VELOCITY, by Dean Koontz, Bantam, 400 pages, $27.
One of the country's most prolific suspense novelists has returned to his roots — scaring your pants off.
"Velocity," by Dean Koontz, focuses on the value of commitment, honor and hope all mixed into a complex story that surprises the reader at every turn.
Billy Wiles is an easygoing but private bartender who listens to his customers' problems but rarely talks about his own. One day as he's leaving work he finds a typewritten note under the windshield wiper of his car. What that note says changes his life forever: "If you don't take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher somewhere in Napa County. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have six hours to decide. The choice is yours."
At first Billy thinks the note is some kind of sick joke, but he can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Eventually, he takes the note to his friend, Lanny Olson, who happens to be a police officer. Lanny thinks it's a prank and tells Billy to forget about it. Convinced there's nothing he can do, Billy returns home and waits for the deadline.
Twenty-four hours later, his worst fears have come true. A young blond schoolteacher's body has been found, and Billy feels it's his fault. Then he finds another note on his car, which delivers another ultimatum: "If you don't go to the police and get them involved, I will kill an unmarried man who won't be missed by the world. If you do go to the police, I will kill a young mother of two. You have five hours to decide. The choice is yours."
Now Billy knows the killer is serious and he finds himself in the middle of a nightmarish game where the rules keep changing. "The freak," as Billy calls him, continues to toy with him, sending notes with increased frequency and shortening deadlines.
Through this process Billy realizes that the killer wants him to collaborate. As he wrestles with the problems of the human condition, Billy realizes that he alone can change the outcome. Someone will always end up dead, but there is always a choice and each choice carries a different consequence: "The world turns and the world changes, but one thing does not change. However you disguise it, this thing does not change: the perpetual struggle of Good and Evil."
"Velocity" is everything the title suggests — urgent in its paces and reflective in its themes. The staccato dialogue builds as the plot thickens, quickly moving the story forward.
This is a well-written suspenseful story that involves murder and violence without the disgusting graphic gore often found in such novels. Koontz skillfully produces a yarn that hits readers with warp-speed impact, leaving them wanting more.
E-mail: jharrison@desnews.com