"Cold Fire"

I haven’t posted a book review in a while, so I’m going to add the latest Dean Koontz book I just finished.

Jim Ironheart is the main character in this book. He is handsome and rugged looking, and lucky for him has recently won the lottery so worrying about money is not something he has to do, and for him, and the daunting tasks that are put before him this is a good thing.

Jim has a very strange gift. Someone or something speaks to him, guides him. It can happen at any moment, or any time. Suddenly the voice inside tells him he needs to leave. He may not know where, or how far, but some how he is shown exactly what he needs to take for the trip. As each trip continues along its own path, little tiny pieces of the puzzle present themselves to him, just enough to keep him on the right path, but the right path to what? From experience in the past the only thing Jim knows is that the ultimate goal of each of these games or treks across the world will end one way. In the very last second of time before somebody is killed or dies, he is there to yank them from the claws of death, and all the while he has no clue as to who, what, when, where, or even why. All he knows is that he must follow precisely where the feeling, or prompting by the inner voice leads him if he is to save whoever it is that ends up almost being killed.

Holly Throne, a stubborn reporter who constantly drones on with the same old boring stories for a local news paper, witnesses one of the last second saves performed by Jim, and begins to wonder how he could have possibly been there at that precise second to save this young boy from what would have been an instantaneous death. After doing some research, she finds that this kind of last second heroics by a tall handsome stranger, have happened more then once, in fact they have happened several times, and in many places. She tracks the sources down, and confronts Jim Ironheart, wanting to know his secret, but more importantly wanting to become part of his calling.

These two characters eventually find themselves in one of the scariest situations you could ever find yourself in. A plane is going to crash, but Jim is suppose to only help save specific people that are finally shown to him only after his is ON BOARD the plane and in the air!! I am only brushing the surface of this book. There a bunch of great nail biting chapters, and a strange twist to the tale as the book starts to conclude.

Once again Dean Koontz has come up with a fantastic book, built around great characters that you can quickly identify with even if they are nothing like who you might be in real life. Even with Jim’s incredible gift, you find yourself feeling for this man, and what he has to go through every time “The Game” as I have come to call it, begins.

In most of Dean’s better novels, they are all pretty much focused around a bad guy, and or a killer, and to change the pace, and for once center it around a good guy is refreshing. This book like many others from Mr. Koontz is a total page turner, and has you grasping for the next page. If you are a Koontz fan, this is a must read.

My rating for this book is 8.50 out of 10.00