Velocity

This is my first book from this author and I gotta say... this is exactly what I'm looking for. Not only is the writing and story GREAT, but the pace in which he wrote is what I have been craving. Too many authors out there fill their books with useless information and origin stories just to make their books larger and look more like a novel. Dean wrote information that is NEEDED and will not be forgotten as you read the book. He doesn't fill your head with info that's boring, he fills it with adrenaline and speed. Velocity is the perfect name for this book. It's fast and runs with SPEED. This is the style in which I write in, and I'm happy that I found an author who shares that SPEED. Great book with a unique spin on crime. Absolutely loved it!

Reading this book was quite fun, perhaps best described as feeling very lucky for not being in the main character's shoes. For a regular young guy keeping busy by bar tending, Billy Wiles is not very remarkable until we see him in distress. Out of the blue his life is being pulled in all sorts of crazy directions and the puppeteer pulling all his strings is a total freak who plays twisted mind games and plants all sorts of discriminating evidence in Billy's house, memorabilia of his past killings in random bodies and parts planted to keep him from running to the police. When he starts finding random notes asking him who to spare and who to kill, Billy refuses to play the game, but his friends start disappearing and he has no choice but to play the game and maybe even try and win it, without turning into a psycho himself.I haven't read Koontz in a while, not by any conscious choice, but this week I suddenly craved his stable fiction that always satisfies, like a piece of cake, there are plenty of choices and they rarely fail even if they aren't the most nutritious. For some odd reason I couldn't get into the book at first, it reads fast but the first fifty pages were not a smooth read, perhaps I was being distracted by my surrounding but once I had time and quiet the book zoomed past me and I read it in two days. Most of the time at the end of each short chapter, the final paragraphs kept exploding with more and more crazy stuff, it felt like Billy was never getting his innocence and sanity back and it was impossible to put the book away or go to sleep or do anything else. The title defies the book perfectly, the way one person's life starts to crumble, the hole in the ground being dug deeper and deeper by a mysterious foe who knows everything about Billy but who's pulling the rug from under his feet in random directions getting him into more trouble by the minute. Playing tricks and games, treating people and their precious lives as a toy; something to play with, to get off to, the killer is cunning and cold, driving though his plan to bring Billy down. But lucky for us Billy is no sap and in some interesting ways plans to catch up to the maniac. Koontz does a great job of making Billy feel for all those who have perished, the deaths aren't meaningless and added to make the book soupy with gore, they are mourned and talked about form different angles, making the reader feel real sorrow and it made me think a little more about my own mortality, the way it can so easily be extinguished. Luckily this was just a book, and a great way to spend a dark and cold night. Now of course all I want to read is Koontz...I must say, he's a little bit addictive and I've acquired quite a bit of his stuff over the years.- Kasia S.

What will you do if a sick killer involves you into his scheme and now, people’s lives depend solely on your decision? What an original premise, I thought, and grabbed the book right away and wow, I’m glad I did! I mean, you can’t go wrong with Dean Koontz, but “Velocity” is just another proof why he’s one of my favorite authors. I couldn’t wait to finish my work for the day just so I could get back to reading. The plot was super dynamic and so twisted, I just couldn’t wrap my head around what’s going on at times. Reading it was like being on a ride, full of adrenaline and emotions. By the time I finished, I understood why it was called “Velocity,” haha! Read it—I promise, you won’t regret it.

Truthfully I only gave this a 3 because I love Dean Koontz. If he were not the author, this would be a 1.5 for me. My biggest issue is that I enjoy the interaction between his male and female protagonists. I kept waiting for the introduction of a female protagonist, but there is not one. The pace was great. I did not get bored. However, I was also not surprised. While this is more of a "thriller", it also had a bit of a mystery. I was able to unravel the mystery very early in to the book, which was disappointing for me. There was one twist that I didn't see coming, but it was such a "non-twist" that I also didn't care once it was revealed. The main character didn't have quite enough depth for me. I feel that in some of his other works we have a much fuller history of the main character(s), which helps us understand their motivation, and reasoning. For me, that was lacking in this book.I will still keep reading new Koontz books, but after this one I felt the need to re-read an old favorite to remind me why I love this author in the first place.

25 years ago, I was a huge Dean Koontz fan who couldn't read his work fast enough. Novels like Strangers, Watchers, Phantoms, Twilight Eyes, and Whispers were as good as thrillers got in my opinion. Then, sometime in the mid-90's, Koontz lost his appeal to me because the stories seemed to be less fleshed-out and too repetitive. I lost interest. That interest has returned with "Velocity".This book is old-school Koontz. The protagonist is a normal Joe (like you and me) who gets thrust into a situation that he can neither control or figure out. Billy Wiles is that average guy who has had more than a few of life's curveballs thrown his way. Loyal to his comatose fiancé and a quiet friend to all in his job as bartender, Billy soon finds himself caught in a web of murder that he doesn't commit, but is in control of because of how he is being manipulated by an unknown person that he refers to as the "freak".Koontz does a great job peeling back layers of Billy's character while making him both like-able and sympathetic. Nobody writes this type of character better than Koontz.If you're a fan of desperate people caught in desperate situations, then "Velocity" will capture both your interest and imagination. There are plenty of strategic plot twists and backstory that keep this fine novel moving to a satisfying ending.Highly recommended!

The book started like a trace of bullet just like the title and i have a hard time to put it down easily so beware if you have lots of the time then only you start reading it. The plot of the book was good and so was the pratogonist who was very much likeable.

By far one of the best books I have ever read ! I read it about 7 years ago and was telling my friend about it as a read. Had to restart it because she wanted me to read it to her whenever we were together. She now owns it too! Had to repurchase it after seeing it in the library.

È un libro l’ho usato per leggerlo, non capisco a volte le domande assurde sulle recensioni, tutto ok

I am a huge fan of Dean Koontz and have read many of his books. Velocity was the first book of his that I read. I read the blurb on the back page and that was it, hooked, life long fan of Mr. Koontz. Billy is given a series of 2 choice of somebody to die. If one person dies, then a set of circumstances will happen, if he chooses the other person, then they will die with of course a different set of events. OF COURSE he cant go to the police!! Each choice leads him to another choice of who is to die leading to an impossible choice for Billy. I loved it!

Another great book by Dean Koontz