31st out of 63 books
—
515 voters
Hideaway
by
Dean Koontz
He was clinically dead after the accident—but was miraculously revived. Now Hatch Harrison and his wife approach each day with a new appreciation for life.
But something has come back with Hatch from the other side. A terrible presence that links his mind to a psychotic's, so that a force of murderous rage courses through him.
But something has come back with Hatch from the other side. A terrible presence that links his mind to a psychotic's, so that a force of murderous rage courses through him.
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
July 5th 2005
by Berkley
(first published January 1st 1992)
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Dean Koontz doing what he always does best. That's the impression that I was left with after reading this book. I enjoy the style and his ability to step out beyond the lines of what you might expect. Some of his stuff comes off as almost absurd, like an element of science fiction or fantasy dropping into what seemed to be a avereage modern society setting.
Hideaway is no exception to this.
However, I find that sometimes find that Koontz isn't quite at his best. I said this is what he does best,...more
Hideaway is no exception to this.
However, I find that sometimes find that Koontz isn't quite at his best. I said this is what he does best,...more
I loved the characterization in this book. I have found that on the surface, Dean Koontz may appear to be a shallow, mass producer of books, but as I read more of them I realize how well-developed many of his characters are. He has a strong theme of the battle between good and evil in many of his books that I find I really enjoy. I particularly liked the big reveal at the end of this book that explained why the mian character Hatch was able to channel the demon Vassago. There was a movie made of...more
I read this in high school, I guess Dean Koontz is a good author if you haven't read the likes of John Steinbeck, Don Delillo, Thomas Pynchon, Douglas Coupland,Cormac McCrathy, Ken Kesey,or Martin Amis, to name a few. If you only get your books at airport gift shops, and you read mostly the likes of Janet Evanovich, John Grisham and Harlan Coban, what I would like to call the blockbuster writers, the Jason Bays and John Carpenters of the literature world. Writers that write for the big players,...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I've read this book many times but now that I'm a bit older (40's), I am a bit turned off by the incredible amount of evil exposed in this book by Koontz spending so much time in the mind of the demonic villain. Koontz uses a balance formula when he creates his "good" and "bad" characters. The contrast of the extremely evil encourages me to no only side with the good guy but to empathize to much a greater degree. An interesting book but not for the weak of spirit.
I read a lot of Dean Koontz's books when I was in high school. In the past few years, I've read a few, and they usually keep my interest. His novels feature a lot of similar scenes and scenarios (frequently an evil serial killer trying to track down a protagonist who's all heart, though with a possibly tortured past, and often a friendly canine companion), and some are great, some are OK, but they're never boring.
"Hideaway" was the first of his that I read, when I was fourteen, and has always be...more
"Hideaway" was the first of his that I read, when I was fourteen, and has always be...more
Hideaway by Dean Koontz was published in 1992, but I'm just now getting around to reading all the great books by Mr. Koontz I've been missing out on. The last Koontz book I read was The Taking and I was greatly surprised at the drastic difference between novels.
While Hideaway was full of underlying themes and an overriding purpose, it felt more like a muted suspense/horror film that was trying to get away with a PG-13 rating.
I'm a fan of blood and gore and I was disappointed that Mr. Koontz pull...more
While Hideaway was full of underlying themes and an overriding purpose, it felt more like a muted suspense/horror film that was trying to get away with a PG-13 rating.
I'm a fan of blood and gore and I was disappointed that Mr. Koontz pull...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Koontz's novels range anywhere from awful to brilliant. After reading a couple of his more mediocre ones in high school, I had pretty much written him off as a poor man's Stephen King and moved on to other horror writers like Clive Barker and H.P. Lovecraft. Hideaway, though, showcases Koontz at the height of his talent, and it's a surprisingly powerful, intensely gruesome read. I decided to give it a chance--partly because I found it at a thrift shop for less than a dollar, and partly because I...more
I knew even before I got to the middle of this book that I would rate it two stars. In the beginning, when the drowning scene occurs, the story had a chance; the characters were well developed and the details were impervious, and there was a lot of suspense, but Koontz gave most of the story away early on. The character Vassago, who renamed himself after dying, then resuscitated and returned to the living, chose that specific name because it was one of the crowned princes from Hell. Vassago, his...more
Normally it doesn't take me so long to read a book but unfortunately life doesn't always allow so much free time! This book is amazing and Dean Koontz is such a talented and brilliant writer. Hideaway is full of thrilling scenarios, mystery, suspense, tender scenes and a few religious moments all compiled into one amazing novel. I remember reading one of Koontz's books 15 yrs ago for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it or what it was about. I remember thinking it was a great book and...more
Wow.
Every time I read another Koontz book, I'm bowled over by the fact that HE GETS IT. He sees the supernatural in everything and everyone. He not only rejects the material consequences of evil ideas, but their very roots. In Koontz's worlds, as in real life, something is evil not because its fruit is rotten; its fruit is rotten because it is evil.
Now to more specific stuff. If you want to read a vampire story written for people with more than half a brain, this is it. Technically, the bad guy...more
Every time I read another Koontz book, I'm bowled over by the fact that HE GETS IT. He sees the supernatural in everything and everyone. He not only rejects the material consequences of evil ideas, but their very roots. In Koontz's worlds, as in real life, something is evil not because its fruit is rotten; its fruit is rotten because it is evil.
Now to more specific stuff. If you want to read a vampire story written for people with more than half a brain, this is it. Technically, the bad guy...more
This is a fairly decent Koontz book. There is a good amount of suspense and characters worth rooting for. It starts out with a typical Koontz villain of which almost nothing is know. It is satisfying to later find out more about him and that he actually has a background. There are some very predictable moves and a few surprises. Entertaining, overall.
**Audio Review: I definitely should have read this versus listening to it. I did try to verify the likability of the narrator beforehand, but didn'...more
**Audio Review: I definitely should have read this versus listening to it. I did try to verify the likability of the narrator beforehand, but didn'...more
This is only the second Koontz novel that I've read and already, I am awed by his creativity, very much in agreement with the observation that stories such as this "could come only from the mind of Dean Koontz".
I would have given it a higher rating if not for the quite too early revelations on the identity of the antagonist. I also found this to be true with Whispers. Just the same, he did not totally disappoint.... Even with such revelations, one would still plow ahead with the story to find ou...more
I would have given it a higher rating if not for the quite too early revelations on the identity of the antagonist. I also found this to be true with Whispers. Just the same, he did not totally disappoint.... Even with such revelations, one would still plow ahead with the story to find ou...more
This was a nice, creepy, little suspense novel. I liked the sci-fi twist. A fairly formulaic suspense base with a totally off-the-wall creepy twist. The little girl is fabulous. She does a lot for the story. She's very funny, lovable, completely endearing. The only disappointment was the ending. After all the imaginative creating Koontz did to get to the end the last bit was a little too... you know, just too, too... something. You know the sound you get when you're letting the air out of a ball...more
A husband and wife's car goes plummeting off a cliff into an ice-choked river. Wife survives, husband dies. Husband is brought back to life after being dead for 80-some minutes. All of this is very interesting and tense, of course, and then randomly, Koontz introduces a new narrator--the evil Vassago. Vassago is patently uninteresting for the first several chapters he narrates. I found myself aching for him to stop talking so I could get on with the interesting bits of the husband and wife's sto...more
This is what I'd call a "yard sale book" - I read it, and now it's in the yard sale box. It's not that I regret reading it, but it isn't the kind of book I'll read again. I found the protagonists rather dull; honestly, the scenes I enjoyed the most were those told from the psychotic killer's perspective. Because even though he was a brutal murderer, at least he was interesting, and Koontz gave him a solid backstory - something noticeably lacking for the protagonists. Sure, they had a little subs...more
Worst. Ending. Ever.
The beginning was okay but it slowly got worse from there. About two thirds through there is an unnecessarily long car/foot chase, (50-70 pages) from the suburbs to the outskirts of a city followed by an abrupt and silly conclusion within a paragraph during the showdown. I really cannot convey how furious I am after reading this nonsense.
As a bonus the edition I had contained a new afterword by Koontz. I had hoped he would apologize or offer some kind of explanation for such...more
The beginning was okay but it slowly got worse from there. About two thirds through there is an unnecessarily long car/foot chase, (50-70 pages) from the suburbs to the outskirts of a city followed by an abrupt and silly conclusion within a paragraph during the showdown. I really cannot convey how furious I am after reading this nonsense.
As a bonus the edition I had contained a new afterword by Koontz. I had hoped he would apologize or offer some kind of explanation for such...more
I acquired this book in a bag of used books from a neighbor. I started reading it last summer while on vacation in Orlando. I quit the book when I found I couldn't enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean ride due to similarities with scenes in the book, but I brought it home to finish later. I pulled it out a couple of days ago determined to read it fully and release it. The violence was disgusting but I kept slogging through, only to realize at the end that I had read this book fully a decade ago. W...more
There was a time when I thought Dean Koontz wrote circles around Stephen King. He wasn’t famous. He had a cult following and he made you feel like you just discovered someone cool. He was the anti-King you could keep to yourself or share with a selected few. Koontz, of course, went the way of all flesh and began cranking them out and repeating himself. Fame? Well, if ‘Family Guy’ rips on you, fame has become your enemy. I haven’t read a Koontz novel since Odd Thomas became a regular character. T...more
I devoured Koontz and King back in middle school and part of high school. In retrospect, I could have spent my time on better books, but these chillers were an escape from things I didn't want to think about, especially at night when I couldn't sleep and my mind twisted my perceptions nauseatingly.
I'm not saying you should bother reading these, especially now that Koontz is openly being Christian and Stephen King thinks he is a writer, but I have a fondness for some of these books. If you are...more
I'm not saying you should bother reading these, especially now that Koontz is openly being Christian and Stephen King thinks he is a writer, but I have a fondness for some of these books. If you are...more
The book Hideaway by Dean Koontz is a very dark, yet interesting book. It starts out with Hatch, the main character, and his wife driving home from a weekend camping trip during a treacherous snow storm. Ahead, but unknown to Hatch, is a drunk trunk driver with his truck parked in the middle of the road. When Hatch sees the driver and his truck, it’s too late. Their car plunges off the side of the mountain and into a black, icy river. Lindsey, his wife, fights to save an unconscious Hatch from d...more
The back of the book says enough.So, I don't think I need to describe and elaborate a little more about the summary as I fear I will straight away lead to spoilers.
Ok.This is the first ever book that I have read of Dean Koontz.Actually, the reason I purchased this one was that all my guy friends love this author. So, I thought I would gift it to my papa.And, yes, he loved this book too !
I definitely liked Hideaway a lot..! Had to keep my patience for the initial pages to get used to the writing...more
Ok.This is the first ever book that I have read of Dean Koontz.Actually, the reason I purchased this one was that all my guy friends love this author. So, I thought I would gift it to my papa.And, yes, he loved this book too !
I definitely liked Hideaway a lot..! Had to keep my patience for the initial pages to get used to the writing...more
Dean Koontz is a lot like Stephen King, but a few disclaimers to this statement still exist; Koontz is weirder by far, and often his stories test the credibility of his works as a whole. I'd even go so far as to say that he is at least a solid letter grade below King at the best, given that Koontz's storytelling talents are widely appreciated and obviously substantial. This, in my opinion, was one of Koontz's better works, fit to be shelved alongside The Husband, The Mask, and The Door to Decemb...more
The premise of the novel sounded weird until I started to read it. The jist is this: a husband a wife get into a car accident, she lives, he dies. They are brought to a hospital and he is brought back to life after being dead for more than an hour by experimental means. They are alight with life and adopt an orphan. In the meantime, a crazy man/demon is hunting down people (women mostly) to kill and contort in his perverted scheme to get BACK to Hell (yes, back). Somehow, both men start getting...more
Though I liked the pace of the book and the way the author writes, in general, I really do think he could've done a better job at it. The book is a bit clichee, the ending is downright cheesy and everyone lives happily ever after with the memory of a terror. Though I have to admit at some points the book got really interesting and I kept reading continously, there were some points when I had to convince myself that I need to turn the page. He keeps a good pace but fails to maintain interest. All...more
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| Koontzland - Dean...: Hideaway (Group Read - September 2012) | 40 | 74 | Jan 17, 2013 06:45am |
Acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.
Dean R. Koontz has also published under the na...more
More about Dean Koontz...
Dean R. Koontz has also published under the na...more
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May 02, 2013 04:54pm
May 03, 2013 08:11am