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Koontz just gets better and better Jun 11, 2007 (62 of 70 found this helpful)
First off, there is nothing supernatural in this book. That deserves to said up front, as some people prefer Koontz when he is writing in a different vein.
This was one of the most riveting suspense novels I've read lately. The basic dilemna? A guy walks into a bar and is mistaken for a hired killer. He tries to pay off the REAL killer and, for a time, it seems as if this will work. But the killer catches on and the chase is on, as "the good guy" tries to save a beautiful woman from death.
To add to the intrigue, she has no idea why anyone would want her killed. Neither does he, of course. So they have to keep running from a guy who seems to be almost psychic, a man with connections that run deeper than could ever be expected.
I loved the way each character practically jumped off the page, the interaction between them and more. The subtle details Koontz adds are what separates him from other, less skilled writers. His writing is also tight, tense and neither stereotypical or too dense. Take this one with you this summer or have it on hand for times when you want a good read. You won't be disappointed!
Other Koontz books worth checking out:
The Husband
Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels)
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Great concept - but Koontz doesn't quite deliver Aug 8, 2007 (22 of 23 found this helpful)
Koontz has become very adept at giving his readers a suspense novel that features a unique, high concept idea. The opening chapter of The Good Guy sets up yet another intriguing concept. A man in a bar is mistaken for a hired killer and given $10,000 and information on a woman he is to murder. Before our hero realizes what has happened, the man is gone. Moments later the real killer sits beside him and Tim (our hero) passes the killer the money but tells him he has changed his mind and no longer wants the woman killed. It doesn't take the killer long to realize that a mistake was made and soon he is after the woman and Tim who is determined to save her life.
It's a clever concept, but Koontz doesn't do enough with it. The bulk of the novel is a straightforward series of chance scenes. Koontz builds suspense effectively enough, but there are few significant twists and turns in the plot, and those that are provided are not entirely satisfying. The mystery, as to why this woman has been targeted for murder, is unlikely and wafer thin.
The most nagging irritant for me is that the opening sequence in the bar, which serves as the foundation of the novel, makes no sense when we learn more about the killer. The killer works for people he communicates with whenever he needs information, fresh clothes, or some collateral damage cleaned up, yet the original contact is made in person in a bar. This is completely inconsistent with everything else we know about the killer and the people who hired him. The obvious reason for this is that Dean needed an in-person exchange to occur so that Tim could get mixed up in the action.
The bottom line: If you can excuse the flawed premise to the novel and are willing to accept a highly improbable (and somewhat anticlimactic) resolution, The Good Guy is an unexceptional but solid suspense novel.
But it could have been so much better. Dean had a great concept for this novel but (while he comes close) he doesn't quite deliver with The Good Guy.
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A Thriller Clinic Jun 6, 2007 (33 of 40 found this helpful)
"Good Guy" Tim Carrier, a mason by trade with a body (and head) like John Wayne, finds his low-key lifestyle interrupted by a bizarre barroom encounter, during which he's handed an envelope full of money and kill instructions intended for a contract killer. Forced to make the first of what will be many quick life-or-death decisions, Tim removes the target's photograph and address from the envelope and attempts to call off the kill minutes later, when the real assassin arrives at the bar, by posing as the buyer and offering up the $10,000 as a no-kill fee in consideration for his change of heart. As Tim suspects, however, this ruse buys him only limited time, which he uses to alert the intended victim, the physically lovely but psychologically fractured Linda Paquette, of the murder plot. In short, an opening hook that I found every bit as irresistable as the one that kicked off last year's "The Husband."
What ensues is a classic cat-and-mouse thriller, in which Tim and Linda must draw upon all of their physical and mental reserves to stay a step ahead of an assassin for whom the term psychopath doesn't begin to do justice. What's worse, he seems to almost magically anticipate Tim and Linda's every move, giving the impression that he's acting under the direction of a group with law enforcement connections and daunting technological capabilities. As always, Dean Koontz finds clever ways to build suspense, telling the story from several points of view and propelling the story line forward in bite-sized chapters that could easily be visualized as scenes in a blockbuster movie.
Koontz uses another interesting technique to build suspense that I found particularly effective. While we gradually learn, through Tim's incredible skill in evading the killer and his unflappable grace under pressure, that he must harbor a past profession in which he cut things other than stone, Koontz withholds this secret from the reader until the final pages of the book. He does the same with Linda and her past, contributing not only to the suspense but also to the extended first-date-type-thrill of romance that blossoms amidst the carnage.
Other than one creaky floorboard in the plot structure (the explanation behind the contract on Linda's life), "The Good Guy" is, cover to cover, one of the finest thrillers I've ever read. Some professional critics have faulted the ending, something that Koontz has struggled with in some of his books, but I thought he nailed this one perfectly. In Tim Carrier, he also has created a humble hero for our times, and perhaps kept the door open for a sequel.
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A rivetting thriller by a modern suspense master Jun 12, 2007 (20 of 24 found this helpful)
Tim Carrier is just a nice guy with a big head. When he enters a bar, no one notices. When he saddles up to the counter and orders a drink, only his friend the bartender really pays attention to him. Well, the bartender, and the nervous man who followed Tim into the bar--the guy who thinks Tim is a contract killer.
Confused, Tim watches as the man leaves...only to be replaced, minutes later, by the REAL hitman. This guy is cool, collected, with dark eyes that convey all manners of evil. It won't be long before this man realizes Tim is not his employer; and soon Tim and the target, a beautiful woman named Linda, will be running for their lives from the ultimate human evil.
"The Good Guy" starts out like Koontz's last few novels; i.e., rivetting and suspenseful, but not entirely unique (Koontz has created a new genre: the too-good-to-be-true hero with a mysterious past, running from a sociopathic human evil). However, "The Good Guy" soon branches into territory Koontz hasn't explored since the eighties, and is a wonderful return to a darker suspense form. It's a shame Koontz has been branded a horror novelist (ironically enough, the sole novel that earned him that monicker was in fact a science fiction tale), because he is truly a master of suspense. Nobody writes like he does; his imagery is breathtaking, his knack for banter un-paralleled. True, I'd like to see more grit in his writing (starting in the late nineties, with the exception of "Odd Thomas," his novels have been almost happy-go-lucky), but when it comes to analyzing happiness and love and everything that makes us human, few do it better than Koontz.
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ONE FOR THE GOOD GUYS... Mar 15, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)
This is a suspenseful thriller, lightly laced with humor. Replete with some interesting twists and turns, it will definitely keep the reader turning the pages. I read it in one sitting, as it is was an easy and enjoyable read. Once again, the author creates n original opening gambit that will grip the reader.
Here, Tim Carrier, a self-effacing mason, is having a drink at his local gin mill after work. While sitting at the bar, he is approached by a complete stranger who engages him in a bizarre conversational exchange and gives him a manila envelope stuffed with ten thousand in cash, with the rest to come after the deed is done. Tim is then given a photograph and the victim's address. Clearly, the stranger has mistaken him for a hit man!
Moments later, yet another stranger enters the bar and, thinking Tim to be the person who wants his services, also engages Tim in a bizarre conversational exchange. When a light bulb goes off in Tim's head, and he realizes this is the person for whom he was mistaken, he give the stranger the envelope of money, and tells him that is a payment for simply doing nothing. Since the stranger doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would take payment for doing nothing, Tim, keeping the photo and the would be victim' s address, is galvanized into action. Nothing like a lady in distress to bring out the John Wayne in the opposite sex.
Suddenly, the chase is on and there is definitely plenty of action. Both Tim and the potential evil doer are somewhat mysterious. Both are headed towards a moment of reckoning, taking the reader with them as they careen towards the eventual climax that will pit good against evil. Though somewhat formulaic, the reader will barely notice, as the author takes the reader on a quick, but fun, joyride.