Intensity
Ratings41
Average rating3.9
Good book. The book reminded me (up to a certain point, then the plots began to differ) of the movie High Tension. Some of the flashbacks into the heroine's childhood were disturbing, though.
The start of this book was a bit tedious with its many metaphors and analogies but it soon got past that and became a gripping and tense read. Both protagonists were very well written and weren't the usual horror story stereotypes leading to a real chemistry when the pair interacted. Apparently there's a 1997 tv movie adaptation so hopefully it'll do the book justice.
This book IS intense. I won't go into any details here, hundreds of others have done so, but let me just say, if you don't get pulled into this book by the very first page, well, then you must lead a rather horrifying life!!
Coming off reading Yumi and Nightmare painter may color the rating somewhat as they are pretty much totally opposite in terms of mood and other aspects.. However, there was still something I enjoyed here quite a bit.
I've read Koontz before with middling feelings but here I think the characters and the plot were good. Even the despicable antagonist was interesting in its sick depiction. Also the main character and their background and struggles were interesting to me. It got very claustrophobic at times with varying degrees of stakes on the line.
Something about the flow of his writing here also worked for me.
The overall package was quite tight. Few somewhat overly descriptive scenes but nothing to bring it down too much.
Oh man I loathe Chyna's backstory and find her unreal, she defies suspension of disbelief and it pisses me off. Vess was well done, although I do find the combination of synesthesia and being super literal a bit much. Ariel is okay, but she's more of a plot device than an actual character and find the lack of therapy that she receives at the end of the book to be criminal.
With all that being said the genre work of it was well done, I wanted to keep reading.