Your Heart Belongs to Me
by Dean Koontz
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dean KoontzEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-11-25
ISBN: 0553807137
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Your Heart Belongs to Me
Book Review: "From the day we are born we should all be afraid, but not of dying..."
Summary: 3 Stars
Ryan Perry is a wealthy software developer (he's responsible for one of those annoying social networking sites) who's madly in love with a beautiful woman (a "vision," as he frequently thinks of her). One day while surfing, Ryan--34, in superb physical health--suffers an anxiety attack. Later that night, he finds himself having some kind of fit, one that forces him onto the floor, in intense agony, waking up hours later not knowing what happened. That's enough to send Ryan to the doctor. But the really troubling stuff is about to begin: mysterious whispering and knocking in the night; strangers coming and going from his girlfriend's apartment; strange feelings of deja vu. Ryan is thrust into a paranoid world where he trusts no one--not even himself. Is he going crazy? Or is someone trying to get under his skin, to untangle his sanity?
First of all, I don't know why the review here on Amazon (as well as the jacket flap of the hardback) summarizes the book by mentioning the mysterious woman who haunts him; that doesn't occur until the last hundred pages or so of the book. (Sometimes you gotta wonder if people even READ these books before reviewing them; though, to their credit, the book would have been MUCH more interesting if that had been the entire plot, rather than a climactic point.)
That out of the way, let me bemoan the fact that Dean Koontz doesn't pack the punch he used to. "Your Heart Belongs to Me" certainly has its moments; at its best, it's reminiscent of the paranoia that fueled his earlier espionage works such as "The Key to Midnight" and "The House of Thunder" (remember those? No? Shame.). It is in this hundred page stretch where Ryan trusts no one that we see the Koontz that was, unafraid to scare the hell out of us, while admirably staying above any horror/suspense cliches. Unfortunately, that paranoid stretch is bookended by a dull opening and an unclimactic climax (which is at least plausible, if not probable; Koontz hit an all-time low with the ending of "The Darkest Evening of the Year," which made me drop my book and curse). Koontz's prose is still strong, though he's been far better before; he's always used "big" words, but in this novel he seems to layer them on. Do we really need to know the name of the condition that causes one eye to blink uncontrollably for short periods of time? The answer is no--especially if it is a minor point meant to make a character more charming (which Ryan isn't, and I say that to Koontz's credit; he's likable, but you really wouldn't want to be friends with this spoiled man-child).
Koontz has always written about hope in the face of tragedy and horror. Lately, however, he's taken a far too optimistic turn with it, forcing happy endings on his readers. (Remember the ending to "Odd Thomas"? Now THAT was golden Koontz, and probably his last decent ending.) I've been a Koontz fan for years; I can honestly say his novels encouraged me to read further, and to start writing my own stories. There are few writers as talented out there, especially in the pop-fiction genre. The problem is, Koontz's stories have become outlandish, almost too intricate for their own good, requiring endings and plot events that just aren't acceptable. He's still a great writer--you can do far worse than reading this novel--but he's not AS great as he once was. And the worst part is, "Your Heart Belongs to Me," at its best, shows us that Koontz still has what it takes to make us think and scare us at the same time. If only he would put more emphasis on the latter, and lay up a bit on the preaching.
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