Velocity by Dean Koontz (2005, Hardcover)

Synopsis
A man unwillingly holds the fate of others in his hands in this chilling psychological thriller by a master of the genre, bestselling writer Dean Koontz. California bartender Bill Wile's life is haunted by the most dreadful tragedy, but none of his past traumas prepare him for the anonymous note directing him to choose which of two women will be a killer's next victim. At first, he doesn't believe the note writer intends to carry out the threatened crime. Then one of the women is murdered--and that's only the first salvo in an escalating psychotic campaign that forces Bill into a series of wrenching, no-win choices that threaten to destroy him and everything that he holds dear.

Key Details
Author:	Dean Koontz
Language:	English
Publisher:	Bantam Dell Pub Group
Format:	Hardcover
ISBN-10:	0553804154
ISBN-13:	9780553804157

Size
Length:	397 pages
Thickness:	1.8 in
Weight:	24 oz

Publisher's Note
A series of communications from a deranged killer in which he is offered a number of devastating choices and deadlines draws Bill Wile into a confrontation with pure evil as his life becomes a downward spiral into a nightmare in which he must risk everything in a desperate race against time. 525,000 first printing.

Dean Koontz’s unique talent for writing terrifying thrillers with a heart and soul is nowhere more evident than in this latest suspense masterpiece that pits one man against the ultimate deadline. If there were speed limits for the sheer pulse-racing excitement allowed in one novel, Velocity would break them all. Get ready for the ride of your life.…

VELOCITY

Bill Wile is an easygoing, hardworking guy who leads a quiet, ordinary life. But that is about to change. One evening, after his usual eight-hour bartending shift, he finds a typewritten note under the windshield wiper of his car. 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.

It seems like a sick joke, and Bill’s friend on the police force, Lanny Olson, thinks so too. His advice to Bill is to go home and forget about it. Besides, what could they do even if they took the note seriously? No crime has actually been committed. But less than twenty-four hours later, a young blond schoolteacher is found murdered, and it’s Bill’s fault: he didn’t convince the police
to get involved. Now he’s got another note, another deadline, another ultimatum…and two new lives hanging in the balance.

Suddenly Bill’s average, seemingly innocuous life takes on the dimensions and speed of an accelerating nightmare. Because the notes are coming faster, the deadlines growing tighter, and the killer becoming bolder and crueler with every communication–until Bill is isolated with the terrifying knowledge that he alone has the power of life and death over a psychopath’s innocent victims. Until the struggle between good and evil is intensely personal. Until the most chilling words of all are: The choice is yours.

Industry Reviews
"[S]uspenseful and...grueling--genuinely terrific."
Booklist (05/01/2005)

"The velocity mounts and builds chapter by chapter to dazzling-devil thunderbolts."
Kirkus Reviews (05/01/2005)

"Graphic, fast-paced action, well-developed characters and relentless, nail-biting scenes show Koontz at the top of his game." (starred review)
Publishers Weekly (04/25/2005)

"...Koontz...is skillful in ways that make VELOCITY live up to its title, and nobody will ever accuse him of formulaic writing."
New York Times - Janet Maslin (05/23/2005)