The House of Thunder
Dean Koontz

In a cavern called The House of Thunder, Susan Thorton watched in terror as her lover died a brutal death in a college hazing. And in the next few years, the four young men who participated in that grim fraternity rite likewise died violently. Or did they?
Twelve years later, Susan is involved in a near fatal accident. She awakens to find herself suffering from amnesia. Slowly her convalescence unfolds into a fearful nightmare. Can the four ageless young men encountered in the hospital corridors possibly be the killers of her boyfriend? Or are they phantoms of her tormented memory? Have the dead come back to life? Or has Susan plunged into the abyss of madness?
With the help of her neurosurgeon, Susan desperately clings to her sanity while fighting to uncover who or what could be stalking her.

Up until the last two chapters, this book is phenomenal. It's a terrifying mystery that, quite literally, makes you not want to put it down. I read this rather quickly because I was willing to stay up way too late to keep on reading. I wanted to know what was happening, find out the explanation for what Susan was seeing, and therefore kept on reading. That should mark a great book, and it would have, had the ending not have been such a disappointment.

Most of this book is worth the read, and because of that I will, in the end, recommend it with the caveat of the ending seeming to me like a cop out.

As Susan's memory comes back two problems arise. One is that no matter what, she can remember nothing about her job. The other is that she keeps seeing the men that murdered her boyfriend - but they are still the same age they were then and they should be dead. They keep telling her that they're going to get her back for sending them to jail and occasionally hint that she died in her car accident and is in hell. She thinks she has a lingering brain injury and those around her question her sanity.

This, makes for the fantastic part of the novel. However, when it gets to the last two chapters and the reason behind Susan's memory loss and her seeing the dead comes to light, it's a let down. Not one that would make me recommend against reading this but enough of one that will take this book from four and a half snails to three and a half snails.

So yes, I would recommend this, however don't expect the ending to be nearly as good as it should be.

My rating: Three and a half out of five snails.