On my recent visit to the library, I stumbled upon the name Dean Koontz. I have heard this name long ago but had never chanced upon reading any of his books. I came across this book in the library to give the writer a try. Plus the blurb was interesting.
Bill is a normal middle-aged person working at a bar. One evening after his shift, he finds a message on the windshield of his car. It said that if he goes to the police he will kill a blonde school teacher and if he does not an elderly charity worker lady will be killed. Bill does not go to the police. But he meets up with a police friend who asks him to ignore the message telling him it might be a prank. Sadly it was not. Bill starts receiving such messages again and the body count starts to rise. Plus there is always something that implicates Bill in the murders. The story follows Bill racing against time before the lives of himself and his beloved are in danger.
A great premise. The blurb interested me and the book started on an interesting note. The setting and how the story is taken forward made the reader engaging. But, halfway through I was getting distracted easily. I felt the story was a bit draggy in places and could have been a few pages shorter. While I praise Stephen King for his longer stories, not all writers share the same skill. The writing style and language was pretty good. There were only a handful of minimal characters and they were written well. But the shorter number of characters means a shorter number of suspects. The story pointed to a certain person throughout but I was not ready to fall for the red herrings. But the twist at the end was good and well-written. The confrontations happened so quickly as in a movie and we do not get a chance to ponder back on the same.
In short, an interesting premise marred by a slow pace halfway past. Mystery lovers can go for a one-time read of this book.
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