VELOCITY 英文原版

　　Book De*ion
Dean Koontz’s uniquetalent for writing terrifying thrillers with a heart and soul isnowhere more evident than in this latest suspense masterpiece thatpits one man against the ultimate deadline. If there were speedlimits for the sheer pulse-racing excitement allowed in one novel,Velocity would break them all. Get ready for the ride of yourlife.
　　From Publishers Weekly
　　Starred Review. A diabolic killer plays a harrowing game of catand mouse with a reclusive bartender in Koontz's latest grippingsuspense thriller. Billy Wiles, a 30-something bartender and formerwriter, is content with his solitary Napa County existencelistening to "beer-based psychoanalysis" from tavern regulars;visiting his hospitalized, comatose fiancée, Barbara; and carvingwood sculptures. But the simple life gets mighty complicated whenhe finds a note with a deadly, time-sensitive ultimatum: he mustchoose between the death of a young schoolteacher or an elderlyhumanitarian in six hours. Reluctant local sheriff Lanny Olsendismisses it as a joke until a comely teacher is found strangledand another threatening note appears—offering even less time forBilly to decide the fate of two more people. Who would have guessedthat one of those people would be Olsen? After his friend's murder,Billy finds that the cunning killer has gained access to everyaspect of his life as the ultimatums grow increasingly morepersonal. Suppressing horrific childhood memories, Billy scramblesto bury grisly incriminating evidence the murderer has deviouslyplanted. More gruesome deaths and shaky suspicions trap Billy rightin the demented killer's lair for just the beginning of Koontz'sserpentine showdown. Graphic, fast-paced action, well-developedcharacters and relentless, nail-biting scenes show Koontz at thetop of his game. (May 24)
　　From Booklist
　　Billy Wiles tends bar in a tavern in his small Californiahometown, from which he has never moved despite the horrific nightwhen he became an orphan at 14 and its equally horrific aftermath.Some 15 years later, he published a well-received book of storiesand met Barbara. They were about to be married when botulism incanned vichyssoise put her in a coma, and Billy more or less onhold, living on the hope that she will revive some day. Some fiveyears further on, Billy finds, under the windshield wiper of hiscar, a note offering him a hideous decision. If he doesn't go tothe police, "a lovely blond schoolteacher" will be killed; if hedoes, "an elderly woman" will be murdered. Billy doesn't exactly gothe police. He shows the note to a cop who is probably his onlyreal friend and who seconds his conjecture that the note is just anexceedingly tasteless prank. Of course, it isn't, and for the restof an exceedingly tightly wound thriller stubbornly focused on him,Billy struggles to discover the identity of the soon-serial killer,who plants evidence incriminating Billy on his (her? their?)victims. Eventually and all too soon, Barbara is threatened, andBilly's subsequent suicide predicted, in the murderer's ostensiblyfinal note. Not as moving as Odd Thomas (2003), as creepy as TheTaking(2004), as darkly funny as Life Expectancy (2004), or asthought-provoking as any of them, Velocity is, however, moresuspenseful and more grueling--genuinely terrific.
　　Ray Olson
　　From School Library Journal
　　Adult/High School–Bartender Billy Wiles's life spirals out ofcontrol after he finds a note on his windshield telling him that hehas a choice: involve the police, and a lovely blonde schoolteacherdies. Do nothing, and an elderly woman active in charity work dies.His options only become harder once the killer targets people whomBilly knows and plants circumstantial evidence tying him to thecrimes. His greatest fear is for his comatose fiancée, and he worksfrantically to find the murderer before Barbara is hurt. Koontzkeeps the plot moving at an accelerating pace, and there are enoughtwists and turns to keep the story from being predictable. Billyisn't a hero in the traditional sense, but he is a sympatheticprotagonist, an average man pushed to his limits by an implacablefoe. Although there is a great deal of violence and an impressivebody count, the worst of it occurs off-screen. The themes aren'tsubtle, but they are worth considering--the importance ofconnection and community, the enduring power of love, and thevalidity of modern art. Velocity is a fast, entertainingread.
　　–Susan Salpini, TASIS–The American School in England
　　From AudioFile
　　Billy Wiles has been forced into a game of moral jeopardy by alurid serial killer who forces him to choose the next victim. Thegame accelerates, the deadlines grow tighter, the killer becomesbolder and crueler with every communication, the mutilations evermore grotesque, the decisions intensely personal . . . until theyfinally involve Barbara, Billy's fiancée, who is helpless in abotulism-induced coma. Michael Hayden is masterful at creating thevibrato of beer-based psychoanalysis, the garbled quality oftalking around a toothbrush, and the exquisite timing of a winchline turning on a drum, a sound that pulls the listener further andfurther into this impossible-to-wake-up-from nightmare. Prepareyourself for a Machiavellian extravaganza. K.A.T.
　　About Author
　　When he was a senior in college, Dean Koontz won an AtlanticMonthly fiction competition. He has been writing ever since. Hisbooks are published in 38 languages; worldwide sales are over 300million copies.
　　Ten of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Timeshardcover best-seller list (The Husband, One Door Away From Heaven,From The Corner Of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, Hideaway, DragonTears, The Bad Place, Intensity, and Sole Survivor). Thirteen ofhis books have risen to the number one position in paperback.
　　Several of his books have been adapted into feature films and TVminiseries, including the highly rated “Intensity” on the FoxNetwork. The Husband is currently in development as a major motionpicture by Focus Features/Random House Films.
　　The New York Times has called his writing "psychologicallycomplex, masterly and satisfying." The New Orleans Times-Picayunesaid Koontz is "lyrical without ever being naive or romantic. [Hecreates] a grotesque world, much like that of Flannery O'Connor orWalker Percy ... scary, worthwhile reading." The London Timescalled him "a literary juggler," and Publishers Weekly recentlystated in a starred review that Koontz "gives readers bright hopein a dark world. He is a true original."
　　Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduatedfrom Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), andhis first job after graduation was with the Appalachian PovertyProgram, where he was expected to counsel and tutor underprivilegedchildren on a one-to-one basis. His first day on the job, hediscovered that the previous occupier of his position had beenbeaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and hadlanded in the hospital for several weeks. The following year wasfilled with challenge but also tension, and Koontz was more highlymotivated than ever to build a career as a writer. He wrote nightsand weekends, which he continued to do after leaving the povertyprogram and going to work as an English teacher in a suburbanschool district outside Harrisburg. After he had been a year and ahalf in that position, his wife, Gerda, made him an offer hecouldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "andif you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never makeit." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to runthe business end of her husband's writing career. Dean and GerdaKoontz live in southern California with their golden retriever,Trixie, who herself has written two successful books—Life Is Goodand Christmas Is Good.
　　Book Dimension
　　Height (mm) 176 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Width (mm) 106