Hideaway [Mass Market Paperback]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1992

Pronounced DOA at the scene of his car accident, Hatch Harrison is nonetheless revived eighty minutes later, only to discover that he has brought something evil with him from the other side. Reprint. PW. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a near-fatal car accident, a Californian must deal with the deranged killer with whom he now shares visions. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections in cloth.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Koontz's latest thriller sits at the intersection of the weird and the ordinary. Once again, he explores a ``what if'' scenario in a most satisfying fashion. In this case, a near-death survivor accidentally carries a piggy-backing evil spirit through an open door from the afterlife. Hatch Harrison, the typical good-guy hero, is revived by a brilliant team of doctors more than an hour after drowning. Strange visions and half-waking dreams soon convince him that his recovery is not at all normal. His fears are soon magnified when people who have annoyed him are murdered, and he knows that he is somehow responsible. Paralleling the story of Hatch's recovery is the unfolding revelation of a young man so evil that ordinary people cannot imagine his existence. As he skulks about selecting victims to murder and mutilate, a bizarre bond develops between the two men. Gory incidents tumble one after another as the two men become locked in first a psychic and then a physical battle between good and evil. The violent climax is symbolically set in an abandoned amusement park where at last the true duel identity of the murderer is revealed. Once again, evil is resoundingly defeated, but as any Koontz fan knows, the victory is only temporary.
-Carolyn E. Gecan, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; reprint edition (December 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042513525X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425135259
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania where I graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University). When I was a senior in college, I won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and have been writing ever since. My first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where I was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. During my first day on the job, I discovered that the previous occupier of my position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and I was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. I wrote nights and weekends, which I continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, my wife, Gerda, made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "and if you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never make it." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of my writing career. Gerda and I, along with our dog, Trixie, live in southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping, well-written, fast-paced thriller, July 6, 2005

By 

DanD - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hideaway (Mass Market Paperback)

Hatch has just survived a car wreck. Well, actually, technically he DIDN'T survive it--Hatch was clinically dead for 80 minutes. When he comes back, there is SOMETHING with him, a presence in his head...a mysterious, murderous character who calls himself Vassago, and yearns for nothing more than death and destruction...

But Hatch is determined to continue his life. He and his wife adopt a child. They live happily. But Vassago is closing in. He, too, is aware of the connection with Hatch, and he would relish the opportunity to ruin Hatch's life, and kill everyone he loves...

"Hideaway" is one of Koontz's all-time best...and also, as he points out in the new afterword, the first to receive hate-mail. Still, don't let a few letters get you down; "Hideaway" moves along at breakneck speeds, like most of Koontz's books, and features characters that are so real, you are genuinely afraid for--or of--them. This is one of the best books by one of the best authors out there, and shouldn't be passed up by suspense fans.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Koontz Novel, but there are Better Ones, October 19, 2006

By 

Thriller Lover (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hideaway (Mass Market Paperback)

Dean Koontz is probably my favorite writer, and I have read most of his fifty or so novels. HIDEAWAY is a good Koontz novel, but I would say it ranks probably in the middle of his body of work.

The first 100 pages of this book are quite spectacular, with one of the major characters suffering a near death experience. Koontz' description of this experience, and the doctor's attempts to save him, are first-rate.

Unfortunately, the last 300 pages of this novel are kind of formulaic, if you've read Koontz' other novels. This novel eventually turns into another story about a depraved young serial killer stalking a young family. We get a lot of scenes from the psycho killer's point of view. HIDEAWAY then ends with a long chase scene and a big confrontation at the end between the heroes and the killer. I felt like I read variations of this story before, in novels like WHISPERS, SERVANTS OF TWILIGHT, MR. MURDER, DRAGON TEARS, THE FACE, and INTENSITY.

I also felt the characterization in this novel was a bit rushed. I wish that Koontz had spend more time developing the character of Regina, a young disabled ten-year old who plays a key role in HIDEAWAY. She is an attractive character, and I wish her role in this book was larger than it ultimately was.

Overall, this book is well done, but I would recommend several other Koontz books over this one, such as WATCHERS, ODD THOMAS, PHANTOMS, INTENSITY, FEAR NOTHING, COLD FIRE and the FRANKENSTEIN series.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Koontz does it again, February 27, 2005

By 

ThePaperbackStash.com (FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hideaway (Mass Market Paperback)

If you’re a serial killer lover, a thriller chaser, a supernatural addict, or just another Koontz fan, Hideway is definitely worth your time. The characters are well written, the suspense is tight, the pacing swift, the ending brutal, and the middle never lags one bit. As always, Koontz injects moral lessons in his work, and they're hard to miss, but never preached to you. This novel is not as dark as some of Koontzs other stuff, but the atmosphere fits the plot. Another Koontz for the shelf!