Book Review of 'Ashley Bell' by Dean Koontz

 

Plot Synopsis

Bibi Blair, a funny, clever and fierce young woman – a writer by trade – is a girl who said 'no' to death.  When her doctor told her she had one year to live, Bibi replied “We'll see!”

And, suddenly, she is completely free of the rare, and fatal, brain cancer she has been diagnosed with. Bibi astounds medical science.

After returning home from the hospital, Bibi meets a mysterious woman who convinces her that she escaped death so she can save someone else; someone named Ashley Bell. 

Who is Ashley Bell, where is she, and why does Bibi Blair have to find ~ and save ~ her?

Bibi now finds herself on the run from threats that are both mystical and ordinary. It all appears to stem from a rich and very strange cult leader who has terrifying ambitions. One of his aims is to kill Ashley Bell. 

Summary

Bibi Blair is a delightful character whose story is told in sections. There is the present time when she is 22, on the verge of becoming a successful writer, and engaged to Pax, a Navy Seal, plus her friendship with her childhood surfing friend, Pogo. And there is the past when she is first 6-years-old, and we learn all about her special friendship with The Captain, who rents the garage apartment at her parent's home. And later at age 10 when 'Olaf' the Golden Retriever suddenly appears one afternoon and becomes Bibi's faithful companion. 

Bibi also has been writing stories since she was a child and this fact becomes very important as the plot unfolds. The story flips back and forth between 'young' Bibi and present-day Bibi. 

This is a fast-paced story with a fascinating heroine who has a good heart and a troubling gift we learn about in a twisting plot filled with many surprises. A suspenseful thriller with a mystery to solve.

Ashley Bell was published in 2015 (and somehow missed by me until now). It is listed by Amazon as Book 1 of 1 in the Ashley Bell series. I just discovered that Koontz also wrote a Trilogy entitled Darkest Desires: The Makani Trilogy, which leads into the Ashley Bell series. Darkest Desires is available in Audible Book form. 

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Links to other Reviews of books by Dean Koontz:

• Elsewhere
• Devoted
• Quicksilver
• The Big Dark Sky

*Book Review of Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz written by Wednesday Elf. 

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz – Book Review

Dean Koontz is a master storyteller. His fiction journey began when he was a senior in college and won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition. Since then, he has never stopped writing.

Koontz latest book published in 2022, The Big Dark Sky, is all we have come to expect from this master of suspense.

Synopsis

Image by Daniel Burkett  from Pixabay 

The setting is Montana where, as a girl, Joanna Chase lived on a ranch until tragedy changed her life. At age 9, after both parents die, Joanna goes to live with an aunt in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Now it is twenty-five years later. Joanna is a writer still living in Santa Fe. She has only vague memories of the past until she begins to receive pleas – by phone, through her TV, in her dreams.

I am in a dark place, Jojo. Please come and help me.

Unable to ignore these desperate pleas, Joanna is compelled to return to Montana.  Unknown to her until she arrives back at Rustling Willows Ranch, other people, including a scientist, a boy from Joanna's childhood, a private investigator and a computer expert, have also been drawn to this isolated area in Montana, haunted by a sense of imminent danger.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of this remote ranch, a madman lurks with a disturbing vision which tells him that mass murder is the only way to save the future. 

Summary

Available on Amazon

The synchronicity of coincidences brings together this band of strangers under Montana's big dark sky. Will they be able to defeat the threat that could spell the end for humanity? 

The Big Dark Sky is listed as a #1 Bestseller in Amazon's Science Fiction Adventures~

More Reviews of Books by Dean Koontz:

• Elsewhere
• Devoted
• Quicksilver
• For More Book Reviews by the writers on Review This Reviews, click on ReviewThisBooks.com

*The Big Dark Sky – Book Review by Wednesday Elf

  

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Quicksilver by Dean Koontz

 

A Book Review

Synopsis

Shortly after dawn, on a lonely highway outside the tiny town of Peptoe, Arizona, three men on their way to work discover an abandoned infant nestled in a white bassinet.  Except for the blue blanket which wrapped the baby, the only other item with him is a note with the name “Quinn Quicksilver”, and his date of birth. The men turn the 3-day-old baby over to the police who place him in a Catholic orphanage in Phoenix. 

For whatever reason, the baby is never placed and grows up – mainly happily – in the orphanage. As he nears his 18th birthday, typically the time orphans must leave the home, the kind Sisters locate a job for him as a writer/researcher at a locally published magazine.

Though unexceptional, Quinn was happy with his life until the day of strange magnetism which compelled him to drive out into the middle of nowhere. Then it helped him find a valuable coin. Shortly thereafter, this strange magnetism helped save his life when two government agents began to pursue him for an unknown reason.

During a shoot-out at a desolate former dude ranch, Quinn finally meets his destined traveling companions – the beautiful Bridgett and her grandfather Sparky.

The trio discover they are all compelled by the same strange magnetism.  As they travel together through the Arizona Sonoran Desert, they are drawn toward something sinister and an enemy they must defeat.  Although we are looking at just two 19-year-olds and a grandfather, they discover resources within themselves they did not know they possessed.

Summary

Quick Silver by Dean Koontz

Once again, Dean Koontz takes us on a combination Sci-Fi and Mystery adventure that keeps up the suspense until the very end. 

Quicksilver, just published in 2022, is the newest novel by award-winning author Dean Koontz.

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check out ReviewThisBooks.com

Quicksilver book review written by Wednesday Elf

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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