Relentless
Dean Koontz

Bestselling novelist Cullen "Cubby" Greenwich is a lucky man and he knows it. He makes a handsome living doing what he enjoys. His wife, Penny, a children's book author and illustrator, is the love of his life. Together they have a brilliant six year old, Milo, affectionately dubbed "Spooky", and a non-collie named Lassie, who's all but part of the family.
So Cubby knows he shouldn't let one bad review of his otherwise triumphant new book get to him - even if it does appear in the nation's premier newspaper and is penned by the much feared, seldom seen critic Shearman Waxx. Cubby knows that the best thing to do is ignore the gratuitously vicious, insulting, and inaccurate comments. Penny knows it; even little Milo knows it. If Lassie could talk, she'd tell Cubby to ignore them, too.
Ignore Shearman Waxx and his poison pen is just what Cubby intends to do. Until he happens to learn where the great man is taking his lunch. Cubby just wants to get a look at the mysterious recluse whose mere opinion can make or break a career - or a life.
But Shearman Waxx isn't what Cubby expects, and neither is the escalating terror that follows what seemed to be an innocent encounter. For Waxx gives criticism; he doesn't take it. He has ways of dealing with those who cross him that Cubby is only beginning to fathom. Soon Cubby finds himself in a desperate struggle with a relentless sociopath, facing an inexorable assault on far more than his life.
Fearless, funny, utterly compelling, Relentless is Dean Koontz at his riveting best, an unforgettable tale of the fragile bonds that hold together all that we most cherish - and of those who would tear those bonds asunder.

As with the vast majority of Koontz novels, this one involves people (Cubby, his wife, and his son) fleeing a semi-unknown, seemingly supernatural, force that is out to kill them... or worse.

When Cubby accidentally interacts with Waxx in a men's bathroom at the restaurant that they are both having lunch at, Waxx looks Cubby in the eye and says a single word. "Doom."

From that point on, Cubby's life becomes a living hell and a race to keep his family safe from this psychotic critic and a much larger organization that surrounds them. After their family home is blown up and they go on the run, it seems that Shearman and his organization can find the family wherever they go.

There seems to be no escape and Waxx is set on torturing and murdering Milo, then the wife, and then making Cubby beg for death.

This is not the first time this has happened. In fact, Waxx and his allies have done this to many other authors and even artists whom they do not agree with.

This is an edge of your seat book which is very hard to put down, even between chapters. Whether you're already a Koontz fan or if you've never read him before, I highly recommend this novel. You will not regret reading this one.

My rating: Five out of five snails.