Dean Koontz is a favorite author of mine. This book was a cassette and I no longer hold it since I no longer have the equipment to be able to listen to it.

FROM AMAZON: Ben Chase is a war hero with bitter memories. Vietnam left him with a hard drinking habit, a mental breakdown - and massive guilt. So who will believe him when he swears a psychopath is out to get him? When society is sick, the mad are sane - and persecution is a killer's game...

FROM AUDIBLE: Ben Chase is a war hero, but a reluctant one. He struggles with bitter memories and feels alienated from the culture to which he has returned. When he claims that a psychopath is stalking him, he has by then made such an outsider of himself that no one believes him. He must resurrect the repressed warrior within to save himself and a woman he comes to love. Heroes need monsters to slay, and they can always find them - within if not without. ( )

La angustiosa historia de un peligroso psicópata que persigue a dos personas que se transladan por carretera de Filadelfia a San Francisco. Alex y Colin van en busca de Courtney, esposa del primero y hermana del segundo. George, el psicópata, urde un plan terrorífico para eliminar a Alex y Colin, al tiempo que pretende apoderarse de Courtney. El climax y la tensión aumentan en cada página, hasta llegar al terrible desenlace.

A re-read for me. My copy is old and purchased when I first read Dean Koontz around the time his book, Strangers, came out. I’m revisiting titles from authors I’ve collected in the hope I can give a few away. This isn’t a bad thriller, but it’s very much a product of its time. The reason behind the killings, the killer’s motivation, the stereotyped persona of both the killer and the women, all well-written in their day but give the book a nostalgic feel when read now. The forensics and phone tracing possible now would probably mean the outcome would have be unlikely without more care taken. It’s a decent read of its time and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I can understand why many will have problems with this; it’s a problem every writer faces when science and technology move on. If you want classic Koontz there are still many good things here, especially in the first half of the book, but he’s written many that are better. ( )

This is the second novel I have read written by Dean Koontz (first was The Bad Place), so my review will basically be a comparison in terms of quality of the story. It had some good parts (the end a lot better), but I thought overall compared to what I read before from him, it was quite ordinary - but not bad enough to make me stop reading it completely. I think he could have done more with the story - a little too predictable. ( )

A very quick read; not like most King novels, this one could happen to anyone. Published in 1971, Love interest for our Vietnam war depressed hero makes him feel like life is worth living. Good characters, nice twists. The hero takes the situation in his hands and does the right thing. I liked it. ( )