One Door Away from Heaven : A Novel

One Door Away from Heaven: A Novel / [ASIN: B000SCHBA2 ]
When Micky Bellsong encounters disabled Leilani Klonk and her stepfather, Preston Maddoc, she finally finds some purpose in her troubled life, so when the family disappears, Micky embarks on an arduous mission to find them.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Suspense, humor and plenty of heart . . . spooky and satisfying.”—People
Michelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America . . . to a place she never knew existed—a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation. What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows—if she can find the key to survival. At stake are a young girl of extraordinary goodness, a young boy with killers on his trail, and Micky’s own wounded soul. Ahead lie incredible peril, startling discoveries, and paths that lead through terrible darkness to unexpected light.

[Amazon.com Reviews] Dean R. Koontz virtually invented the cross-genre novel, and in One Door Away from Heaven he mixes an action thriller with post-X-Files alien paranoia to remarkable effect. Micky Bellsong is a young woman at a crisis point in her life, using a stay at her Aunt Geneva's to sort things out. Then the precocious and deformed Leilani Klonk walks into her life, telling stories of her stepfather and drugged-up mother, who believe aliens will beam the girl into their mothership and heal her deformities before her 10th birthday. But tales of the stepfather's vicious past, including his hand in several murders, leave Micky believing that a far more terrible fate awaits her friend. So when the parents take off with Leilani, Micky pursues.

As is typical with a Koontz novel, nothing turns out to be what it seems, and the meticulously crafted plot tightens like a noose with every turn of the page. His characters are exceptionally drawn, driving the novel forward with realism and warmth. Micky is one of his more attractive young heroines, but the real star is Leilani, a mature young girl whose plucky nature and sparkling dialogue instantly make her Koontz's most memorable creation. She embodies his belief that despite violence, pain, and suffering, there is always goodness to be found in every person and situation. Koontz has once again proven why he is one of the premier novelists of his generation. --Jonathan Weir, Amazon.co.uk

[From Publishers Weekly] Koontz's latest is powered by an impassioned stand against utilitarian bioethics, and it's chock-a-block with trademark characters vulnerable kids, nurturing parental substitutes, a dog of above-average intelligence and a villain of insuperable nastiness sure to provoke a pleasurable conditioned response from his readers. The discursive story coalesces from two converging subplots steeped in the weirdness of fringe ufology: in one, loser Michelina Bellsong struggles to save crippled nine-year-old Leilani Klonk from an evil stepdad planning to pass off her imminent disposal as a benevolent alien abduction; in the other, a strange boy who goes by the alias Curtis Hammond is the quarry of two cross-country manhunts, one led by the FBI and the other by mass murderers who, like the messianic Curtis, may not be what they seem. En route to a pyrotechnic finale in rural Idaho, Koontz shoots bull's-eyes at target issues that shape his theme, including assisted suicide, substance abuse, the irresponsibility of the counterculture and the goofiness of true-believer ET enthusiasts. Koontz's once form-fitting style has gotten baggy of late, however, and readers may find themselves wishing he had better filtered the flights of fancy his characters sometimes indulge at chapter length. For all that, the novel is surprisingly focused on its inspirational message "we are the instruments of one another's salvation and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness into light" and conveys it with such conviction that only the most critical will demur. (Dec. 26)Forecast: A terrific cover, depicting two female figures on a country path beneath a star-filled night sky, will alert browsers to the awe and mystery within the novel; Koontz's name and Bantam's promo machine will do the rest. Koontz could hit #1 with this one. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

[From Booklist] Koontz's latest is a tale of redemption from fallen lives and of faith in the universe--nothing we haven't seen before. Not to say it isn't entertaining. It will enthrall readers. But nothing extraordinary awaits them at the end. The writing is baroque, and there seems to be no reason for much of Koontz's elaborateness. Micky, just emerging from a nasty period in her life, is living with her kooky Aunt Geneva when she meets bright, witty Leilani--Lani for short--who despises the pity people feel for her when they see her mutant hand and braced leg. She would rather they remembered her wit. Micky finds meaning in her own life when she discovers the horrible truth of Lani's, and, finally given something other than anger to focus on, rides to the rescue. Interwoven with this story is that of a boy fleeing the FBI and creatures far, far worse, who killed his mother and will stop at nothing to kill him. The book's revelations, while not exactly predictable, are not earth shattering. Suffice it to say that the tale is told well enough to satisfy, besides Koontz's faithful fandom, the less jaded and more hopeful among us. Regina Schroeder. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

“Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler.” —The Times (London).

"Koontz has always had near-Dickensian powers of description, and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match." - Los Angeles Times.

Literatura Estrangeira / Romance policial / Suspense e Mistério