Customer Reviews

Your Heart Belongs to Me

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(59)
1 star:		(66)

 

 

I'm a big Dean Koontz fan but this one just doesn't work. The premise was a great one and I looked forward to reading the story. But it drags from the start (this is the first time I've actually skimmed over paragraphs in a Koontz novel) and the intertwining of supernatural with reality just doesn't fit together this time. The story picked up a bit post-transplant (more than half-way through the book though) but the ending is a major disappointment. No spoilers here - but there are certain events that just don't make sense, the supernatural seemed out of place and the ending itself is extremely unrealistic and unfulfilling. Koontz can do much better and hopefully next time he will.

Ryan Perry made a fortune after he created the internet's largest social networking website. Only thirty-four years old, Ryan is one of the wealthiest men in the country and has everything a man could want. Even his love life is better than he could have hoped, and he has no doubt Samantha is the one he will spend the rest of his life with.

One fateful day while Ryan is surfing he feels an intense pain in his chest, scaring him enough to visit the doctor. His worst fears are confirmed when he discovers he needs a heart transplant to live. As Ryan waits for a donor his world is torn apart by strange events and suspicions that he has no answer for. He begins to believe that those who are closest to him may be responsible for his medical condition. His search for the truth will lead him down a dark road that could destroy him in ways he never imagined.

Your Heart Belongs to Me might be one of the most unique novels of Koontz's career. Depending on your perspective, that can be good or bad. It's hard to fit this story into one clear cut genre. While there are terrifying moments, this is not a horror novel. Much of the story is full of drama, emotion, and romance, yet this is not a typical love story. This novel is very suspenseful, but driven at a much slower pace than Koontz's previous works.

Much of Koontz's early career was highlighted by suspenseful stories with both supernatural and horror elements. Many of his die hard fans still want that from him, and subsequently are quick to turn on his later works that are full of powerful explorations of light overcoming the darkness. While I enjoy many of the vintage Koontz novels, I have also thoroughly enjoyed his more recent approach to storytelling. This latest offering is certainly no exception.

In my book, no one equals Koontz when it comes to prose and dialogue. Those strengths shine here, but what carries this story is the character of Ryan Perry. His journey is full of struggle, hope, torment, and redemption. Koontz gives us a rich guy that has everything, and he still makes us care for and hurt alongside him at every turn. We're able to see through the riches and security Ryan has built up around him and look into the heart of a person who is frightened by the realities of life and death. As we're drawn deeper into the story, we are effectively drawn deeper into Ryan's life, making this a more profound, heartfelt tale.

While the pacing of this story is slower than we've come to expect from Koontz, in no way does it take away from the suspense. Ryan's paranoia about his situation and his search for truth amidst a world of confusion makes for a very addictive read. This is also one of the most spiritual themed novels Koontz has written and maybe one of the most poignant. In the end, Koontz delivers a great little twist that is both powerful and sobering. Even if you are aching for some classic Koontz give this one a chance and enjoy yet another wondrously crafted tale from the master.

I look forward every spring and fall to the two Koontz books that I know will come as surely as the seasons change. I have yet to be disappointed in any of his books and I can also say that for Your Heart Belongs to Me. I know that some Dean Koontz fans are disappointed when a new book doesn't resemble each and every book he has already written. It is a matter of perspective. I enjoy the variety that Koontz serves up.

Your Heart Belongs to Me fits nicely with books such as The Husband and The Good Guy; stories that deal with psychological stress on the protagonist and by extension the reader.

The story here is strong and certainly plausible. Ryan Perry, a self made millionaire is living the life most of us would do anything to have. Bright, rich, popular, Perry is living the American dream though he is just a little paranoid in my opinion. Then, like so many of us have experienced, that charmed life is threatened by a medical crisis, in this case, cardiomyopathy, a condition that can't be corrected without a heart transplant. Short of that, the condition is a death sentence. Since Ryan is young and vibrant, and has the money, a viable heart is found and life is once again becomes good. Well, maybe. In no time Ryan's life turns creepy; perhaps the transplant won't work out. This is where Koontz excels, finding the weird in the normal everyday things we all take for granted. Then, of course, who is really behind it all?

Dean Koontz does a wonderful job developing the story though some may feel it is just a bit contrived. I don't! The characters are certainly believable, the story is well developed, and in classic Koontz style, wastes no time in grabbing your attention and moving you along.

I highly recommend.

Peace to all.

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW!


I have a hard time believing a lead could be so stupid and shallow as Ryan. He supposedly researched transplants so how could he have believed he was on an international donor list and not be suspicious when he gets a heart after 1 month in SHANGHAI? His security firm supposedly researched Dr Hobb and did not mention anything fishy?

Also, too may loose ends. What about Dr Death and justice for Ismay whom Koontz strongly implied was murdered?

Lastly is running an orphanage really supposed to make up for buying a heart from a murdered political prisoner?

I'm a huge Dean Koontz fan. I've read 50+ of his works and look forward to many more. I got this book for Christmas and plowed through it pretty quickly. I'm not sure I let everything sink in the first time. This is a very interesting Koontz and a little different from a lot of his. The protagonist, Ryan, is a complex character and the story is told with a very tight focus around him. Many things go on in the beginning to middle of the book that really aren't understood until the end and even then you should not be expecting the answers to slap you in the face. The understanding of these things is more deep and subtle than a cursory reading will at first reveal. It is there and readers should dwell on the meaning of this one a bit.
Overall this would not be my first recommendation to someone new to Koontz but a good read for someone looking for something worthy of deeper consideration than the typical industry thriller. There's not a ton of action but more psychologically taut scenes that flow one to another. Thank you very much, Dean, for another top-notch novel for thinking readers.

It was hard to believe this was a Dean Koontz book. The story never really grabs you. I didn't care about the characters and kept wondering where is this all going? It's all over the place. Not what I expected. No one bats 1000 so with the amount of times he comes to bat and delivers, I guess we can forgive him.

Dean Koontz is one of the best fiction writers I have read. This book maintains his lofty standards. The work focuses on Ryan Perry, a super-rich entrepreneur who made his fortune developing a social-networking Web site. He's only thirty-four and seems to have it all, including a beautiful lover, Samantha Reach, whom he seeks to wed. Then he discovers that he is gravely ill with a bad heart. And, it turns out, "bad heart" has both literal and figurative implications.

As usual, Koontz introduces supernatural elements. Dreams are important and subject to sinister interpretations. Ryan suspects people, including Samantha, may be poisoning him or plotting against him. He desperately looks for answers, even in the eyes of a corpse. Eventually, he receives a healthy new heart through transplant. All seems well. But things may not be as they seem.

All the while, there's an ominous tapping, rapping. Yes, just like in Poe's "The Raven," phrases from which, and other Poe works, Koontz weaves into the story. For example, Koontz writes "eagerly he sought" alternative treatments for his heart disease. Referring to Ryan, Koontz used the same words as Poe in "The Raven." Ultimately, Ryan recognizes how the "unmistakable style of Poe, his essential voice, seemed of a piece with the strange events of the past sixteen months." This Poe motif is a brilliant part of the book.

It all builds to a strong conclusion. A most enjoyable read, with only a few arcane phrasings like "plein-air" claustrophobia standing in the way. And I don't understand how "the darkness darkled into something darker than mere dark" made it into print.

What is amazing about Dean Koontz is his chameleon like qualities. He can be so many different things and can evoke so many different emotions.

But yet there is a common thread running through most of his work. It seems as though he takes an innocent, ordinary person, puts them into a nearly impossible situation and watches them wiggle their way out of it. Whether it's Billy Wiles in Velocity, Michael Rafferty in The Husband, Spencer Grant in Dark Rivers of the Heart, Timothy Carrier in The Good Guy, Ryan Kelly in Your Heart Belongs to Me or even Odd Thomas himself, Mr. Koontz takes each of them, gives them a situation that would destroy most of us, puts them under the microscope and watches them work it through to the end. In a way, it's like a sadistic puppeteer, cutting the strings and watching his creations take their first tentative steps on their own. It's what most of us love you for, Dean. Because most of us wish we were sadistic puppeteers, too.

I finished this book over the Christmas holiday and was ready to assign 2, maybe 3 stars to it. Than I started thinking about the story.

This was the first Koontz book I read where I did not like the main protaganist. Usually - spoiler warning - his heros and heroines come from dysfunctional families/parents and as adults become better people.

Not so Ryan Perry. He is somewhat better than his parents but comes off as a jerk who believes every problem can be solved by throwing money at it. And thus the brillance of Koontz's writing comes into play.

First, Dean Koontz constantly informs the reader that his current novel has many subtexts and his Ryan Perry character is but one subtext.

Another subtext is when you are faced with problems beyond your control, some times you cannot spend your way out of it. Are you paying attention America? And lastly, when events are beyond your control it is best to trust in God and those individuals he sends to you to help you out of your troubles.

So, my hats off to Mr. Koontz for writing another great book. It is a great thriller where you see enemies at Ryan's door but they turn out to be enemies of his own creation. I will not give the novel 5 stars basically because the constant references and descriptions of plants and trees are starting to become tiresome. But I do highly recommend this novel.

Like so many of the writers, I am a huge Dean Koontz fan. That's one reason why this was so disappointing. He is all over in this book and it appears he didn't know what genre he wanted to write in.

There is the spooky, atmospheric beginning, the gentle love story, the psychological mayhem, and the violence you find in his other books. But they don't go together in this book. It just jumps all over the place

And the deus ex machina explaining it all is just too bizarre for even him. Out of the clear blue sky comes a reason for everything that's been going on. And it wasn't even a good explanation. It's like Violet is pulled out of another book and stuck in to wrap it all up.

I was really disappointed I wasted my time on this book.