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Intensity

By Dean R. Koontz

(72)

| Hardcover | 9780679425250

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Book Description

Chyna Shepherd is a twenty-six-year-old woman whose deeply troubled childhood taught her the hard rules of survival, and whose adult life has been an unrelenting struggle for self-respect and safety. Now rare trust has blossomed for Chyna into friendship with the woman whose family home she is visitContinue

Chyna Shepherd is a twenty-six-year-old woman whose deeply troubled childhood taught her the hard rules of survival, and whose adult life has been an unrelenting struggle for self-respect and safety. Now rare trust has blossomed for Chyna into friendship with the woman whose family home she is visiting for the weekend: a farm in the Napa Valley surrounded by vineyards and hills, which Chyna can see from the guest-room window where she sits at one o'clock in the morning, fully dressed, unable to sleep. Suspicions she learned in childhood still make her uneasy in unfamiliar houses--even this one, where her closest friend is sound asleep down the hall. And in this case her most disturbing instincts prove reliable. A man has entered the house, a man who lives for one purpose: to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse, or limits--to live with intensity.

His name is Edgler Foreman Vess. He likes to make words with the letters from his name--GOD, DEMON, SAVE, RAGE, ANGER, FEAR, FOREVER, are just a few of them--and then makes sentences with the words. One of his favorites, GOD FEARS ME, is sometimes the last thing he whispers to his victims. Edgler Vess is a self-proclaimed "homicidal adventurer": On this night, his adventure--murdering everyone in the house--becomes Chyna's long nightmare.

Trapped in Vess's deadly orbit, Chyna thinks only of getting out alive. But when she inadvertently learns the identity of Vess's intended next victim, waiting for him far from Napa Valley, Chyna is gripped with concern for this other person, who is as innocent as Chyna, and as endangered. Driven now by a sense of responsibility for another, by a purpose and meaning beyond mere self-preservation, Chyna rises to unexpected heights of courage and daring--her only hope as the threat of Edgler Foreman Vess closes in and grows more horrifying moment by moment.

Intensity unfolds over the course of just twenty-four hours, but within that brief time frame, Dean Koontz gives us what is perhaps his most inventive, emotionally intricate, and terrifyingly suspenseful novel yet.

4 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    This novel lives by it's name. It's a very intensive story that keeps you wanting to read more. I've read this book three times and it kept me on my toes each time.

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    Mindywindy29 said on Jan 24, 2008 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • It has been suggested many times over the years that I read a Dean Koontz book. Master of horror he is indeed. Intensity was scary. This book didn’t so much explore the psychology of the killer, but of the victim. The concept of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes your stronger’ is applicable to the main c ... (continue)

    It has been suggested many times over the years that I read a Dean Koontz book. Master of horror he is indeed. Intensity was scary. This book didn’t so much explore the psychology of the killer, but of the victim. The concept of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes your stronger’ is applicable to the main character Chyna Shepherd. The survival tactics learned as a child of an abusive mother were used to keep her alive and even fright back against the psychopath Edgler Foreman Vess.

    The story started off fast paced and continued to stay that way throughout the entire book. I think a lot of authors would have dragged some of the scenes out longer. And I thought just the opposite of the ending. Once the main characters survived death the book should have ended, and it would have been a great ending. Instead Koontz devoted several pages to making sure the book had a happy ending and so we could feel all warm and fuzzy inside after such a scary story. The ending was awful. The book has 12 chapters, I suggest you only read 11 of them.

    I would read another Koontz book, any suggestions?

    Read my review on my blog:
    http://ethosinterrupted.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/book-r…

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    Harmonyanne13 said on Jun 21, 2010 about the Audio CD edition | Add your feedback

  • Terrible!!!!

    This is possibly the worst book I have ever read! Reading is not what I did to this book...I scanned it to just get it over with from page 50. This is my first (and probably) last Koontz book if it is at all representative of his body of work. The story could have been decent but the writing was ... (continue)

    This is possibly the worst book I have ever read! Reading is not what I did to this book...I scanned it to just get it over with from page 50. This is my first (and probably) last Koontz book if it is at all representative of his body of work. The story could have been decent but the writing was undescribably aweful. Do not waste your time even scanning this!!!

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    Gdoggg said on Mar 20, 2009 | Add your feedback

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