the Year, there's no miracle to rescue the good guys, it is just plain determination.
You can read a summary in other reviews so I'll just say I enjoyed this book and as with all Koontz books, I'm amazed at how fast I read them compared to other authors.
There's plenty of action and suspense. The main characters are likeable, if mysterious, and the bad guy is just as mysterious in his actions and motives. One thing I like about Koontz is that his bad guys are WEIRD!
If there's one complaint (and it's a minor one) the story has shades of "the unstoppable government conspiracy" that dominated some of Koontz's books for a few years. At least in this one, it looks as if the Tim Carrier, the good guy, takes some action, with some success, toward dismantling it.
Koontz books are a sure bet for a great story and The Good Guy doesn't disappoint.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestseller Koontz (The Husband) delivers a thriller so compelling many readers will race through the book in one sitting. In the Hitchcockian opening, which resembles that of the cult noir film Red Rock West (1992), Timothy Carrier, a quiet stone mason having a beer in a California bar, meets a stranger who mistakes him for a hit man. The stranger slips Tim a manila envelope containing $10,000 in cash and a photo of the intended victim, Linda Paquette, a writer in Laguna Beach, then leaves. A moment later, Krait, the real killer, shows up and assumes Tim is his client. Tim manages to distract Krait from immediately carrying out the hit by saying he's had a change of heart and offering Krait the $10,000 he just received. This ploy gives the stone mason enough time to warn Linda before they begin a frantic flight for their lives. While it may be a stretch that the first man wouldn't do a better job of confirming Tim's identity, the novel's breathless pacing, clever twists and adroit characterizations all add up to superior entertainment.
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Book Review: Good book
Summary: 4 Stars
Good book. Only 4 stars because the ending was a little far fetched to me.Book Review: Good chase thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
Koontz is a popular horror novelist but there is nothing of a supernatural or ghoulish nature in The Good Guy ,which like many other recent Koontz novels such as The Husband,is a thriller-and a good one .The title character is Jim ,a landscape gardener with his own business.He is seated at the bar of his favourite watering hole ,drinking a post work beer when a total stranger hands him $10,000 saying the rest will follow "when she's gone" He has been mistaken for a hired killer and when the real killer turns up Jim finds himself the target of his wrath .Along with the intended victim ,Linda Paquelle ,he goes on the run seeking to evade the killer and hopefully turn the tables on him .It is cleasr that Krait ,the killer ,is being employed by a well resourced organisation and that he is also a stone killing machine .
What follows is a triple pursuit story-Jim/Linda in pursuit of the assassin ,the assassin pursuing them and behind it all and the organisataion keeping an eye on the situation to ensure all goes as smoothly as possible
There are hints of political paranoia ,with a key role being played by a shadowy ,ultra secret Federal organisation but essentially this is good ,old fashioned chasetthriller with shades of Hitchcock's classic movie North by Northwest
The dialogue is sharp and brittle with strong doses of mordaunt wit and humour.While there are some formulaic elements repeated from other recent Koontz novels -the blue collar hero with a past that is not exactly unblemished ,running from a sociopath-the book has pace and power to spare and is a good ,compelling read for lovers of the genre
Book Review: Good concept - poor execution
Summary: 1 Stars
What started as an interesting concept devolved into a tv-movie-of-the-week episode. Disappointing. As happens on occasion with a Koontz book, he seems to lose interest in his original concept and gets sloppy wrapping up an ending. The whole premise for the main storyline (a women being targeted for execution by a professional killer), is so ridiculously unbelievable that it's a huge letdown. Don't waste your time with this one. Koontz does have many other books which are so much better.Book Review: Good guy, average book
Summary: 3 Stars
What's nice about Dean Koontz is also his greatest fault: he's reliable. When you pick up a Koontz book, you know what you're going to get: a decently written page-turner. It's nice because Koontz rarely writes a bad book, even with around fifty books written. On the other hand, his success is based on a consistent formula that after a while can seem repetitive. Case in point: The Good Guy.
The Good Guy starts with easygoing Timothy Carrier drinking alone at a bar. He is mistaken for a hit man hired to kill Linda Paquette and given money and information about her before he can correct the employer. The killer comes in shortly thereafter and mistakes Tim for the employer, and though Tim tries to cancel the job, the killer - named Krait - refuses to back off.
Because Tim is a good guy, he tracks down Linda and convinces her of the danger she is in. Krait, however, is not far behind, leading to a cat-and-mouse game with Krait just behind the two of them. By now, Krait realizes what mistakes occurred at the bar and knows who Tim is too; he is unaware, however, how resourceful his prey really is.
For those familiar with Koontz, this book offers nothing that hasn't been seen in a dozen of his other books. We have the nice male hero, the beautiful heroine with a dark past and the clever byplay between the two; as always, the two click instantly and romance is a certainty. Krait is a nasty character, but a rather standard Koontz villain: an intelligent sociopath who thinks he is above mere humans. If you're unfamiliar with Koontz, this will be a suspenseful, fun read; but for Koontz fans, this is strictly been-there-done-that.