Relentless

April 20, 2009
A bad book review propels this farcical thriller from bestseller Koontz (Your Heart Belongs to Me
). Bestselling author Cullen “Cubby†Greenwich is mortified when Shearman Waxx, “the nation's premier literary critic,†savages his work. Cubby manages to find the “syphilitic swine†at Roxie's Bistro in Newport Beach, Calif., where the author's six-year-old prodigy son nearly pees by accident on Waxx in the restaurant's men's room. In retaliation, Waxx threatens Cubby with doom and gets things started nicely by blowing up his house. With almost superhuman ease, the book critic keeps track of Cubby and his family as they flee for their lives. While some may take this as satire, the over-the-top villain's underdeveloped motivation and a jokey narrative tone that jars when juxtaposed with terrifying scenes of violence will leave others scratching their heads. By the time Koontz introduces a science fiction element, a lot of readers may have already checked out.

May 15, 2009
A bestselling author and a death-dealing critic mix it up in this middling effort from thrillermeister Koontz (The Good Guy, 2007, etc.).

Cullen (Cubby) Greenwich has a lot to thank Ralph for—Ralph being the playful name he's given his guardian angel. In his 30s, lucky Cubby has a beautiful wife, the world's smartest six-year-old son and a Lassie-like wonder dog named Lassie. Bonus: Whenever he finishes a book it cleaves to bestseller lists with the tenacity of a barnacle. Ah, but Cubby is about to swallow some bitter pills. Suddenly, it seems that Ralph has lost focus, or perhaps ventured off on sabbatical, and Cubby's life, once so chipper, is plunged into bleakness. It starts with the reviews for One O'Clock Jump, Cubby's latest. They are raves, minus one. Shearman Waxx, the nation's most influential literary critic (can there be such a thing these days?) has noticed a Cubby novel for the first time. Cubby smolders, yearns for an encounter and, against the advice of all who love him, including that savvy six-year-old, makes it happen. The results are predictable. Well, not exactly predictable, since it turns out there are dark sides to Waxx. He's a killer, a description in no way metaphorical. That's real blood on his hands. Scared silly, the family takes off, Waxx and a bevy of sinister cohorts in hot pursuit for reasons somewhat less than persuasive. Bullets fly, body bags fill, dark conspiracies mushroom. Who, Cubby wonders, could have imagined that a Ralph-less world would be quite so fraught?

Loosely plotted to say the least, but readers who can suspend disbelief after a line like this uttered by a six-year-old—"Mom, you've got to convince him to get a new agent"— may find some rewards.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from May 15, 2009
"Cubby" Greenwich is a best-selling novelist with a new book out and reviews hitting the stands. When he's eviscerated by renowned critic Shearman Waxx in a review full of errors, he can't help but wonder at the man behind the critique, the inaccuracies, and the poor syntax. Following one relatively harmless run-in at a local restaurant, Cubby and his family (wife and fellow author Penny, six-year-old son and off-the-charts genius son "Spooky" Milo, and similarly spooky dog Lassie) are exposed to terrors beyond metaphorical slaying. Shearman Waxx is a man bent on destroying not merely Cubby's book sales but the man and his family. He has uncanny knowledge, and Cubby soon discovers that he's not the only author to fall victim to Waxx's psychopathic attentions. "Relentless" echoes the very best of the Odd Thomas series in voice; this is an exquisite crafting of the thrilling, the unexplainable, and the personal, with the mirth and whimsy that Koontz throws in seemingly effortlessly just when it's most needed and least expected. Koontz fans will snap up. Buy multiple copies. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/09.]Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2009
Koontz has injected his opinions about the state of the culture into his crackerjack thrillers ever since Dark Rivers of the Heart (1994), which bristled with indignation over murderous law enforcement against the Branch Davidian religious sect and others. Not since then has he made his perception of cultural disintegration so central to the plot as it is in this outlandish but, once again, smoothly spun nail-biter. Successful novelist Cullen GreenwichCubby to his intimatesat long last gets reviewed by the lead critic of the most prestigious American newspaper. But its a severely hostile review that indicates that the reviewer didnt bother reading the booka real hatchet job. His wife and child-prodigy son, whose passion at age six is physics, advise him to forget about it, but after he learns that the critic lives nearby and patronizes a favorite restaurant of his, he cant quite. And so, within mere hours, the Greenwiches house blows up, and theyre on the run, linked to the rest of the world by disposable cellphones only. Some critic. The murderous reviewer may have chosen the wrong victims this time, however, for the missus comes from a wealthy and very ingenious survivalist clan, and shes determined to fight back. Asking greater suspension of disbelief, or willingness to indulge angry paranoia about the state of American popular culture, than he ever has before, Koontz still grabs readers as few other thriller scribes can.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)