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Shattered

Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Feature
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

3 reviews
Sales Rank: 29961

Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8

ISBN: 0747235236
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780747235231
ASIN: 0747235236

Publication Date: August 16, 1990
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available

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Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

A Cross Country Cat And Mouse Road Thriller! October 28, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

It's a relatively short and easy 245-page read. Once you get the first few pages under your belt it has you hooked!

Alex is making the long journey from Philadelphia to San Francisco by car. In California a new wife and job await him. His only passenger on the journey is he intelligent but somewhat geeky and feeble companion Colin. Colin is the younger brother of Alex's new wife Courtney. He is 11 years old and desperately wants to grow close to his new stepbrother Alex. Alex also wishes their relationship to blossom and hopes that the long journey will provide an ideal catalyst for this.

Things start off well in the journey as they both play car games. However, they soon begin to suspect that a van is following them...or is it just coincidence?

Quite early on in the book we realise that Leland, an ex-boyfriend of Courtney's, is driving the van. What results is a cat and mouse chase game across America. Just as Alex and Colin think they have escaped Leland he then pops up again.

The relationship between Alex and Colin unfolds throughout the book. Generally it is heart-warming journey of discovery with the pair becoming closer. Colin is a typical Koontz character - vulnerable with a tragic past (the loss of parents). Alex's character is less so although his does have a demon to content with - fear (or rather a fear of being afraid!). Throughout the book Alex's pacifist principals are confronted with violence.

A book like this couldn't be set today. We have mobile phones and other such technology. As a result the sense of isolation that Alex and Colin experience couldn't be experienced to the same levels today. In addition, as Koontz states in his 1983 forward, the 1973 setting is full of social paranoia. You get a real feel for middle America's conservative attitude in "Shattered". In many ways this exploration of American social paranoia of the time follows from where the first K. R. Dwyer (Dean Koontz originally penned the book under this name) novel "Chase" left off.

To conclude, "Shattered" is a page-turning thriller. Leland's hunt for the pair keeps you on edge throughout the book. It's not as complex a book as future work but it does provide a vivid and exciting cat and mouse chase across America.

9/10

5 out of 5 stars

easy to read but very gripping January 25, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Its a good basic story that doesn't confuse, youll finish it quickly but enjoy every page. The characters are well written with depth and the plot is fast. I recommend this book very highly.

5 out of 5 stars

a brilliant book by dean koontz and i rate it very highly October 21, 1999
6 out of 134 found this review helpful

this book is a sort of thriller and i enjoyed it a lot .the ending was very good and I have found it very interesting. it`s especcially good in the middle of the book when the man (alex leyland) tries to kill alex doyle with a garden axe but alex gets out of it and then alex has got married to a girl called courtney who has a little brother called colin and alex is driving him to san francisco and they get to the house and he forgets to bring his gun into the house and nearly gets shot in the shoulder by alex leyland and it misses and shoots him in the arm then colin finds the gun and comes in the house to find alex leyland waiting for him outside then alex doyle comes in and hits the other man round the head with a piece of wood with nails sticking out of it then alex leyland gives up and alex and colin go and see courtney and alex leyland leaves them so they are finished with him for ever or are they.