Time Thieves

by Dean Koontz

"Mr. Mullion," one of the triplets said, looming up twenty feet away as Pete followed the smooth railing. He stopped, his heart racing, but he felt a break in the rail as he did so. He edged forward a foot or two and felt around with his boot until he discovered a step. In a moment, blood pounding in his temples, he was halfway down toward the lower level, taking two risers at a time, no matter what the danger of a fall. He heard the mechanical man start after him as he set foot on the cement floor.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Horror, Ebooks

109 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 1977

About the author

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, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.

Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com

Reviews

[Eddie Novak · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far the best proof that Koontz was influenced by the science fiction pulps. A.E. van Vogt would be proud. Some of the action scenes were a bit long. The ideas were fun even if a bit typical of the time.

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

quotation marks:
Quotation marks are curiously missing, save for one or two that could also be due to ocr. I can't tell if it was deliberate or not.

cement:
p4: He heard the mechanical man start after him as he set foot on the cement floor.

p29: To their right, a maid pushed a cart of cleaning tools along the wide cement walkway, stopped before the open door of the maintenance room and pushed her equipment inside, wiped her hands on the dust rag at her waist, then threw that after the cart.

p48: He heard the mechanical man start after him as he set foot on the cement floor.

p49: During one of his quiet dashes along a short, box-walled passageway, as he eluded the triplets, he came to a point where the cement floor sank in all directions to a large, heavy wire drainage grill set over a sewer opening in the floor. All the stock was perched on metal bar frames an inch or two above the cement to let the water drain beneath.

spelling:
p23: What happned to you?

p65: And all the other paraphrenalia of fantasy.

p69: Perhaps, she thinks, he is dwnstairs, sitting in an easy chair, reading.

p87: Into this hurricane of dreads, they propelled him, like a man stumbling through the crafty corridors of a carnival fun house, bumbling into things that, for a moment, made him leap and want to vomit and then made him want to laugh if only to break the tension that knotted his cuscles and made his mouth dry and stale.

The Lawnmower Man came to mind--the Pierce Brosnan movie, not the Stephen King story. Except the Jobe here was taking names and being deliberately deceptive.

I can't reconcile the title with the story, though.

[Edoardo Colangeli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stelle perché il racconto in appendice "Musica nello spazio" di Stephen Tall ne merita 5 e il romanzo di Koontz 1. Se trovate questo volume nei mercatini leggetelo per il racconto!

[Stephen Corbett · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early Koontz Sci fi tale from 1972.
You can see the seeds in this novel of how Dean would develop his craft in later,much more classy thrillers/sci- fi novels.
This little tale has elements of Terminator, but also very rough hints of what would become novels such as Hideaway,Midnight,Cold Fire,The Bad Place etc.
Mind control,back from the dead,alien life forms all underpinned with Dean,s themes of love and everyday people in extra ordinary situations.
The writing style is obviously very 70,s, and very clipped and abrupt.
Never the less for any DK fan certainly worth a read and a great snapshot of early Koontz.

[Eloise P-R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Petit roman court qui est très inspiré par la fiction de style ''pulp''. Si le style de la science-fiction dite pulp vous plait alors ce livre est pour vous. Les personnages ne sont pas particulièrement développés, parfois même très stéréotypés.Exemple, le protagoniste, un homme qui a disparu pendant plusieurs jour tente de découvrir ce qui lui est arrivé et termine son aventure en sauvant son épouse sans défense.

[Al]

Telepath verses alien." Mr. Mullion," one of the triplets said, looming 20 feet away as Pete followed the smooth railing. He stopped, his heart racing, but he felt a break in the rail as he did so. He edged forward a foot or two and felt around with his boot until he discovered a step. In a moment, blood pounding in his temples, he was halfway down toward the lower level, taking 2 risers at a time, no matter what the danger of a fall. He heard the mechanical man start after him as he set foot on the cement floor. Putney=144 pages. A battleground for 2 empires." I opened the glove compartment and took out my papers. They identified me--with a discription, pictures, letters of reference. fingerprints, and voice-prints--as an Arcturian lady of means, a newcomber to Berbidron and something of a hermit back home on Arcturus Ceta lV. "Is this the identity I'd have if I went to live in the city?" "I think so. Don't worry about the authenticity. There really was a Lady Evors Dalant." "Was?" "Well, yes, we killed her as soon as she landed on Berbidron.."

[Ajeje Brazov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avventura fantascientifica con un Koontz alle prime armi, ma per me bravissimo a creare una storia carica di adrenalina, suspence. Scrittura molto scorrevole da leggere tutto d'un fiato e man a mano che si sfogliano le pagine e la storia si delinea mi è sembrato di essere stato catapultato in prima persona in questa avventura pazzesca!
Un uomo ritorna a casa come tutti i giorni, ma presto viene a sapere che è mancato da casa 12 giorni e la cosa ancora più inquietante è che lui non si ricorda assolutamente nulla di ciò...

Allegato a questo romanzo di Koontz c'è un racconto: "Musica dallo spazio" Tall, avventura nell'immenso universo alla ricerca di nuovi pianeti da esplorare.

[Jilles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting novella by Koontz from the seventies that shows his growing talent which peaks at the late eighties.