Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz     560 pages

Bibi Blair think she's having a stroke at the young age of twenty-two.  When she gets to the hospital, she gets the bad news that she's dying from inoperable brain cancer.  However, two days later, she's cured.  But how?   Obsessed with the idea that her life has been spared so that she can save someone else named Ashley Bell, Bibi sets off on a journey unlike any other.   There are dark forces at work, fast in pursuit of Bibi, who has to untwist a long trail of mysteries to reach Ashley.

It's been a long time since I read a book by Dean Koontz, but this one has been getting a lot of good reviews.   And, when I saw an extra copy on the New Books shelf, I felt it was a sign.   I found the book to be quite good, and wound up whipping through it pretty quickly.  It's what I like to think of as dark psychological suspense, with a bit of a supernatural feel.  What I really enjoyed was that there is a big twist a little more than halfway through the book which makes you question some of what you just read, and wonder what is really happening in the story.  Personally, I like it when I'm not sure if I can trust a main character, so I was happy that there was this big twist.   I also liked the main character; she's fierce, but she has a sense of humor, and I liked her determination to face up to her fears, even when things seemed overwhelming.

So, a definite thumbs-up to this book (and I'll be looking forward to the next one from Koontz).