Book Review: Velocity by Dean Koontz
If you don’t have the stamina for a book review right now, scroll down to the question at the bottom for an interesting ethical debate!
The last time I read a Dean Koontz novel, he was specifically a writer of horror stories. That was a fair few years ago to say the least, and in the meantime Koontz seems to have transcended the pure horror genre. These days, he seems to be writing in the more modern, more lucrative thriller style.
My cynicism (for Koontz’s motives) aside, the man has not lost his touch. Velocity is a fast-paced crime thriller, but manages to raise some interesting moral and ethical questions at the same time.
What’s It All About?
The plot centres around Billy Wiles, an average Joe bartender in a nameless tavern. Wiles lives a simple, innocuous lifestyle: working at the tavern by day and returning to the house where he lives alone at night. Occasionally he visits his comatose girlfriend in hospital.
Things quickly turn sour when Billy discovers a note on the windshield of his car. The note threatens that if he goes to the police, an attractive young schoolteacher will die. If he does not, an elderly woman will be killed. By his actions, Billy will determine the fate of these women.
At first assuming the note to be a cruel joke, Billy takes the note to a friend, Lanny Olsen who is a police officer and asks his advice. Lanny tells him to ignore the note, only later discovering that a schoolteacher has been killed. This begins a series of decisions Billy is forced to make by the anonymous killer and a tortuous game of cat and mouse commences, with Billy trying to discover the killer’s identity while realising that the end game may have terrible consequences for him.
Not only is the killer planting evidence that will incriminate Billy in the murders, he has his eyes set on Billy’s girlfriend and ultimately Billy himself.
Verdict
Koontz is to be applauded for writing such a compelling and intense page-turner. He keeps his chapters short, ending each with a minor cliffhanger so you read voraciously (sure I’ll just read the next chapter…). The cast of characters is well conceived and each is brought to life vividly by Koontz for the roles they play.
Despite Billy’s attempts to unmask the killer, his identity is only revealed in the last few chapters of the book for a dramatic showdown. Koontz will manage to keep you guessing this one until the end (and I don’t intend to spoil it for you!).
Needless to say, I found Velocity to be an excellent piece of storytelling. I mentioned earlier that the thriller genre was much more lucrative than horror these days. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this appear as a movie some day - it ticks all the right boxes.
Questions
Perhaps the central theme of Velocity is the moral dilemma of being forced to choose the fate of another person, through action or inaction.
If you don’t take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice is yours.
The proposition is a difficult one - your actions will doom an individual, one way or another. I thought the decision to include the word “attractive” when describing the schoolteacher was quite cunning. Would you save an attractive person over a vitruous person? On the spur of the moment, how do you determine one person’s right to life over another’s?
A copy of this review is posted at PopOpinions.com.
The choice is never yours. It’s in the hands of the sicko threatening to kill people so why play the game at all? It’s their actions that take someones life not any choice you make.
That’s what I thought Caroline, but the second kill in the book is interesting - the killer asks him to choose between a mother of two and someone who wouldn’t be missed much.
It turns out that the killer offs a reclusive friend of Billy’s which brings the whole thing home.
You’re right, of course, I would flee the country or something in order to get away from the notes.
I thought the book was very compelling, however, the villian was far to easy to unmask. I did find it interesting to follow the tangled web with which the notes would weave Billy deeper and deeper into peril.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars for me.
I liked the book a lot. The ending was the weak point, if I am to be critical.
Why do everybody say tha the villain was easy to unmask? I always suspected it to be someone Billy knew from years ago, someone who hadn’t been introduced int he book to us. But instead it was just some random psycho who met Billy in the bar - I guess that disappointed me somehow …
Sara: I sort of expected some character from the past to leap out too, but the cat and mouse game was pretty good - suspenseful.
I don’t want to spoil the book for others who have not read it, but Sara, it was not just some person Billy met in the bar. At that point he had not even met the person yet. It was the artist that they mention in the beginning-not a person from the bar. Go back and re-read.
No, you are very wrong, Chris. It WAS “the artist”, but Billy HAD met him. He met him in the bar. Like I said, just some random psycho artist, who met Billy in the bar. Go back and re-read.
I think that it was ultimately calculable who the villain was. However, I wouldn’t say it was easy to guess. It was the person in the bar, which i find quite interesting given Billy’s doubts as to his philosophical intelligence at the beginning.
I’d be interested to hear any additional comments people have on the “wounds” and some of the symbolism reflected in the statue and Zillis’s mannequins
As a point, regarding early comments here saying how you would flee the country to get away from the choices.
That itself was a main theme, that inaction or attempt to escape was in itself a choice to kill someone. You are right that it was the sicko’s choice, but given that situation, would you be able to live with the knowledge that you had been presented with peoples’ lives and disregarded your ability to influence their taking?
I dont think that the “freak” was easy to guess. I never would have suspected him. In fact I had forgot about him completely. I thought though from the beggining that it was Steve.
And I think that Billy’s decisions did decide who the “freak” killed. And I also don’t know how you would determine one’s right to live over anothers. I think most people would just randomly choose one. The decision would be way to difficult to choose by the type of person the victims are i think.
I believe this novel has a lot more to offer than what meets the eye. Koontz uses a crime mystery thriller as background for issues such as morality (good and evil) that literary giants such as Dickens and T.S. Eliot refer to in their own respective works. I was very taken and interested in Koontz’ final remark about Barbara’s “most mysterious statement,” a passage taken from Dicken’s Dombey and Son. I am currently trying to explore what he is trying to “tell us.” If you can add something about this “mystery,” I would love to have you share your comments with me!
I thought the killer was Lanny…
& even when Billy found Lanny dead,
I had a suspicion it was a set up.
Hmm..
guess I was a tad off track there.
Ah well,
life goes on =)
Well this book was very suspenseful, i am only 14 and i was very intirigued by this book and am know a Dean koontz fan. This book was disturbing and I thought the killer would be somone Billy new but like Sara said it was some random f**ked up phsycho that Billy happened to have a decent conversation with in his bar.
Alex: Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment! It’s been almost a year since I read Velocity, but now you mention it, it seems a bit lame that the killer just sort of appeared and decided to make Billy’s life a misery - can anyone remember why he did this?
This was my 1st book i read by dean koontz i now own about 7 of his books and this book is my favorate of all.I loved this book i could not put it down at one point i read it in the bath going in at 8pm and for my boyfriend to shout me out at 12 midnight. Never found it at all disapointing i would recomend this to any one.
What do you guys think are some qualities that describe the main character?
Great read. I’m a terribly slow reader, but I read velocity in 3 days (may still be slow to some, but that’s record breaking for me). I too was totally thrown by the killer. I thought it was Lanny, then Steve, then Steve + another unknown, then I finally gave up. The revelation of how evidence was piling up against him was something as a reader I felt. I actually was getting nervous for the fictional Billy.
Jeremy - Thanks for your comment! I remember going through the same process when I read Velocity for the first time - everybody eventually became a suspect until the final twist at the end. There was no way you’d have guessed who the killer was.
For those who haven’t finished the book yet, stop! Spoilers ahead…
The killer didn’t just appear at the bar: he was a well-prepared, calculating predator who was attracted to Billy’s early writings and his violent past. Their seemingly harmless meeting at the bar was simply a culmination of the predator’s grisly plans, not a random event at all. The killer was very precise, until of course he slips in the end and Billy takes him out too quickly. And the same goes for the supposed accomplice.
Despite the rather anticlimactic ending, I did enjoy the novel’s quick pace and easy dialogues. Kudos to Koontz! I would love to see this on the big screen soon.
No, you are very wrong, Chris. It WAS “the artist”, but Billy HAD met him. He met him in the bar. Like I said, just some random psycho artist, who met Billy in the bar. Go back and re-read.
This book is amazing. i actually bought it because i was curious about the “note”. Lots of people speculated that it was easy to guess who the “freak” was, but turned out to be just some random sicko who happened to be a fan of Bill’s writing slash costumer at some point in time. i do agree that it was a “page turner”. some of the passages from it was derived from T.S. Elliot, which was very exciting and effective subordinate. the motive of the killer and the ending itself were kinda weak for me because i felt like Koontz could’ve fashioned it a little more to make it more appealling and breath-taking.