The Husband
Dean Koontz

What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill?
We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he's standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.
Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch's wife and he's named the price for her safe return. The called doesn't care that Mitch runs a small two man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He's confident that Mitch will find a way. If he loves his wife enough...
Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He's got sixty hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he'll pay a lot more. He'll pay anything

Much like the vast majority of Koontz's novels, this one does not fail to impress. What seems to be the primary plot on the outside - the kidnapping of Mitch's wife - is indeed a plot, but not necessarily the main one. As the book goes on, there is a major plot twist involving Mitch and the one person who seems to be willing to help him with the kidnapping. That twist seems to be the real plot and is rather impressive. Unfortunately, I can't say much more about that without giving away the major surprise of the novel.

Also as with any Koontz novel, not only are the main characters fleshed out to feel like real human beings, but so are the more minor characters in the book. The plot is realistic and as horrifying as the major twist is, it's believable and realistic.

This novel is definitely worth reading. Both for Koontz fans and for those who have never read this author before. It's something that will keep you guessing and engaged. It is also one of those novels that is very hard to put down because you just know that something major will be happening in the next chapter.

Yet another great Koontz novel. The only reason I'm giving this four snails and not four and a half snails is because of the ending. They skipped a lot that they should have put in - such as Mitch dealing with the consequences of his actions and the set ups that involved him. Those really should have been resolved in some way other than in leaping forward in time.

My rating: Four out of five snails.