Автор - Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas

"The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different. A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15. Today is August 14. In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares-and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

Przy Blasku Księżyca

Spokojny, żyjący w harmonii ze światem malarz, Dylan O'Conner, pewnego wieczoru zostaje napadnięty przez zagadkowego człowieka, który w pokoju motelowym aplikuje mu tajemniczy zastrzyk.Wkrótce dowiaduje się, że grozi mu śmiertelne niebezpieczeństwo – musi uciekać przed bezwzględnymi mordercami, którzy nie cofną się przed niczym, by wyeliminować każdego, kogo obłąkany "doktor" dostał w swoje ręce.Towarzyszy mu młodszy brat cierpiący na autyzm oraz Jilly, dziewczyna próbująca swoich sił jako komik na estradach Południowego Zachodu, której również wstrzyknięto tajemniczą substancję. Muszą stawić czoło nie tylko pościgowi, ale także dziwnym, niepojętym zmianom, jakie zaczynają w nich zachodzić pod wpływem zastrzyku.Wbrew własnej woli stają się uczestnikami wydarzeń, które na pozór nie mają żadnego związku z grożącym im niebezpieczeństwem.Wydaje się, że chory Shepherd będzie im utrudniał ucieczkę… ale czy rzeczywiście?

Sussurri

A ventinove anni, dopo un’infanzia e un’adolescenza difficili, la bella e intelligente Hilary Thomas è arrivata al successo. Ma quando viene aggredita nella sua lussuosa villa di Beverly Hills da un maniaco omicida, i peggiori incubi del passato sembrano rimaterializzarsi nei bagliori della lama acuminata del suo aggressore. Non basterà fuggire, non basterà lottare, non basterà nemmeno ucciderlo: lui tornerà, più forte della morte, a ossessionarla, costringendola a scavare disperatamente nei segreti sepolti per scoprire una realtà allucinante. Da Hollywood a Napa Valley, dalle piscine soleggiate delle dimore dei divi alla penombra umida di morte dell’obitorio, il ritmo tranquillo della vita quotidiana in California viene sconvolto da eventi ben più spaventosi e dirompenti dei terremoti ai quali la gente è ormai abituata. Esistono forze, nella mente umana, al confronto delle quali le scosse telluriche sono carezze e le urla di morte soltanto sussurri.

Watchers

Prolific Koontz's recent horror efforts (Strangers, Phantoms, Whispers) smothered readers under ungainly layers of fatty subplots and scleroid exposition. In this 49th novel, he strips away much of the excess to deliver his leanest book since The Vision (1977), and his best ever, an imaginative and unusual blend of suspense and sentiment as man, woman, and dog flee from horrors both inhuman and inhumane. The dog, a golden retriever, is the novel's centerpiece. World-weary Travis Cornell stumbles upon him snarling at something deep in a California woods. Showing uncanny wit, the dog leads Travis out of the forest, responding to every command with near-human intelligence. Adopting the dog, Travis names him "Einstein." Meanwhile, two villains wreak havoc in the L.A. suburbs, Koontz's excuse to indulge in his customary gory excesses: some thing is decapitating random loners, while, in an unnecessary subplot, a KGB-hired assassin kills scientists connected with a gene-splicing lab. Days later, Einstein saves a lonely woman, Nora, from rape. As she and Travis romance, they explore the dog's powers, even teaching him to read and write. With the use of Scrabble tiles, Einstein explains that he, as well as a murderous baboonish creature so vile as to be called "The Other," are results of an Army genetic experiment. Einstein escaped; The Other, jealous of his charm, broke out to kill him – and all who stand in its way. Grateful to Einstein the dog for reviving their tired lives, Travis and Nora hide out with him in S.F., where, amidst domestic bliss highlighted by a pregnancy and the dog's obsession with Mickey Mouse videos, they await the coming of The Other. But the assassin, hoping to steal Einstein, shows up first; Travis guns him down. When The Other arrives, razor teeth flashing, it meets the same fate. At the close: a happy ending foretelling a race of super-dogs to grace the earth. More a fable about love and trust than an outright chiller, this work, with its echoes of Frankenstein and The Island of Dr. Moreau, still peppers enough tension and mayhem throughout to satisfy horror fans. And the touching, if often hokey, interplay between dog and human could attract new, non-genre readers. A break-through for Koontz.

Whispers

Winter Moon

Your Heart Belongs To Me

From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a riveting thriller that probes the deepest terrors of the human psyche – and the ineffable mystery of what truly makes us who we are. Here an innocent man finds himself fighting for his very existence in a battle that starts with the most frightening words of all. At thirty-four, Internet entrepreneur Ryan Perry seemed to have the world in his pocket – until the first troubling symptoms appeared out of nowhere. Within days, he's diagnosed with incurable cardiomyopathy and finds himself on the waiting list for a heart transplant; it's his only hope, and it's dwindling fast. Ryan is about to lose it all.his health, his girlfriend, Samantha, and his life. One year later, Ryan has never felt better. Business is good and there's even a chance of getting Samantha back in his life. Then the unmarked gifts begin to arrive in the mail – a heart pendant, a box of Valentine candy hearts. And, most disturbing of all, a graphic heart surgery video accompanied by a chilling message: Your heart belongs to me. In a heartbeat, the medical miracle that gave Ryan a second chance at life is about to become a curse worse than death. For Ryan is being stalked by a mysterious woman who feels entitled to everything he has. She's the spitting image of the twenty-eight-year-old donor of the heart beating steadily in Ryan's own chest. And she's come to take it back.