Helpful Score: 4
I always enjoy Dean Koontz's writing, and this book is by far one of his best, it is a unique story both funny and sad at parts. Highly recommended.
Helpful Score: 4
One Door Away from Heaven is an incandescent mix of suspence and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have readers cheering. This is a great story and will have you not wanting to put it down. I got very caught up in this book.
Helpful Score: 4
I am a Dean Knootz fan and liked the book quite a bit. It isn't his usual story and isn't as scary as usual but it has a good message and is a very entertaining read.
Helpful Score: 3
This book is not what you would expect from Dean Koontz. While I suppose it is a horror novel in the strictest sense, to me it was more touching than what I expected. Parts of this book actually made me cry. I loved this book and was sad when it was finished.
Helpful Score: 3
This is one of Dean koontz best books, It is full of HOPE and Love, How to look deeper and see that there is still good in this world. I have re- read this book numderes times..
Helpful Score: 3
It took me awhile to get into this book, but by the end you keep turning the pages. You fall in love with the kids in this book too!
Helpful Score: 3
Koontz sure has a way with his characters - you feel as if you know them even when you don't want to! This is a tale of redemption in the face of some very strange odds. A great read!
Helpful Score: 2
Wonderful book! Then again I am a HUGE Dean Koontz fan :) Susupense, emotion & an overall wonderful read!
Helpful Score: 2
It\'s a terrific read It\'s a long book but worth every minute of your time.
Helpful Score: 2
I loved reading this book!! It is not the extreme horror of the old Dean Koontz style. It keeps you on the edge of your seat! It intertwines various people all leading to an incredible outcome. You will love it!
Helpful Score: 2
There was so much weird truth to be found in this bizare and fun tale.
Helpful Score: 2
One of my favorite of Koontz', it's upbeat and encouraging, clever with grace and good wit.
Helpful Score: 2
A surprisingly delightful (although slightly weird) read.
Helpful Score: 2
Not what I thought but so much more. I couldn't wait to read the ending. Very thought provoking book.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a great Koontz novel, with 3 stories in one that intermingle. It is one of his "can't put it down" books. Great reading.
Helpful Score: 2
This is one of my favorite Dean Koontz books. He is such an amazing writer, this is one of his books that I read every other year or so. It is a wonderful story and the characters are great.
Helpful Score: 1
The only Koontz novel I've ever read, and it was surprisingly engrossing! An interesting, entertaining, and fairly easy read. Worth a shot!
Helpful Score: 1
excellent, couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
A young woman trying to untangle her life become friends with a disabled, but cheerful young girl. She learns the girls stepfather plans to kill her on her birthday.
A typically twisty Koontz book.
A typically twisty Koontz book.
Helpful Score: 1
A favorite book of mine. Very strange, eerie, but not so gruesome as some of other Koontz' books can be.
Helpful Score: 1
Picked it up off the dresser in the guest room while visiting a friend. A Dean Koontz pop novel, just the thing for a summer vacation. Doesn't leave you thinking but does give great visual images.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a good story that has a good ending if you can make it through the tough-to-read beggining. I liked it, but I had to push through to get to the good stuff.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book. While Dean Koontz is always thrilling this book is also very thought provoking.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book. It definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has very likeable characters as well as characters that you just can't stand.
Helpful Score: 1
Suspence,humor and plenty of heart!Great read!
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent read.
Helpful Score: 1
In a dusty trailer park on the far edgeof the Calilfornia dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At tenty-eight, sh wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can't find her way--until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she mets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest.
Helpful Score: 1
Great story, a good read
Helpful Score: 1
I had a great time with this wonderful story. A story about love, redemption, terror, dogs and aliens. That is quite the package! A little boy (little alien to be precise), is running from a pack of assassins. His traveling companion is his dog "Old Yeller" who is neither Old nor "yeller". Who they meet along the way is ust half the adventure. Their tale intersects with that of handicapped wise acre Leilani Klonk who just may be killed by her stepfather on her next birthday and Michelina Bellsong, a lost soul out of prison. How do these stories interweave? That was the fun part! I love the message at the end...even though some people may find it a bit schmaltzy.
Helpful Score: 1
Pretty good suspense book. Keeps you guessing
This was one of the first books that I read by Koontz and it is amazing. It is a psychological thriller. It is hard to put down once you start on this one. It isn't short though. It seems to be a shorter book when you are flying through it though! I hope all that order this book enjoy it as much as I did!
This used to be one of my favorite books.. period.. until I found a fatal flaw. I've read it time and again to see if I just missed something ... but nope... it's there.
I would love to say what it is but I'd hate to spoil the book for someone else... because once you find it, it's like... why didn't I see that in the first place.
But here's a hint... car keys.
This isn't the only Koontz book with fatal flaws. It's just the only one I can't live with.
I've also learned that I can no longer live with the typical storyline. There's a man or boy, girl or woman. There's always a dog. And they nearly always wind up successful ... or with (literally) bags of money.
That's Koontz' plotline... then he just throws in some character names, a bad guy and some pretty adjectives.
It's typical Koontz... and it's OLD.
I would love to say what it is but I'd hate to spoil the book for someone else... because once you find it, it's like... why didn't I see that in the first place.
But here's a hint... car keys.
This isn't the only Koontz book with fatal flaws. It's just the only one I can't live with.
I've also learned that I can no longer live with the typical storyline. There's a man or boy, girl or woman. There's always a dog. And they nearly always wind up successful ... or with (literally) bags of money.
That's Koontz' plotline... then he just throws in some character names, a bad guy and some pretty adjectives.
It's typical Koontz... and it's OLD.
While not King's strongest book, not a bad one. He really gives some vague eerieness to the story and keeps you interested.
This is a great book!
This is not the Dean Koontz of the spooky stuff, give you nightmares, people that bad don't exist variety. This is an amazingly wonderful book about delight: life is delightful, we all have potential, some people are bad but others are really, really good. I loved the characters, the story, the action - and most of all the dog. This is a book I hated to finish, but that's okay. I'll read it again and again.
Not my cup of tea but very well written.
Dean Koontz is a Great author.I read all his books that I can get ahold of!
SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT
Absolutely loved "False Memory" by Dean Koontz, unfortunately I can't say the same for this book. Even though the main concept hit heavily close to home as someone similar to Leilani where the body may not be whole, but the mind is!
I found it rather long winded and as the pages went on it just seemed like a sad sorry getting sadder and sadder. At this point can I say it felt like the only pick me up was finding G_d through a dog.
Another point of irritation: A simple way to help aid Leilani was to call the "press" and have them stalk Preston Maddoc. That way it would have been documented that Leilani exists and the press would have gone crazy over the fact that Preston associated himself with someone he lectured to "kill."
Oops, looks like I just killed off 50 pgs of the book!
Absolutely loved "False Memory" by Dean Koontz, unfortunately I can't say the same for this book. Even though the main concept hit heavily close to home as someone similar to Leilani where the body may not be whole, but the mind is!
I found it rather long winded and as the pages went on it just seemed like a sad sorry getting sadder and sadder. At this point can I say it felt like the only pick me up was finding G_d through a dog.
Another point of irritation: A simple way to help aid Leilani was to call the "press" and have them stalk Preston Maddoc. That way it would have been documented that Leilani exists and the press would have gone crazy over the fact that Preston associated himself with someone he lectured to "kill."
Oops, looks like I just killed off 50 pgs of the book!
True Koontz. What's not to like. Page turning as always.
Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never knew existed--a place of terror, wonder and shattering revelation. What awaits her there will change her life of everyone she knows-if she can find the key to survival. At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Micky's own wounded soul...
This story to a long time to reveal itself. Separate plotlines finally came together and made sense. The tale involves a young girl who is in danger from her mother and stepfather while neighbors pull out all the stops trying to save her. A parallel tale follows a young extraterrestrial boy as he eludes various entities tracking him. The plotlines come together, and the ending is fairly satisfactory. I found the characters to be pretty unbelievable overall, and entire pages of flowery description could be skipped entirely. This was an interesting but not spectacular read. I looked forward to the story ending so I could move in.
Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never knew existed- a place of terror, wonder and shattering revelation.
What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows- if she can find the key to survival.
At stake are a young girl of extrodinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Micky's own wounded soul.
What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows- if she can find the key to survival.
At stake are a young girl of extrodinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Micky's own wounded soul.
Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never knew existed...a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation. What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows...if she can find the key to survival. At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Micky's own wounded soul.
I loved this book - it is great! Another good book from Dean Koontz. Very suspenseful.
This was a little different from what I usually read but entertaining anyway.
Suspense, humor and plenty of heart...spooky and satisfying.
I read this a while ago, so I don't remember details but I never read a Dean Koontz I didn't like.
lots of plot lines; you can't believe they'll all come together but they do and with loads of humor!
"A web of intrigue...Koontz lets the reader glide along, turning the pages in wonder. Koontz lights up a dark galaxy."
Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never know existed- a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation.
What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows- if she can find the key to survival.
At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trial, and Mickey's own wounded soul.
What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows- if she can find the key to survival.
At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trial, and Mickey's own wounded soul.
very good
From back cover: Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America . . . to a place she never knew existed---a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation.
What awaits her there will change her life and the lives of everyone she knows---if she can find the key to survival.
At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Mickey's own wounded soul.
What awaits her there will change her life and the lives of everyone she knows---if she can find the key to survival.
At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Mickey's own wounded soul.
I have yet to read a Koontz book I don't LOVE and this is no exception.
I have read all of Dean Koontz's books and I was not thrilled with this one. There was just way too much unnecesary detail that you didn't need to get he jist of the story, I would skip paragraph after paragraph from pure boredom. They could have cut this in half and it would have been an execellent story. WWWWaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.
Dean Koontz is another excellent writer. This book is about a young woman determined to save a young girl from the family that will destroy her. Terror, wonder and revalation will infold in this story. You will love it
I love Dean Koontz,and read every book of his that I can get my hands on.The back cover reads;Michelina Bellsong is on a mission.She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never knew existed-a place of terror,wonder,and shattering revelation.What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows-if she can find the key to survival.At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness,a young boy with killers on his trail,and Micky's own wounded soul.
A young woman named Michelina looks for a little girl Leilani, who disappeared along w/ her drug addicted mother and threatening step-father.
A story about a young girl whose mother is a druggie and a murderous stepfather. They rent a trailer next door to Micky and Aunt Gen, and in them she finds someone who believes in her.
Mickey discovers that the stepfather is a bio-ethicist who believes people with illness, deformaties and lesser intelligence should be assisted in suicide to help the "right" people to survive in the world.
When they disappear Mickey follows them to Idaho where she knows that the man will finally kill Leilani, the young girl.
Has some wear and tears on the cover. Looks like the previous owner got it wet, still readable.
Mickey discovers that the stepfather is a bio-ethicist who believes people with illness, deformaties and lesser intelligence should be assisted in suicide to help the "right" people to survive in the world.
When they disappear Mickey follows them to Idaho where she knows that the man will finally kill Leilani, the young girl.
Has some wear and tears on the cover. Looks like the previous owner got it wet, still readable.
How does he think up these characters? Wierd but loveable. First time I ever heard of bio ethics. Hard to believe that it's true per author's note at the end of the book.
A wonderful story of adventure, mystery, suspense and revelation. Told with humor, heart and high art. Funny, scary, filled with unexpected plot twists.
In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At 28, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can't find her way-until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest.
Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, 9 year old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indominatable spirit that inspires Mickey. Beneath Leilani's effervescence, however, Mickey comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express. Leilani's mother is lost on drugs. The girls step-father, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani's 10th birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world. Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani's conversations with Mickey. Most chilling is Mickey's discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now "gone to the stars."
Leilani's 10th birthday is approaching. Mickey is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Mickey the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Mickey sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself. She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. Yet Mickey pursues her quest, and her passion, her courage, draw a burned out detective to her side. Hundreds of miles away, a motherless boy and a homeless dog begin an even more astonishing journey. Ahead of them all lie incredible peril, startling discoveries, and paths that will draw them through terrible darkness to unexpected light.
Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, 9 year old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indominatable spirit that inspires Mickey. Beneath Leilani's effervescence, however, Mickey comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express. Leilani's mother is lost on drugs. The girls step-father, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani's 10th birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world. Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani's conversations with Mickey. Most chilling is Mickey's discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now "gone to the stars."
Leilani's 10th birthday is approaching. Mickey is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Mickey the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Mickey sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself. She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. Yet Mickey pursues her quest, and her passion, her courage, draw a burned out detective to her side. Hundreds of miles away, a motherless boy and a homeless dog begin an even more astonishing journey. Ahead of them all lie incredible peril, startling discoveries, and paths that will draw them through terrible darkness to unexpected light.
loved it
A great read. Will keep you turning the pages.
Thrilling & suspenseful chase
I REALLY HAD TO PAY ATTENION TO THIS SAD AND INTERESTING KOONTZ TALE.
good characters.
Pretty strange story, but well written.
An edge of your seat read
Another one of my favorite authours. A great suspenseful read that is somewhat spooky.
TYPICAL DEAN KOONTZ
Excellent reading; if you like Dean Koontz, you will love this one!
great book great author
Amazon.com: "Dean Koontz virtually invented the cross-genre novel, and in One Door Away from Heaven he mixes an action thriller with post-X-Files alien paranoia to remarkable effect. Micky Bellsong is a young woman at a crisis point in her life, using a stay at her Aunt Geneva's to sort things out. Then the precocious and deformed Leilani Klonk walks into her life, telling stories of her stepfather and drugged-up mother, who believe aliens will beam the girl into their mothership and heal her deformities before her 10th birthday. But tales of the stepfather's vicious past, including his hand in several murders, leave Micky believing that a far more terrible fate awaits her friend. So when the parents take off with Leilani, Micky pursues.
As is typical with a Koontz novel, nothing turns out to be what it seems, and the meticulously crafted plot tightens like a noose with every turn of the page. His characters are exceptionally drawn, driving the novel forward with realism and warmth. Micky is one of his more attractive young heroines, but the real star is Leilani, a mature young girl whose plucky nature and sparkling dialogue instantly make her Koontz's most memorable creation. She embodies his belief that despite violence, pain, and suffering, there is always goodness to be found in every person and situation. Koontz has once again proven why he is one of the premier novelists of his generation." --Jonathan Weir, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly: "Koontz's latest is powered by an impassioned stand against utilitarian bioethics, and it's chock-a-block with trademark characters vulnerable kids, nurturing parental substitutes, a dog of above-average intelligence and a villain of insuperable nastiness sure to provoke a pleasurable conditioned response from his readers. The discursive story coalesces from two converging subplots steeped in the weirdness of fringe ufology: in one, loser Michelina Bellsong struggles to save crippled nine-year-old Leilani Klonk from an evil stepdad planning to pass off her imminent disposal as a benevolent alien abduction; in the other, a strange boy who goes by the alias Curtis Hammond is the quarry of two cross-country manhunts, one led by the FBI and the other by mass murderers who, like the messianic Curtis, may not be what they seem. En route to a pyrotechnic finale in rural Idaho, Koontz shoots bull's-eyes at target issues that shape his theme, including assisted suicide, substance abuse, the irresponsibility of the counterculture and the goofiness of true-believer ET enthusiasts. Koontz's once form-fitting style has gotten baggy of late, however, and readers may find themselves wishing he had better filtered the flights of fancy his characters sometimes indulge at chapter length. For all that, the novel is surprisingly focused on its inspirational message "we are the instruments of one another's salvation and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness into light" and conveys it with such conviction that only the most critical will demur. (Dec. 26)Forecast: A terrific cover, depicting two female figures on a country path beneath a star-filled night sky, will alert browsers to the awe and mystery within the novel; Koontz's name and Bantam's promo machine will do the rest. Koontz could hit #1 with this one." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
As is typical with a Koontz novel, nothing turns out to be what it seems, and the meticulously crafted plot tightens like a noose with every turn of the page. His characters are exceptionally drawn, driving the novel forward with realism and warmth. Micky is one of his more attractive young heroines, but the real star is Leilani, a mature young girl whose plucky nature and sparkling dialogue instantly make her Koontz's most memorable creation. She embodies his belief that despite violence, pain, and suffering, there is always goodness to be found in every person and situation. Koontz has once again proven why he is one of the premier novelists of his generation." --Jonathan Weir, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly: "Koontz's latest is powered by an impassioned stand against utilitarian bioethics, and it's chock-a-block with trademark characters vulnerable kids, nurturing parental substitutes, a dog of above-average intelligence and a villain of insuperable nastiness sure to provoke a pleasurable conditioned response from his readers. The discursive story coalesces from two converging subplots steeped in the weirdness of fringe ufology: in one, loser Michelina Bellsong struggles to save crippled nine-year-old Leilani Klonk from an evil stepdad planning to pass off her imminent disposal as a benevolent alien abduction; in the other, a strange boy who goes by the alias Curtis Hammond is the quarry of two cross-country manhunts, one led by the FBI and the other by mass murderers who, like the messianic Curtis, may not be what they seem. En route to a pyrotechnic finale in rural Idaho, Koontz shoots bull's-eyes at target issues that shape his theme, including assisted suicide, substance abuse, the irresponsibility of the counterculture and the goofiness of true-believer ET enthusiasts. Koontz's once form-fitting style has gotten baggy of late, however, and readers may find themselves wishing he had better filtered the flights of fancy his characters sometimes indulge at chapter length. For all that, the novel is surprisingly focused on its inspirational message "we are the instruments of one another's salvation and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness into light" and conveys it with such conviction that only the most critical will demur. (Dec. 26)Forecast: A terrific cover, depicting two female figures on a country path beneath a star-filled night sky, will alert browsers to the awe and mystery within the novel; Koontz's name and Bantam's promo machine will do the rest. Koontz could hit #1 with this one." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
