Dean Koontz - Velocity

I have been reading and enjoying Dean Koontz's books for several years. I get all of his books as soon they are released and I have added many of his older books to my collection over the years. For the last few years, he has released two new hardback books a year instead of just one. Velocity is his first hardback release for 2005.

Billy Wiles worked as a bartender at a local tavern. He got along with the people he worked with, though he tended to keep to himself. One evening when he got off work, he discovered a note under the windshield wiper that would throw his life into chaos. The note stated that if he didn't take it to the police, a blond schoolteacher would be killed. If Billy took the note to the police, an older woman that did a lot of charity work would be killed instead. He had six hours to decide. Billy wasn't sure what to think, so he talked to Lenny, a friend who was a police officer. The two decided it was a joke. The next day Billy learned that a blond schoolteacher had been murdered. He received more notes that endangered other people. Each note had a shorter time frame for the decision to be made. Billy was pulled into the killer's game with his attempts to protect himself.

I thought that Velocity was an intense book. It did seem to keep the level of intensity going longer throughout the book than has been done in some of Koontz's other books. After the first few chapters, which mainly established Billy as the main character and set up a few things, the pace of the book picked up. It moved quickly through the remainder of the story, but it never felt rushed to me. That added urgency to what Billy was going through. The book did have several very short chapters. The main bulk of the plot only covered a few days, something that Koontz has done in some of his other books. He has written a few books that covered an even shorter time frame, like Intensity. There were a few things in Velocity, like the urgency, that reminded of Intensity. Both books feature a similar type of villain.

Velocity was a very suspenseful book. I never knew what would happen next, and I was surprised several times by what happened. Once I started reading, I didn't want to stop. That is normal for me when reading a Koontz book. Billy spent the majority of the book trying to figure out why he was getting the notes and who was sending them. That did add mystery to the book and made it interesting. People were killed by whoever was sending Billy the notes. The murders weren't described when they happened, but the bodies of a few of the victims were described after they were discovered. Some unpleasant things were done to them. Billy ended up hurt a few times as well. The first time, he wasn't awake when the injury occurred so he discovered it later. It wasn't too bad, but it did turn my stomach a bit to read about it. Something else happened to Billy a bit later in the book that was difficult for me to read. Even with those things in the book, it really wasn't that violent overall. The violent acts that were in the book were vividly, sometimes graphically, described. The descriptions might be too graphic for some readers.

Many of Koontz's books have had humor mixed in with the mystery and suspense. The humor has usually been a little different or even twisted, but it has made me laugh. Some of his books have had more humor than others. Velocity didn't have much in it to make me laugh. It was very serious overall, though there were a few odd things mentioned that did cause me to laugh a little bit. Most of those things were mentioned early in the book before things really got going. The lack of humor did help to make the book more intense. The book probably wouldn't have worked as well if the mood was lighter.

Dean Koontz has written some very scary books featuring some bizarre things and even monsters of some kind. Those books, while very entertaining, weren't the most realistic. That didn't bother me, but some people may find most of his books too strange to enjoy. He has also written books that are more realistic. I have found those books to be some of his scariest because even while what happened was far fetched, it was possible. Velocity is one of the more realistic ones even though some very extreme things happened to Billy. He was in a strange situation, but there were no supernatural beings or monsters involved in what was going on. The villain was a flesh and blood person. That person was twisted and did horrible things. The fact that the villain was a person made what was going on seem more real. Koontz is very good at creating characters that are evil in some way without being some kind of supernatural creature.

Billy and what he went through over a few days was the main focus of the book. He was in every chapter and I thought he was well developed. Some general information was shared about him in the first few chapters, and more became apparent as the book progressed. Hints about something from Billy's past were dropped before being fully explained later in the book. That also explained why he tended to keep people at a distance. He was more complex than he seemed to be at first. The other characters were more minor so they weren't developed that much for the most part. Lenny was only in a few scenes, though he ended up being a little more developed than some of the other supporting characters. Billy did interact with some people, but he was alone for most of the book. Not much was shared about the villain which did make him more mysterious.

I really enjoyed Velocity. Some of the things that happened in the book were disturbing or upsetting, but that didn't make me like the book any less. It is intense and gripping. People that like Dean Koontz books should also enjoy this one.

Dean Koontz Book Reviews
False Memory ~ One Door Away From Heaven ~ Shadowfires ~ By the Light of the Moon ~ The Face ~ Phantoms ~ Odd Thomas ~ Night Chills ~ The Taking ~ The Key to Midnight ~ Life Expectancy ~ Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son ~