Shattered - Dean Koontz

A few years ago, I went through a phase where I read a lot of Dean Koontz books. After a while they began to pall, as many of his books seemed to follow similar lines. I returned to him recently as a result of an exchange on Readit Swap it and was pleasantly surprised. Shattered isn't like many of Koontz's books (indeed, it was written under a pseudonym). It's a short, fast-paced adrenalin rush of a book, which grabs you from the start and keeps you reading to the end. The cut down plot and slim characters make a welcome change from some of the fat, overblown tomes most authors feel the need to churn out these days. Shattered is never going to win ...

This is one of Koontz first books and it’s a very simple storyline. But it demonstrates nicely just how good the author is at building the tension and pace, even at a young age. Young Colin likes to make up stories and today is no different as he sets out on a cross America trip with his new dad Alex in his shiny Thunderbird. Alex a babyface handsome 33-year-old is off to live with the girl of his dreams who is young Colin’s gorgeous Californian sister Courtney. As the sparkling red sports car rolls out of their Philadelphia vacant house, Colin is immediately drawn to a paneled van that also pulls out of a driveway. Six ...