This book was so suspenseful! I was on the edge of my seat through the entire thing. I love Dean Koontz-his Odd Thomas series is great, so I knew this book wouldn’t disappoint. Here’s the basic storyline, taken from deankoontz.com:

What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill?

We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.

Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch’s wife and he’s named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn’t care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He’s confident that Mitch will find a way. If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He’s got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything.

This is a book in which the reader really sinks into the character’s view point. In the final chapter my heart was literally pounding!! I won’t give away any of it. I will just say that it’s an incredible story about what one man will do when his wife’s life is on the line, and what she does as well. Mitch and Holly are the most courageous characters I’ve ever read about. An A+ goes out for this book, and I can’t wait to listen to my next Dean Koontz novel. I think his stories are almost better read because the voice actors really make the story come alive. I still have goosebumps!

This was a science fiction book that I wasn’t sure I was going to like, but from the first few lines, I was hooked. I love books set in the future, where crazy things have happened to the world.
In this particular book, Andrew Wiggins, or “Ender” has been a part of a government project from the day he was born. He has been living with a monitor connected to his body, that monitors every move he makes, every thought he has. The monitor is then removed, and he is watched to see how he’ll do when he thinks he’s entirely alone.

Ender goes through hell in this book, as he is chosen to be trained as a military fighter. They are training young children to fight in an impending war against aliens, whom they’ve nicknamed the “buggers”. There is a lot going on in this book, and far too much to write about. It breaks your heart to read about this little boy, who never gets the chance to be a kid. He never gets to sit with his family and open
holiday gifts , he never gets to just play. The “games” the children play in battle school are all training sessions for the real thing.

I was surprised to learn that this book was written in the 80s, before personal computers were all the rage. The book deals with laptops, called “desks” and the author’s insight into future technology was almost eerie. It’s a great book about morals, and nature versus nurture. While it is sad in parts, I definitely think it’s a book worth reading, or listening to in my case!