Intensity [Mass Market Paperback]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2000

Past midnight, Chyna Shepard, twenty-six, gazes out a moonlit window, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley home of her best friend’s family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderous sociopath, Edgler Foreman Vess, has entered the house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed “homicidal adventurer,” Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse or limits, to live with intensity. Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit.

Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safety and self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At first her sole aim is to get out alive—until, by chance, she learns the identity of Vess’s next intended victim, a faraway innocent only she can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaning beyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resource she has to save an endangered girl…as moment by moment, the terrifying threat of Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A young woman staying as a guest in a Napa Valley farmhouse becomes trapped in a fight for survival with a self-proclaimed "homicidal adventurer", and races to warn his next intended victim. Unrelentingly terrifying, this book lives up to its name. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Koontz's career has mirrored Stephen King's to a remarkable degree?the early pseudonymous novels, the bloated blockbusters, the increased use of horror as social commentary?albeit at a lag. Keeping step, this uncommonly sleek work is nothing less than Koontz's Gerald's Game: a distillation of what's come before and a slick play to regain the top by a writer whose popularity seemed to have peaked. Koontz even makes the centerpiece of Chyna Shepherd's battle against a serial killer her attempt to free herself from the restraints that bind her to a piece of furniture?the very same challenge faced by King's heroine. And just as Gerald's Game reinvigorated King's career and writing, this masterful, if ultimately predictable, exercise in high tension should do the same for Koontz's. This is basically a two-character novel, and both principals are compelling: the spirited Chyna, a youngish psychology student, and her nemesis, homicidal maniac Edgler Vess, who revels in sensation, be it pain or pleasure?in the intensity of experience. The two link when Vess kills Chyna's best friend as Chyna hides under a bed. Chyna pursues Vess but is eventually captured by him, after which she must combat not only those cuffs but also Vess's killer dogs, Vess himself and, of course, her own terror. For once, Koontz tamps down on his usual libertarian soapboxing to let the story race?which it does fast enough to give readers whiplash as they hold on to what may end up being the most viscerally exciting thriller of the year. 600,000 first printing; Literary Guild main selection.
Copyright 1995 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: 464 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; later printing edition (October 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553582917
• ISBN-13: 978-0553582918
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (550 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Authors, A-Z
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Psychological & Suspense
  • #25 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > General

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

55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INTENSE doesn't even begin to describe it!, May 13, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Intensity (Mass Market Paperback)

It's a rush: a novel set within a 24 hour time span, revolving around one character as she battles one of the most insidious villains in literature.

Chyna Shepherd is visiting her friend Laura's house. She like's Laura's family; it makes her wish she had one like it. Nice parents, a loving brother...it's gonna be a nice visit.

Then someone else shows up. His name: Edgler Foreman Vess. He is not psychotic; he is beyond that. From the letters of his name, he spells: GOD FEARS ME. As well He should.

Hiding in the shadows, Chyna watches as Laura's family is murdered. Then, in a daring attempt at escaping the hell house, she finds herself aboard Vess's trailer...and on a ride that will take her to places (both physical and mental) that she never thought she'd be.

INTENSITY is the thrill-ride of thrill-rides. Dean Koontz proves that he is, after all, the Master of Suspense, as he weaves a tale that will keep you riveted to the edge of your seat. Dean Koontz is driving down the road of mastery; you better hold on.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intensity, April 19, 2000

By 

Laura (I Am Canadian! Go Leafs Go!) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intensity (Mass Market Paperback)

I chose this book for a book report because it was recommendedby a friend. I thought it was fabulous. I've read many of thesereviews and many say it was intense. Okay, to be original, this bookwas more than that. It creeped me out because Vess (the antagonist) was real. He was the man living next to me, a teacher at my school, that uncle no one ever sees. He could be anyone. The book made me realize bad guys are not always strange old men who spend all day thinking of ways to kill people. They have jobs, families and friends just like you and me. That is why this book scared me. As for many of the people who didn't think it was so great, I can agree with you on a few points, but I don't agree they made the book a bad one. The chair. Yes, there is a point in the book where the protagonist, Chyna, attempted to get out of a chair. It was totally boring, and made me want to pull my hair out, but, Mr. Koontz obviously thought very long and hard about this act, and he deserves some respect for that. Many also argue that pace was all over the place. Well I say, come on. This was a semi- realistic book. Life does not follow a pace. Murders do not follow a pace... Let's not over analyze, okay? The book was a good one...

32 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite a ride, July 26, 2005

By 

Laura Bellamy (Greensboro, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Intensity (Hardcover)

As an avid Dean Koontz fan, I couldn't NOT read this book. And I wasn't disappointed. "Intensity" is a good read. Perhaps not my favorite of his, but still very typically Koontz.

This novel starts out slower than most of his novels --- usually I'm entirely captured by the first or second page, he gets right into the guts of the story, but this time he paced the beginning a lot slower.

But in a relatively short time, things start to get --- well, intense.

Chyna Shepherd is staying with her best friend's parents over a school holiday and suddenly her entire host family is dead, and only she remains living. Having always been a passive person, not wanting to get involved in anything frightening or risky (thanks to a very nasty childhood), she suddenly decides this is something she NEEDS to put herself in the middle of, to vindicate her friend.

So she follows the killer. Learning that he has a 16-year-old captive, she vows to rescue her as she was unable to rescue her friend.

At first, the killer has no idea she's there, but when he finds out, things heat up a bit, and there are a few heart-stopping scenes of suspense.

The book takes place in only a 24-hour period, and each moment counts. And, as always, Koontz has a couple of intriguing surprises up his sleeve --- the identity of the killer, for one thing.

"Intensity" follows the story from both viewpoints, the killer's and Chyna's. Chyna's portions are told in typical 3rd person past-tense, but the killer's sections are told in the rarer PRESENT tense. It's a tad distracting at first, but you'll get used to it. My major complaint with this one was that sometimes, things went a little too slowly for me --- especially with a book called "Intensity." Sometimes Chyna seemed a little TOO smart, a little TOO lucky with the ingenious ways she came up with of escaping, and at times the suspense lagged simply because I knew she was going to get out and remain alive by the end of the book, I knew she wasn't going to have any problems. I wanted to see a little bit more of a struggle for her life and her freedom, more at close quarters with the killer. Most of her struggle came when the killer wasn't anywhere near, and wouldn't be anywhere near for hours.

One of the earlier reviews for this book was, I have to say, a tad misleading, because he DOES employ a couple of his usual devices, though not in the same way. There are definitely dogs --- several of them, in fact --- though they don't save the day. And there IS a law officer in this book --- though, again, not in the typical way he uses them. And I'm not too sure about everyone's assertions that the french film "Haute Tension" was a rip-off of Dean Koontz's novel. There also happens to be a french novel called "Haute Tension" that the french FILM is more likely to be based on --- that book was published three years earlier than Koontz's "Intensity." Just because it has a similar set-up doesn't mean it's BASED on this novel --- TONS of films have similar set-ups, especially in the horror genre! And I think it's fairly insulting to Dean Koontz to try and attach his name to such an awful excuse for a movie.

On the whole, "Intensity" was wonderfully written, and exciting to read. Yet another fantastic adventure from Dean Koontz.