7. Your Heart Belongs to Me

Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz


Pages: 337
Finished: Jan. 13, 2009
First Published: Nov., 2008
Genre: magical realism
Rating: 4/5

Reason for Reading: I received a copy form the publisher, Random House Canada.

First sentence:

Ryan Perry did not know that something in him was broken.

Comments: A young, thirty-something self-made millionaire, finds out that he has a heart disease and is given one year to live and put on the heart transplant list. He starts to become paranoid, wondering if someone has done this to him. Time goes by and he is finally found a donor but he is now having strange dreams and wonders what is real and what is not.

This is the first Koontz book I have read. I was under the impression he wrote horror books but this is nothing near a horror story. But instead it is a deep character study of a man and his brush with death and the slightly paranormal. This is also a story of redemption and finding your real inner self. I also found the theme quite religious, as a man slowly learns to hear God's voice so that he can in turn listen to it and react. The plot moves slowly through the first part of the book as we learn about the characters and their day-to-day lives. The action becomes faster in the second part and moves on to a page-turner ending. While I figured out the twist early on in the book I still found the unravelling and final climax a fascinating read. I've always wanted to read this author and this book makes me want to read him more. I'm interested to see how this compares to his horror stories.