Review : Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz

Title : Your Heart Belongs to Me Author : Dean Koontz Reading Dates : 11 Jun - 14 Jun 2011
From Amazon :
From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a riveting thriller that probes the deepest terrors of the human psyche—and the ineffable mystery of what truly makes us who we are. Here a brilliant young man finds himself fighting for his very existence in a battle that starts with the most frightening words of all… At thirty-four, Internet entrepreneur Ryan Perry seemed to have the world in his pocket—until the first troubling symptoms appeared out of nowhere. Within days, he’s diagnosed with incurable cardiomyopathy and finds himself on the waiting list for a heart transplant; it’s his only hope, and it’s dwindling fast. Ryan is about to lose it all…his health, his girlfriend Samantha, and his life. One year later, Ryan has never felt better. Business is good and he hopes to renew his relationship with Samantha. Then the unmarked gifts begin to appear—a box of Valentine candy hearts, a heart pendant. Most disturbing of all, a graphic heart surgery video and the chilling message: Your heart belongs to me. In a heartbeat, the medical miracle that gave Ryan a second chance at life is about to become a curse worse than death. For Ryan is being stalked by a mysterious woman who feels entitled to everything he has. She’s the spitting image of the twenty-six-year-old donor of the heart beating steadily in Ryan’s own chest. And she’s come to take it back.

Book Review of Your Heart Belongs to Me.
I can’t quite make up my mind whether I like or dislike Your Heart Belongs to Me. For almost two thirds of the tale, I was leaning towards dislike but the ending kinds of negates my reason for why I didn’t enjoy it. So, ….

First off, I’ll say that as far as the writing goes, I had no problems with it. The pacing was just right, the storytelling smooth, easily understandable and vividly evocative.

What gave me such a hard time at the start was the main character, Ryan. As the story went, my dislike for the main character just kept increasing. He carries out what seems to me rather extreme actions and behaves badly towards the woman he’s supposedly deeply in love with that I couldn’t help but wonder if everything was just his imagination. In fact, I thought he was his own worst enemy and was the cause of his own woes. Thinking that, I couldn’t help feeling that the story was rather pointless especially since there didn’t seem to be a link between Ryan’s nightmares and difficulties.

But then, the ending springs a surprise twist that makes what first appeared to be nonsense a wonderful smoke screen. And all at once, everything made perfect sense and obviously intentional on the author’s part.

With that ending, I definitely want to re-read the book again at some later point, if only to see whether the story makes more sense now that I know the conclusion. All in all, Your Heart Belongs to Me falls more into the category of books that challenge me rather than one I’d re-read again and again for the pleasure of it.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Maybe at least one more time.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series if there were one ? No, I don't believe so.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? No.
• Who would I recommend this too? Psychological and supernatural thriller fans.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Thriller fans might consider buying the book.

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