It was the description from the New York Times, when this book debuted in the summer of 2005 that made me want to read it. But, I didn't want to spend $30 on a hard cover so I waited a year to buy the paperback. I really I enjoyed it. However, I thought the beginning was kind of slow; maybe it just wasn't as fast paced as I was expecting it to be. But, it definately picked up about half way through and made up for the lagging nature of the first half. Even though I've never read any other Dean Koontz novels, so I'm not completely familiar with his style of writing, I thought the ending was somewhat predictable (especially if you're keen to pick up the foreshadowing thoughout the entire novel.) All in all, it was a good read-suspenseful, intriguing, and well written.