Book Review: The Good Guy by Dean Koontz

Summary:

Timothy Carrier, having a beer after work at his friend's tavern, enjoys drawing eccentric customers into amusing conversations.  But the jittery man who sits next to him tonight has mistaken Tim for someone very different---and passes to him a manila envelope full of cash.  "Ten thousand now.  You get the rest when she's gone." 

The stranger walks out, leaving a photo of the pretty woman marked for death, and her address.  But things are about to get worse.  In minutes another stranger sits next to Tim.  This one is a cold-blooded killer who believes tim is the man who has hired him. 

Thinking fast, Tim says, "I've had a change of heart.  You get ten thousand---for doing nothing.  Call it a no-kill fee."  He keeps the photo and gives the money to the hired killer.  And when Tim secretly follows the man out of the tavern, he gets a further shock:  the hired killer is a cop.

Suddenly, Tim Carrier, an ordinary guy, is at the center of a mystery of extraordinary proportions, the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer far more powerful than any cop...and as relentless as evil incarnate.  But first Tim must discover within himself the capacity for selflessness, endurance, and courage that can turn even an ordinary man into a hero, inner resources that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be "The Good Guy."

Review:

There's a reason why Dean Koontz is a best-selling author: he writes a really good suspense novel.  The Good Guy moves at a breakneck pace from the beginning and doesn't let up until the very last two chapters.  At times I felt rushed through the book, solely due to the fact that the two main characters are literally running for their lives for most of the story.  The pace of the book made me want to read faster. 

I don't really like how Tim and Linda cotton to one another like two long-lost loves.  I can understand lust at first sight or being really intrigued by someone, but all-consuming love to where the other person immediately becomes your world at first sight?  Very implausible.  Even Stephenie Meyer didn't go that far.  The way Koontz writes about their feelings for each other just rubbed me the wrong way.  By the end of the book, I felt the feelings were warranted, just not at the very beginning.

I have to say, if you've read one suspense novel, sometimes it feels like you've read them all.  This one skims the surface of the heavy government issues found in many David Baldacci books, but it does stick to the tried and true formula of classic suspense.

Reading back over my review, I listed a lot of complaints but not a lot of praise.  Don't get me wrong, The Good Guy is a very good read.  If you want a lot of action, check this one out.  Probably the fact that I'm so into my paranormal genre binge influenced how I felt about this book. 

Just One Gripe:

I have the same complaint about this book as I do many James Patterson books:  the excessive number of chapters.  The Good Guy has 386 pages and 67 chapters; leading to a lot of blank page space.  The constant turning to the next chapter seems to break up the book, in my opinion.

The Best Thing About This Book:

I like Tim a lot.  Linda, she kinda bugged me, but Tim I really liked.  When I read about Tim's past, I found myself getting a little misty-eyed, which doesn't usually happen to me while reading this type of novel.

Appropriate for a younger audience:

Oh, no!

Score:
Characters:  4/5
Plot:  5/5
Setting/Imagery:  4/5
Originality:  3/5
Ending:  4/5
Total Score:  20/25