The Husband Review

The Husband

Published: 2006

Author: Dean Koontz

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Kidnapping, Literature, Murder, Psychological, Supernatural, Suspense, Thriller 

 

Check the summary of this book here:

The Husband Summary

 

 

The Review

The Husband is a novel written by best-selling novelist Dean Koontz, and a film adaptation has been greenlit by Focus Features in collaboration with Random House Films. I was hoping to see a proper adaptation of this novel sometime soon because it is an excellent thriller with insane and truly surprising twists and turns. Let us all hope that the film follows the text precisely. I will undoubtedly update this post whenever the film is out or any new information about it becomes available.

 

It was sitting on the edge, heart-throbbing, grasping your husband's arm, no pun intended anticipation from the first chapter. My feelings would have been the same if I had been seeing such a drama develop on media. I just felt terrible at the conclusion and wished there were a few more chapters even if the book was already wonderful, which I don't consider a defect but rather a praise.

 

What would you be doing if someone significant to you was taken hostage? What if the kidnappers demanded a two-million-dollar ransom and you worked as a gardener? This is Mitch's predicament when his wife Holly is abducted from their modest California house. There are several twists and turns, and Mitch manages to avoid most of them. It's a frantic trip, action-packed, and full of surprises, the most of which are nasty. Yes, much of what happens is implausible, but as Mitch discovers, "Life is odd."

 

I read this book in about a day and a half between preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner and doing errands. I couldn't stop reading it. The family's narrative, and the cruel, overdone behavioral management procedures utilized by the parents, almost show how psychopaths are created. Psychopathy is not inherited, contrary to popular belief. The warping of the conscience, so that there is no shame or guilt, is a product of the surroundings of the infant and teenager (and adult). This book portrays the anomalies in child-raising that generally lead to such a situation skillfully and plainly. The main character has escaped because of his wife's modulating effect and his love for her has grown stronger as a result. A gripping, twisted love story.

 

He introduces his characters in such depth that you feel as if you are there with them, crying, slapping, hugging, and following them about like a best friend as he draws you in.

 

Mitchell Rafferty is one of those characters that, throughout the novel, astound you with his personality changes and, of course, the shocks that occur to him along the way to this discovery. Holly, Mitch's wife, takes a bit longer to enter the mainstream, but when she does, you simply want to grasp her hand and kiss her. These two are the most memorable, but Koontz portrays a number of others who enter and remain in your mind.

 

Dean Koontz is known for having a big vocab as well as incredible descriptive abilities. And he's not hesitant to put either of those skills to use. As a result, his stories are both rich and complex. Fortunately, as the tale begins, this becomes less of an issue.

 

And his stories are always interesting and unique, if a little eccentric, dark, unusual, and odd. Perhaps it's the strangeness and depravity of his stories that make them so intriguing.

 

In any event, he returned to a familiar issue seen in many of his earlier works in this story: familial dysfunction. Reading his novels frequently helps me appreciate the families I observe in many real-life people's houses. The dysfunction in this narrative was based on greed and treachery, with the negative conduct occurring between close families. With our protagonist's highly ingenious, brilliant, daring, and admirable reaction this resourceful character topic appears often in several of his works. I'd like to think that if I were in such a terrible situation, I'd act in such a brave and clever manner as this, and I'm quite sure I will.

 

It's intriguing enough on its own, but when you throw in the money element, where one close relative is prepared to do some unusual things for the sake of the almighty dollar, well, that just adds gasoline to the fire, or, rather, momentum to the plot.

 

This was the old Dean Koontz back in the driver's seat, crafting fantastic characters and cruising down the suspense highway in a red Ferrari with enough curves and twists to make me gasp.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Mr. Koontz has come up with the high-intensity odd idea that could only be credible. The characters are great and believable. Everyone deserves a love like Mitch and Holly. Nobody should have a brother or sister like Anson. Nobody should be raised the way Mitch and his siblings were. Yet here we are, with a riveting, horrifying, uplifting, and ultimately fulfilling narrative.

 

I was immediately immersed in the world of The Husband, a fascinating narrative about struggling for real love. This is a page-turner. There were a few points when I thought it was hurried, but Koontz does a wonderful job of mixing them in and out as the tale progresses. It feels hurried since it is a fast-paced masterpiece, and it appears that you completed it quickly, but it is only because of the great writing.

 

Finally, I'd want to state that I feel that a tiny percentage of the population is as abnormal as many of Koontz's characters are. Is it possible that I'm living in a bubble? Maybe. But I certainly hope not. But I must confess that I know what I just said is incorrect, and that many people are ready and waiting to do bad things if given the chance or if they can be saved from the law, and the number of these hidden devils is very large, and we must be vigilant and prepared, and the simple solution is to stop blindly trusting people. On the other side, there are many nice individuals, but the problem is that they remain quiet, and never express their worries, and never step forward if they observe any wicked deed, making them just as terrible as the evil ones.

 

Dean has a way of making you feel that an ordinary guy can do heroic things for love. On the other hand, he has a frighteningly accurate understanding of psychopaths' minds. This was an excellent story. Aside from the intensity of the book, which frequently led me to skip a few pages to ensure it was safe to return and read them, his descriptions of California landscapes made me want to visit there. It's well worth reading.

 

Synopsis

“#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
We have your wife. You get her back for two million cash. On an ordinary afternoon, an ordinary man, a gardener of modest means, gets a phone call out of his worst nightmare. The caller is dead serious. He doesn’t care that Mitch can’t raise that kind of money. If she’s everything to you, then you’ll find a way.
 
Mitch loves his wife more than life itself. He’s got sixty hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Dean Koontz's The City.”

 

 

Useful Search Related Words & Keywords

Edge Of Your Seat, Fast Paced, Million Dollars, Mitch Rafferty, Odd Thomas, Page Turner, Phone Call, Twists And Turns, Walking A Dog, Wife Holly, Wife Is Kidnapped 

 

Rating: 90/100

Recommended: 100/100 Yes.

Buy the Kindle Version Here

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Free With Free Audible Trial

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