ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN（ISBN=） 英文原版

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.

Hailed as “America’s most popular suspense novelist”(Rolling
Stone) Dean Koontz has entered a rich new phase of his writing
career that is yielding his most imaginative, meaningful, and
popular work yet.

At the height of his powers as a literary craftsman, he has won the
acclaim of critics as well as the allegiance of millions of fans
the world over, transforming the greatest fears and hopes of our
time into masterworks of dazzling originality and emotional
resonance.

Now, with the stunning depth and virtuosity of his storytelling, he
brings to readers one of his most gripping and richly imagined
novels to date—an intoxicating story of adventure and suspense,
mystery and revelation, told with humor, heart, and high art.

He was born and raised in Pennsylvania where he graduated from
Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University). When he
was a senior in college, he won an Atlantic Monthly fiction
competition and have been writing ever since. His first job after
graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where he was
expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a
one-to-one basis. During his first day on the job, he discovered
that the previous occupier of his position had been beaten up by
the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the
hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with
challenge but also tension, and he was more highly motivated than
ever to build a career as a writer. he wrote nights and weekends,
which he continued to do after leaving the poverty program and
going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district
outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, his
wife, Gerda, made me an offer he couldn’t refuse: “he’ll support
you for five years,” she said, “and if you can’t make it as a
writer in that time, you’ll never make it.” By the end of those
five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of his
writing career. Gerda and he, along with our dog, Trixie, live in
southern California.

Dean 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.