One boy with the power to save the world. One man with the will to destroy it.
A lab that was set-up for cancer research burns down. People start to wonder what secrets this place really held. An employee of the lab escapes who knows all too well what's in store, leaving his fellow workers still in the building, to their fate. He finds that is "changing".... he believes, for the better. He becomes determined to make the woman that broke-up him many years ago, his again or he says that "she will suffer the consequences" if she continues to reject him. He leaves a crime spree everywhere he travels to reach her. There are murders, cannibalism, and death in his wake...everywhere he travels. Every day he grows stronger and gets new abilities. We now have to really wonder just what were they really up to in that facility? We can be sure the answer is certainly not good. Then, as with nearly all Dean Koontz books, there is a beautiful dog...Kipp. Kipp isn't just "any old dog", he's a "super special" dog! His owner knew that from the day she got him. He could answer her question with nods or shakes of his head. She obtained a devise that allowed him to point to letters of the alphabet to answer question more difficult than with a simple nod or head shake. To say that Kipp is a special dog with special abilities.... would be the understatement of the century. Kipp isn't alone with his abilities.... there are more like him throughout the world, and they are all connected...they all have the ability to communicate with one another. They call themselves "The Mysterium". Kipps current master is dying from cancer, so it's time for Kipp to find this special boy once his master is gone. The boy is in danger, so Kipp begins his adventure. Kip's "boy" has never spoken and often goes into his own world to cope with everything that's happening around him. He's eons beyond merely intelligent and very adapt at the skill of hacking. His father has died, and he is convinced that his father's death was not an accident. In his search to find answers he is tracked by someone in the "dark web" who wants to harm him. He wonders if this person had something to do with his father's death. Woody thinks that his mother is also in danger from a deranged ex who seems to be becoming something other than human, Kipp finds Woody and talks to him by telepathy. Help has arrived at last. It's not the best, or my favorite book this author has ever written, but there is lots of action, and lots of strange events, to keep the pages and the story moving... and you HAVE TO LOVE THE DOG!! ( )

February 5, 2024
I'm not a huge fan of Popular Fiction. It has a place in the world to be sure, but I was always more drawn to the classics, and the current class of heavy hitters. Dean Koontz can be considered a Popular Fiction author, but in reality, he is so much more; he raises the genre to new levels, and his books always contain some mystical shiznit. He is also extremely prolific, as it seems that he is publishing a new work every 3 or so months. But these aren't the works of a hack. Each book or series that Koontz has developed is extremely crafty. As for "Devoted", he continues this trend. Like a lot of his stories, there's something always coming from left field. In this case, it's a dog with a genius level IQ that understands human language, actually, he is part of a growing cadre of these ultra intelligent dogs that are all over the world. The star of the story, a young boy of 11 who had been diagnosed to be a nonverbal autistic, turns out to be the only person, thus far, that is actually able to hear the dog telepathically speak. The kid winds up speaking when the whole family is subject to hitmen and other assorted hurt mongers. Listen, this story goes all over the place; it really blew me away, and as with a lot of Koontz's stories, the ending is always worth the wait. I would read this if I were you.

Read more of my review on my blog The Thugbrarian Review
https://wordpress.com/post/thugbrarianreview.com ( )

Disclaimer - I love dogs, and that is one of the reasons that I'm a Dean Koontz fan.
This book is amazing - a story about a boy and his dog, about evolution, both man-made and natural.


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I love Koontz but this was too much telepathy and golden retriever. ( )

Woo Hoo! Another fabulous read from Dean Koontz that shows his love for dogs, especially Golden Retrievers.

There is so much going on in Devoted that I frantically turned the pages, worried for the new friends I have made. Dean Koontz is a master storyteller and I was so engrossed in the story I read until the wee hours of the morning, having to know who and how many will die. He takes a story that I think could be predictable and twists and turns it, leaving my head spinning.

I love that he gave an autistic character, Woody is an eleven year old child whose father died and makes him and his mother a _target of more than the evil villains trying to hide what they have done, the starring role.

His ability to make the dogs in his stories seem human gives me so many good feelings and he takes them to a level that I don’t think I could ever dream up myself.

I highly recommend Devoted by Dean Koontz.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com ( )