Dovevo immaginarmelo che dopo aver letto I Fratelli Karamazov qualunque libro avrebbe fatto una figura barbina. Mi dispiace, caro Koontz, che questa triste sorte sia capitata proprio a te - sei un omino tanto simpatico e carino - ma su, non si può fare un paragone tra te e il mio mattacchione russo. Sono sicura che non te la prenderai.Allora, vediamo. Il marito è un libro interessante sotto tanti punti di vista. La trama è presto detta. Mitch, il protagonista, un uomo qualunque - a Koontz piacciono gli uomini qualunque - un giardiniere banalissimo, riceve improvvisamente una chiamata da uno sconosciuto: hanno rapito sua moglie. Il riscatto ammonta a 2 milioni di dollari, da versare entro 60 ore. Come ben si può immaginare, si tratta di una cifra che un giardiniere non ha mai visto in vita sua e probabilmente mai vedrà. Questo i rapitori lo sanno; nondimeno, per dimostrargli che fanno sul serio, fanno saltare le cervella a un ignaro passante che portava a spasso il cane da quelle parti.Da questo momento in poi inizia la corsa contro il tempo, la lotta per salvare la cosa che governa il mondo di Mitch, l'asse attorno a cui ruota la sua intera esistenza, la moglie Holly; tutto giocherà a suo svantaggio, se c'è qualcosa che può andar storto su di lui si abbatterà come una calamità naturale, ogni singolo personaggio sembrerà rivoltarglisi contro.Era dai tempi di Follett che non vedevo un personaggio così sfigato. Ma andiamo avanti.In definitiva, posso dire che questo libro mi sia piaciuto.Mi è piaciuta la metamorfosi del protagonista che da giardiniere sempliciotto, incapace di tenere in mano un qualsivoglia strumento che non sia un rastrello, si rende capace dei crimini più efferati per salvare la moglie. Ho adorato i dialoghi e le situazioni che Koontz sa creare: in questo è un vero maestro di originalità. Niente da dire.Ma, d'altra parte, sono diverse le cose che non mi hanno convinto di questo libro.Primo, lo stile. Molto semplice, scolastico, lineare, e allo stesso tempo impregnato di metafore. Ma in maniera indecente, davvero. E se c'è una cosa che non sopporto, sono le metafore fantasiose. Vi farò un esempio."In quel momento fu come se nella testa del fratello maggiore si materializzasse un nuovo inquilino che si aggirò per le stanze della sua mente accendendo di una luce più cupa le due finestrelle verdi dei suoi occhi." Eh? No ti prego, parliamone.Altra cosa che ho odiato, ma che purtroppo temo sia un tema tanto caro a Koontz dato che ce lo ficca in ogni suo cavolo di libro, è la sua concezione sacrale della famiglia e il lieto fine.Mitch ama Holly. Bene. No sul serio, Mitch ama Holly. Ok, abbiamo capito. Holly è bella, divertente, intelligente, affermata nel lavoro, forte, vuole avere tanti figli, Mitch non può vivere senza di lei. OH CRISTO.Questo concetto famiglia-della-Mulino-Bianco è tanto inverosimile quanto fastidioso in mezzo a un libro del genere. Lo stesso vale per il lieto fine, appiccicato lì come un chewing gum, masticato e rimasticato. Non puoi tenere col fiato sospeso il lettore fino alla terzultima pagina e poi rifilargli un lieto fine da Walt Disney. Proprio no. Il coraggioso lettore arrivato fin lì assetato di sangue si sente tradito. Soprattutto se è stato alimentato con pane e violenza sin dal primo capitolo.Tirando le somme, le 3 stelline calzano proprio a pennello. Un giorno andrò da Koontz e gli farò vomitare tutti quegli arcobaleni colorati che gli appannano il cervello, e allora ne riparleremo.
THE HUSBAND Review This could possibly be the last good Dean Koontz novel. I only say "possibly" because I have yet to read RELENTLESS, which was published after this one, and do not hold high hopes for me liking it. Written in 2006, three years after the stellar debut of Pico Mundo's paranormally-inclined fry cook, THE HUSBAND avoids all the typical Koontz trappings. There's no witty/sarcastic narrator, no uber smart Golden, no blond female lead, no unrealistic dialogue, absolutely zero filler, and not a hint of quirky, preposterous, mustache-twirling villainous types. There's something truly fresh about this book, and I think what stands out the most is, Koontz actually managed to scare me again. There are more than a few scenes from the kidnapped wife's POV that chilled me to the bone. One especially terrifying chapter has the kidnapper's voice circling her in the darkness, drawing closer, drifting away, leaning in, ebbing... sometimes it's so close that she fears he's about to kiss her. I'm not doing justice to the scene, but suffice to say that, after reading it, I needed a space heater to thaw the blood in my veins. I haven't felt that way during a Koontz novel since reading DRAGON TEARS in 1993, and I think that novel only scared me because I was 13 years old. Back then, Barney the Big Purple Pedophile scared the shit out of me. Our main character, Mitch, is a likable enough guy, but by the end of THE HUSBAND, he's a broken individual. He manages some pretty nasty and twisted things after finding out why his wife was kidnapped. If I'd been in Mitch's shoes, well... the song "Five Minutes Alone", by Pantera, comes to mind. Needless to say, I still rooted for the man Mitch became, but I was a tad more fearful of him than for him. In the last Koontz book I read, the MC (a pastry chef) droned on and on about this baked good or that tasty confection. It was useless information, and as boring as turtle sex. Koontz is also known for describing at length plantlife in exceedingly banal prose. When I first started THE HUSBAND and found out that the MC was a gardener, I almost slammed the book closed. I thought, "Wonderful... now he has a reason to bore me to death," but I continued to read. Boy, am I ever glad I did. The ending ties everything up nicely if a bit too quickly. But I think the finale only speeds by because the middle of the book is so well paced. Koontz had me on the edge of my seat for over 95% of this book, so much so that I didn't want the ride to end. Sweet baby Tom Cruise, I wish he still wrote like this. I did deduct half a star for the tacked-on final chapter. It read as if someone told Koontz: "You have to say something about what happened afterward. Toss in a one-page epilogue of sorts and call it a day." To which Koontz responded: "Fuckin' A. I'm on that shit like scars on John Wayne Bobbit!" The final thousand words of THE HUSBAND are so rushed and heartless you'll feel as if you've just been raped by a rabbit that suffers from premature ejaculation, leaving you with this final thought: "That was brief and uncalled for." In summation, should you choose to read a Dean Koontz book from this century, pick up THE HUSBAND. It won't win any literary awards, but it's a tense thriller by a former master of suspense. This is Koontz on his game, and it shouldn't be missed. Highly recommended.
What do You think about The Husband (2006)?
3 STARS"What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill?We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he's standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch's wife and he's named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn't care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He's confident that Mitch will find a way.If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He's got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he'll pay a lot more. He'll pay anything." (From Amazon) Koontz is getting less like Stephen King and more like Harlan Coben (more suspense than thriller). He writes well in both sort of genres.
—Kris - My Novelesque Life
I found this book in the attic of a house i just moved into, after spending the day lugging around heavy boxes and sorting thru everything i thought why not take a break and read a few chapters, well turns out this is not one of those books you can read for a couple chapters at a time, as soon as i picked it up and started reading i found myself competely unable to stop! Before i knew it i had read the entire book anaware of how much time had passed!! It seems to me that the majority of the books Dean Koontz writes do this to me they are so well written and exciting i can never seem to put them down, i dont smoke im not a drinker but these books are like my addiction! Even though the blirb on the back of the book wasnt something i would normally pick up i devored ever word untill the very last one! I find DK creates the most amazing real feel characters the main characters you cannot help but like and the bad guys you cannot help but dislike, his writing technique is so wonderful that his words breathe life into each character making them seem more real then some people i know, anyways this book was exciting form the very first chapter. I Really liked mike as a main charater i wish more people could be like dks main charaters to live thru such adversty in your youth and come out to be modest kind and so very brave and strong he really would be the perfect husband hehe
—Emily
انا أيضا تفاجأت بشقيقه ..كان مختلا ..منى دين كونتز الكاتب قرأت له رواية اخرى اسمها موعد مع الجريمة جميلة أيضاومليئة بالمفاجآت .. ولكن ليس بقدر رواية الزوج .
—Sarah ( Paris )
