Intensity by Dean Koontz

(Spoilers Ahead)

Intensity by Dean Koontz was originally published on Halloween in the year 2000.  I have been a Koontz fan for years and I have been reading horror books for years.  Somehow, I completely missed this book.  It showed up last October in one of those "best horror" book lists that are so popular that time of year.  I added it to my to-read list then and just got around to reading it.

I actually jumped between listening to the audio book and reading the physical book.  I probably listened to about 80% but when it came down to the last 50 pages or so, I had to pick up the book because the audio was just not going to be fast enough to get through the tension.

The story lives up to its name - it is so INTENSE.  The book opens with us meeting the main character Chyna Shepard.  She is on her way to spend the weekend at a friend's parents house.  We learn early in that Chyna had a very dysfunctional childhood with a mother who put her in a lot of dangerous situations with very unsavory men.  As a child, she resorted to a very abbreviated prayer that she would repeat like her own personal mantra when she was in bad situation "Chyna Shepard, Untouched and Alive."  This was her way of asking God to get her through the situation in just that manner - untouched and alive.  Up until this point, she has managed to achieve that despite several really disturbing situations along the way.

Within 50 pages of the book beginning, we find Chyna in her friend's parents home when suddenly she hears screams.  Because of her childhood, she doesn't do what a lot of people might - which is run towards the screams to see what happened.  Instead she sits back and listens.  Once she realizes that there is something seriously bad happening, and that an intruder is in the house, she hides.

The tension is UNREAL. The story that she describes about the palmetto cockroach from her childhood definitely gave me nightmares.  In this house, this madman murders her friend and her friend's entire family.  But initially, her friend is not dead but has been sexually assaulted. Chyna sees the madman carry her friend out into his motor home that he arrived in and she sneaks into it to try to save her.  Once she is in the motor home, she finds that her friend is actually dead but by that point she is trapped in the motor home as it starts its way down northern California highways.

It just gets crazier from there.  When he stops at a gas station to fill up the RV, she manages to slip out of the RV without being seen.  But of course she doesn't just get away and call the cops.  That would have been a short book.  While she is hiding in the gas station, she hears this madman taunting the two guys working at the station with a picture of a young girl that he is telling them he keeps locked in his cellar as he waits for her to be "ready."  He then proceeds to kill the gas station attendants and Chyna goes on a mission to follow him back to his home and save the girl.

(I never said this was realistic!)

Skipping ahead... Chyna ends up BACK in the RV hiding.  But this madman isn't easily fooled and he knows she's there all along.  When they arrive at his house, he ultimately captures Chyna. But then he has to leave to work (because he's actually a "normal" guy by day).  While he is gone, Chyna gets out of her chains, breaks out Ariel (the girl in the cellar), escapes some dobermans trained to kill and takes off in the RV on the road to escape.

On the road, she sees a cop passing her and flashes her lights and honks her horn to get the cop to stop.  The cop stops, she gets out the RV and is running toward the cop when she realizes....

You guessed it...

The madman is the COP!! The Sheriff!!

A Battle Royale ensues in the streets.  Gunfire, ramming of vehicles, and ultimately the madman engulfed in flames! Chyna and Ariel escape!  I take a deep breath for the first time in probably 30 minutes of furiously reading.

Mr. Koontz was nice enough to give you some after story.  In about an additional four or five pages, he wraps the story up nicely and gives you some idea of what the women's futures will be.

In some parts, especially in the sections told from the point of view of the madman, he is a little wordy.  He is obviously crazy (the madman, probably not Koontz. Maybe not.).  Maybe its just that the inner thoughts of a madman are more than I want to know.  So I skimmed more when I was reading those sections.

Overall, great book. Not for the faint of heart.  Definitely had me looking over my shoulder while listening to the audio on a walk with my dog.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐