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Breathless: A Novel |  | Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
Buy New: $12.24
as of 11/28/2009 05:45 CST details
You Save: $15.76 (56%)
New (45) Used (10) from $12.00
Seller: Denver Books and Gifts
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 39
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0553807153
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780553807158
ASIN: 0553807153
Publication Date: November 24, 2009 (New: This Week)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz delivers a thrilling novel of suspense and adventure, as the lives of strangers converge around a mystery unfolding high in the Colorado mountains—and the balance of the world begins to tilt….
In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound Merlin step from shadow into light…and into an encounter with enchantment. That night, through the trees, under the moon, a pair of singular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to make their approach.
A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, begins to unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring all the forces of a government in peril to her door.
At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come together to begin a descent into darkness…In Las Vegas, a specialist in chaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable…On a Seattle golf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements for murder…Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the past begins a trek toward his destiny…
In a novel that is at once wholly of our time and timeless, fearless and funny, Dean Koontz takes readers into the moment between one turn of the world and the next, across the border between knowing and mystery. It is a journey that will leave all who take it Breathless.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 Would have bought it - if text to speech was allowed November 27, 2009
George Jesien (Silver Spring MD)
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
Would love to have read this Koontz book but have made a practice not to purchase those in which text to speech has been disabled. Do this in part for me and all those who are visually impaired and don't believe in not using the technology that is available
 Trixie would have been proud November 27, 2009
Julia Andrews (Peoria, Illinois)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an especially appealing Dean Koontz novel for the Holidays. Always a wonderful wordsmith, Mr Koontz, writes a smooth plot of seemingly dissimilar characters whose roads do intersect in a very satisfying mannner. His adoration to the unforgiving loyalty, love and wonder that people receive (deserved or not) from our animal companions is on prominent display, just as his attention to detail, throughout the book. So it is not surprising to have a new and unique animal species to provide the answer for the future of Mankind, especially when the world could easily chose darkness. Being a long time reader of Mr. Koontz, this is one of his best. Many writers churn out "a house payment book" in time for the holiday bills, this is NOT one of them. Trixie would have been proud of "her daddy's" book, although, probably dismayed the main canine character is an Irish Wolfhound and not a Golden.
breathless November 26, 2009
deborah
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i dont know how he does it but dean koontz has the gift of writing not only eliquent prose but also suspenseful wonderment. he never disappoints.
 Senseless November 26, 2009
Elliott (L.A.)
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
There are too many tails and too many tales in this book. First, the tails. There's Merlin, the Irish wolfhound that is amazingly perceptive, typical of the dogs in Dean Koontz's books. Then there are Puzzle and Riddle, fantastic dogs/cats/hominids/transformers who bounce around and have really ethereal eyes. Puzzle and Riddle are cute and playful. But are they nice? And where, exactly, did they come from?
Next, there are the tales. Henry Rouvroy murders his twin and his twin's wife. He seems to have no soul. But he does have two million in cash. He is pursued by, well, we don't know what, in the house where the murder victims lived. There are thirty hand grenades... One of the grenades ends up in the refrigerator. Go figure.
Another tale is that of Dr. Lamar Woolsey, a genius mathematician and chaos theory expert who has figured out how to win in Vegas. Oh, and he gives much of his take away to good people whom he meets in the casino.
Further muddying the water is Liddon Wallace, a heartless lawyer (redundant?). Wallace hires Rudy Neems, the greens keeper from hell. Wallace does not want Neems to cut grass and rake leaves. Neems encounters Tom Bigger, whose face was shockingly disfigured by a self-inflicted beating. You heard right. Oh, Tom is six foot five, homeless, and finds solace in tequila and sinsemilla. And it seems he's got a gang of coyotes protecting him.
I have really only touched the surface of the motley crew that fills this book. Lurking in the shadows are the big bad feds: helicopters, black-clad goons, and all... I kept expecting someone named Kitchen Sink to pop up.
I have read several of Koontz's books. This ranks at the bottom of the list. There are still the Koontz trademarks: clever prose, joyful dogs, and a conviction that there is a spiritual good that transcends earthly evil. But this book was just too "chaotic" and the ending was way too rushed and contrived.
Just in time for the holidays...a book to warm your heart! November 26, 2009
Janice Sims (Central Florida)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm writing this in my kitchen while the turkey's in the oven and my family's snug in their beds. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I finished reading Breathless last night but this is the first free moment I've had to put down my thoughts. There's a smile on my face because even thinking about the ending causes that reaction in me. Once again Dean Koontz has managed to tell a riveting story with redemptive qualities and the ability to leave the reader feeling better about herself and the world in general.
I immediately liked Grady Adams and his Irish Wolfhound, Merlin, and Camellia Rivers their veterinarian friend whom Grady called when he discovered the miracle in the woods, two mysterious and beautiful creatures he and Cammy later named Riddle and Puzzle. Where did the creatures come from? Why are they here? I cringed when Cammy contacted other animal experts because I knew what was coming. How many times have we read stories or seen films in which any creature deemed 'not of this earth' was dissected by scientists because, let's face it, if they're different from us they're automatically a threat to national security. Better safe than sorry.
At first I wasn't optimistic about how the secondary characters, a lost soul by the name of Tom Bigger, a miscreant by the name of Henry Rouvroy, and an utterly delightful character by the name of Lamar Woolsey, would figure into the story line. But master craftsman Koontz brought it all together in a very satisfactory way in the end.
Readers, this is an enchanting story that will make you smile and make you remember that mankind is indeed wonderful, even if we don't act like it sometimes! :o)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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