List $39.95Written by Dean R. Koontz - Performed by Stephen Lang - Unabridged Fiction - 12 CASSETTES - 21.5 hours
Publisher, Bantam Doubleday Dell (December 1999)
Martie Rhodes is a young wife (happily married to Dustin for three years), a video game designer, and a compassionate woman who takes her agoraphobic friend Carol to therapy sessions. Carol is so afraid of leaving her apartment that the trips are grim ordeals for both women--but bonding experiences as well.
Then one morning Martie experiences a sudden fear of her own, a brief but disquieting terror of...her shadow. The episode is over so quickly it leaves her shaken, but amused. Then, as she is about to check her makeup, she realizes she is terrified to look in the mirror and confront her own face.
As the episodes of this traumatic condition --autophobia-- build, the lives of Martie and her husband change drastically. Frantic to discover the trigger for her descent into hell, Dustin begins to look into the background of a respected therapist. As he comes closer to the truth about this strange and troubled "healer," Dustin finds himself afflicted with a condition even more bizarre and terrifying than Martie's.
No fan of psychological suspense will want to miss this extraordinary novel of the human mind's capacity to torment...and destroy.
About the Author: When he was a senior in college, Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and has been writing ever since. His books are published in 38 languages, a figure that currently increases by more than 17 million copies per year.
Ten of his novels have risen to number one on The New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor and The Husband), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Thirteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden.
The New York Times has called his writing "psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying." New Orleans Times-Picayune said Koontz is, "at times lyrical without ever being naive or romantic. [He creates] a grotesque world, much like that of Flannery O'Conner or Walker Percy ... scary, worthwhile reading." Rolling Stone has hailed him as "America's most popular suspense novelist."
Dean Koontz was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University), and 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. 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 Koontz 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 him an offer he couldn't refuse: "I'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 her husband's writing career.
Dean and Gerda Koontz along with their dog, Trixie, live in southern California.
About the Performer: J. Stephen Lang is the author of more than ten other books about the Bible, including the bestselling The Complete Book of Bible Trivia. He is a regular contributor to Moody, Discipleship Journal, Christian History, and other periodicals. He lives in Seminole, Florida.
