Ryan Perry, at 34, is a young man – hardly of an age to be on a waiting list, nervously hoping for a heart transplant. Luck appears to be with him: he is the recipient of a new heart, and (fortunately) the transplant takes, triumphantly.

But a year passes, and Ryan begins to receive gifts in the shape of hearts, sent anonymously. A feeling of paranoia sets in – and this feeling is exacerbated when a large amount of money vanishes from his bank account – it has been donated to a local hospital’s cardiology department.

Needless to say, all of this is a prelude to something truly horrific: everything he owns – including his new heart – is to be torn from him, and he is informed he will die a grisly death. Who is Ryan’s tormentor?

What I Thought: Dean Koontz needs to take a holiday. I could count the number of well-written, tension-enhancing pages on my fingers. The angst suffered by Ryan in the first half of the book and the denoument seem to come from different stories entirely and, though the denoument is gripping, and even makes sense, I really would not recommend this to anyone but a die-hard fan. And even they will be disappointed.