A man on a mission must come to terms with his forgotten past in this gripping thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.In Portland, he saved a young boy from a drunk driver. In Boston, he rescued a child from an underground explosion. In Houston, he disarmed a man who was trying to shoot his own wife. Reporter Holly Thorne was intrigued by this strange quiet savior named … strange quiet savior named Jim Ironheart. She was even falling in love with him. But what power compelled an ordinary man to save twelve lives in three months? What visions haunted his dreams? And why did he whisper in his sleep: There is an Enemy. It is coming. It’ll kill us all…?
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Definitely one of my favorites.
This is one of my favorite Koontz books. Have read it several times over the years. It is definitely a keeper. My favorite scene is the school crossing and the speeding truck. You have got to read this book to find out how this plays out.
Dean Koontz creates great characters and imaginative stories.
A little over a decade ago, I went on a Dean Koontz reading binge. I read at least ten or eleven of his novels and I couldn’t get enough of them at that time. However, my reading tastes has changed quite a bit over the years and I really didn’t have a desire to go back re-read any of his books.
Well, I looked on my bookshelf a couple of weeks ago and saw I had a copy of Cold Fire. I must admit that Cold Fire is the one Koontz novel I have kept on my bookshelf since that reading binge. I don’t have a reason why I’ve kept that novel. But it was still there and I decided to give it a second reading.
Cold Fire is the story of Jim Ironheart, a mysterious man who has a supernatural ability to save random strangers from perilous life-altering events. As a result, Jim has become an unlikely superhero.
One of his missions to Portland, Oregon, he has a chance encounter with Holly Thorne. She’s a local reporter that was interviewing a teacher who recently published a book of poetry. Upon leaving the school, Holly sees Jim rescues a student from being hit by a truck. Jim treats the episode like a policeman or firefighter doing their job and Holly is taken by his modesty and self-effacing persona.
Afterwards, she decides to use her journalistic skills and track down this modern-day superhero. Holly’s investigation into his background leads her to travel to Southern California and ends up becoming a part one of his missions. By the end of that mission, Holly is convinced there is a lot more to discover about Ironheart.
Eventually, Holly persuades Jim to explore his past in order to find out about his supernatural ability and that’s where the painful memories of childhood, family abandonment, and the ability of books to create your own world comes into view. By the end of novel, Jim faces up to those issues and learns where his gift actually came from.
Koontz’s strengths as a page-turning storyteller were on full display in Cold Fire. He is a master at creating suspenseful scenes that makes you want to keep reading. Also, Koontz has the ability to combine science fiction, fantasy, suspense/thriller, horror, and even aspects of spirituality into a genre gumbo of best-selling commercial fiction. In this aspect, Koontz is similar to the musician, Sting. Both men in their respective fields have taken various genres like a master chef would for a meal and use the right ingredients from each genre to create popular art that is uniquely their own.
After reading it for the second time, Cold Fire holds up surprisingly well. It will be the one Koontz novel that remains on my bookshelf.
Master of horror Dean Koontz gives readers chills again with Cold Fire, a spellbinder that blazes with mystery, suspense, terror, imagination, romance, humor, heroism, and magical storytelling on every page! Reporter Holly Thorne is intrigued by the mystery of Jim Ironheart, a young man who always manages to somehow show up somewhere in America, on any given day of the year, just in time to save someone from catastrophe. Whether it’s preventing a woman from being shot to death or saving a boy from being hit by a truck or showing up just in time to prevent someone from dying in a plane crash, he always shows up right at the right moment to save someone’s life. Determined to find out why, Holly Thorne becomes determined to find a way to meet him. When she does, she makes a discovery that is too astonishing to be easily believed. Every person that Jim Ironheart saves is a total stranger! How he knows just where to be, at just exactly the right time, is because a voice speaks to him while he sleeps, telling him just who he needs to rescue the following day, where he needs to be, how to get there, and when. Why? He doesn’t know; the only thing that he’s aware of is that these specific individuals are the ones he needs to save and that it’s important that he try. At first, Holly has trouble believing his bizarre explanation… until strange, terrifying things start happening to her, eerie, life-threatening incidents that not only convince her that Jim is telling the truth, but also that something else is going on, something horrifying that threatens to destroy them both! Dean Koontz always knows how to tell a creepy, chilling, satisfying tale of suspense and horror that also showcases human beings’ capacity for goodness, love, and kindness and he does so again in this suspenseful, exciting story that will keep you on edge and entertained, even as it scares you out of your wits! Call this book a suspense story or a horror story, but one thing’s for certain: In this enjoyable, imaginative page-turner, master storyteller Dean Koontz pleases and entertains readers as only he can! Of the many books I have had the pleasure of reading by this fantastic author, Watchers is the only book I have read more than once. But, as many as his other fans have done, this exciting book proves why I could easily read any of them more than once! This book is a treasure!