The Husband

Dean Koontz
Bantam Dell (2006)
ISBN 0553804790
Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (6/06)


It was a perfectly ordinary May morning for twenty-seven year old landscaper Mitch Rafferty.  He and his helper Iggy were planting a huge bed of impatiens at a customer’s home while Iggy explained how their mutual friend Ralph came to have his nose bitten off by Ming the iguana.  When the phone rang, Mitch had no idea as he answered it that his life would change forever.  “We have your wife,” they said.  “If you want her back, have two million dollars cash for us in sixty hours.”  With only $38,000.00 in their savings and checking accounts combined, Mitch faces an insurmountable task, one he is determined to carry out.  At stake is his life, his reason for living…his wife Holly.

The kidnappers’ next call sends him to the Newport Beach home of his adored older brother Anson, a computer whiz who turned his talent into a major business.  During their childhood, Anson had been Mitch’s shield against their cruel, unfeeling parents. To Mitch’s amazement, Anson is willing to give him the money he had earmarked for his purchase of a yacht in which to spend his early retirement.

Finally able to take a moment’s pause, Mitch is dismayed when their plan breaks down and he finds himself fighting not only for Holly’s life, but also for his own.

Dean Koontz has done it again.  He’s written a compelling, can’t put down book that, as always, leaves us with the hope that somehow, no matter how terrible this world seems to be, faith and love will always win out. 

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