Sole Survivor: A Novel

Written by Dean Koontz

Narrated by Ryan Burke

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The plane crashed without warning. Three hundred and thirty people died. No explanation. No survivors. Now one man who lost everything that night is about to discover the answers he needs to go on with his life—or the conviction to finally end it.

Crime reporter Joe Carpenter lost his wife and two daughters in the crash of Flight 353. Aching from his loss, Joe is unable to work, think, or do anything but grieve, and wait for his own death. Then Joe meets Rose, a woman who claims to be the crash’s sole survivor. But before Joe can probe further, the elusive Rose slips away and Joe is left with haunting, terrifying questions: If Rose lived through the crash, is it possible his family could have survived it, too? Did the authorities conspire to hide what really happened that night? Joe’s search for the truth will shatter him like nothing has before—and force him to question everything he thinks he knows about life and death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543698800

Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz is the author of more than a dozen New York Times No. 1 bestsellers. His books have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, and his work is published in 38 languages. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and lives with his wife Gerda and their dog Anna in southern California.

Reviews for Sole Survivor

[Linda Pattison · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was not expecting the transitioning from reality and grieving to a religious bend at all.

[caytlain hewitt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So much better than the movie, but I say that a lot.

[Adrian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the book. Was some meaningless material on it but overall it was good

[Patt Mihailoff · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love Dean Koontz, he is a wonderful writer.
Unfortunately SOLE SURIVIOR I guess was just too scientifically deep for me. I get that he is going against his "horror" roots and now into the realm of super suspense, but this novel just took too long to get to where i surmised it was going. Then ending was a bit of a twist but I think I saw it coming.
I did get that Dean is always going to side with "HOPE" no matter what the future holds.

[Sue Tynan-Seydel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the book but a little disappointed in the “magic” theory. I loved the reader. He did such a great job on the voices.
This is the first book I’ve “read” from this author. Although I do enjoy his writing, I didn’t enjoy all of his metaphors. It was a bit much.

[Norbert Condoros · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting, and full of twists and mystery. I definitely recommand this one. The beginning is a little slow, but the mystery is there.

[worshipguy11 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Most chapters were incomplete. They would just jump to the next chapter in the middle of a sentence. Disappointed

[Erica McCarty · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Does not translate well to audio book format.
I LOVE Dean Koontz. I have read his books since I was 16 yrs old. I have read this one before. It is very good. ALL his books are good but not all can really be converted well to audio. We all know Koontz tenda to be wordy. Nothing wrong with that. It makes you truly able to envision the details but ...ch 9 is 27 min of a guy on a beach with elaborate descriptions of nothing important and next chapter he suddenly makes a mental connection on how to proceed. 27 minutes..which is about 24 too long.
I also have to note... Nike shoes are not sold at local discount stores. Neither Kmart or walmart. The fact the author doesn't know this is pretty concerning. The minute I read that line I wondered exactly how out of touch is Mr Koontz is at this stage of his notoriety.
I am afraid I am putting this one down. I feel like 9 chapters is more than enough to get further in the story and I honestly don't recall it being good ENOUGH to invest any more time.

[jhemlock-1711 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a bad book by any means. Koontz is good at what he does. I admit I was spoiled after reading From the Corner of His Eye. Nothing he has done touches that story. This one is pretty good. I knew there would be some kind of scientific or unnatural twist to this and I should have seen it coming.

[Kevin Moran · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another intensely satisfying novel by
Mr.Koontz full of euphoria compassion love adoration and an intensity to keep you riveted to every word. The narrator portrays and conveys the emotions of each character so well that you can't help but be in their shoes. A wonderful book.

[Kathi Scribner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved every part of this book all the way though. Every part was detailed so in depth I felt like I was actually there seeing it all.

[gmomaj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite Dean Koontz books. Koontz is not just a horror writer, many of his books leave you with lots to ponder and even hope wish is so needed in our current world. The plane crashed without warning. Three hundred and thirty people died. No explanation. No survivors. Now one man who lost everything that night is about to discover the answers he needs to go on with his life - or the conviction to finally end it.Crime reporter Joe Carpenter lost his wife and two daughters in the crash of Flight 353. Aching from his loss, Joe is unable to work, think, or do anything but grieve, and wait for his own death. Then Joe meets Rose, a woman who claims to be the crash’s sole survivor. But before Joe can probe further, the elusive Rose slips away and Joe is left with haunting, terrifying questions: If Rose lived through the crash, is it possible his family could have survived it, too? Did the authorities conspire to hide what really happened that night? Joe’s search for the truth will shatter him like nothing has before - and force him to question everything he thinks he knows about life and death.

[toddhanley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm steadily working my way through Dean Koontz's collection and as his books go, Soul survivor is pretty average. Don't get me wrong, Koontz's average writing is far better than most other authors best work and you will enjoy this book but he has done better. 77 shadow street for me, is the standard that I judge his other works by.There are some good plot twists but the story just didn't grab me. To be honest I was rooting for the lake creature.

[joe73-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a bad book by any means. Koontz is good at what he does. I admit I was spoiled after reading From the Corner of His Eye. Nothing he has done touches that story. This one is pretty good. I knew there would be some kind of scientific or unnatural twist to this and I should have seen it coming.

[sheiladeeth_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The plot begins with character—a man deeply depressed by the loss of his family; a sole survivor who would rather prefer not to survive. He watches the waves; and the reader, swiftly drawn in, watches with him. Then things change. Soon, Dean Koonz’s Sole Survivor is a fast-flowing tale of danger and mystery. There may be another “sole survivor” out there, and Joe is chased by strangers with complex technological resources and apparent immunity to use them. With his own life in danger, he’s desperate to learn what really happened on the flight that killed his family.Sole Survivor starts slow, speeds up, and pulls the reader along with fascinating questions and mystery. Through twists and turns of plausible solutions that fast become implausible, the author brings readers to that ultimate question—how on earth can the story end?Fitting and resolving the plot perfectly, the author does end the tale, with mysteries of life beyond life entwining together with mysteries of terrifying death. If I’m oddly unsatisfied at the resolution, that probably says more about me than the book, and I really enjoyed the read.Disclosure: I had just flown. How could I resist?

[tonifgmamtc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow that was a freaky read! I was mega nervous for most of it, and I didn't see many of the turns coming.

[buffalogr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You never know what direction Koontz' books are going. This novel had action, suspense, paranormal activity and meaning of life themes. There were some really bad guys as well as some sweet little girls. The book could have been shorter as our hero flits around trying to solve the mystery while driving unknown freeways in Southern California and flying off to Colorado. It was suspenseful and I did not feel the urge to skip the middle third to find the end, like licking the oreo center first. The ending was a surprise...it was enjoyable that way.

[isabelx_21 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Joe had never met Horton Nellor, who had become something of a recluse over the years. He'd seen photographs, of course. The billionaire, now in his late sixties, was silver-haired and round-faced, with pleasing if somewhat blurred features. He looked like a muffin on which, with icing, a baker had painted a grandfather face.He did not appear to be a killer. He was known as a generous philanthropist. His reputation was not that of a man who would hire assassins or condone murder in the maintenance or expansion of his empire.Human beings, however, were different from apples and oranges: The flavor of the peel did not reliably predict the taste of the pulp.What starts off as a conspiracy thriller about why the aeroplane carrying Joe Carpenter's wife and daughters crashed and whether the woman called Rose could really have survived the plane disintegrating on impact, but ends up somewhere completely different. I'm afraid I couldn't suspend my disbelief over what what was really going on and started to get a bit bored in the last quarter of the book.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Better than the last couple of Koontz' books that I read. He never quite seems to know whether he wants to write science fiction, the supernatural or just plain evil. You never know what direction he's going to go, but the problem is that you get the sense that he doesn't know either. But, with that said, this was a pretty good one. It kept my interest though the premise seemed to unravel somewhat toward the end.

[gatorhater · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very intriguing novel, it begins when Joe Carpenter viists the gravestones of his wife and two young girls on the first anniversity of their death, when they were suddenly killed when a Nationwide Flight #353, 747 jumbo jet crashed in Colorado on its way to LAX. While at the cemetery he notices a female taking pictures of their gravestones and was later is informed that their was a sole survivor of the crash and the events send this novel to a mind opening story. One of the best novels that I've read recently, Sole Survivor II ?

[marksouza · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sole Survivor was the first Dean Koontz novel I'd ever read. If only they were all this good. I was in working in Germany at the time and found it on a desk I was using temporarily. I had a lot of down time so I started reading. I was quickly sucked in. I got very little sleep from the time I started till I finally finished a few days later. It didn't hurt that the story was set in my home town of Seattle.The story starts with a reporter unable to cope with the deaths of his wife and daughter in an airplane crash. When he meets a mysterious woman at their graves who hints that his daughter isn't dead, the story takes off like roller coaster careening down the big hill. By the end, even the finality of death is challenged. It's an engrossing read without a single weak moment.

[chromiumdomium · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After not enjoying "The Taking" so much, I was a bit unsure about committing to another DK novel. I have to say that I'm glad I did. I found the plot quite intriguing and thought the main characters were developed very well. I found it very easy to read and it's one of the more rivetting books that I've read recently. I like the way the author has threaded the plot of this story through the eyes of the main character, with whom I found it very easy to empathise. The narrative is quite pacey and leads the reader from one plot twist to another at a rate that never allows you to lose concentration.

[mckait · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loneliness is possibly more debilitating than many physical illnesses. Joe Carpenter is lonely. More, he is broken. His wife and his daughtersdied in a tragic and unexplained plane crash. He pain was so all encompassing,all he could do was to try to draw away from it. That never really works, as lonlinessand pain can find you anywhere. They are insidious. One day while visiting the graves of his family, he met a lovely womanwho was taking photographs of the grave site. He had never seen her before,but was impressed by her presence, as well as her strange beauty. Thischance meeting would change his life. The appearance of this woman in the lives of the families of others who died that day would affect them as well. Tragically. This is a story that has more than one hero, and more than one villain. It is fast paced and it has a great ending, which sells a book for me any time. recommended for those who like a thriller with heart.

[jayne_charles_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A superb book! Sadness, mystery, tension, and a really good ending.

[heptonj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though Mr Koontz is now writing very different to when he began. I like both the 'edge of the seat' scares and the philosophical thrillers in equal measure. This one is about a survivor from a plane crash who has discovered the truth about mankinds most pressing question. The story takes you through the crash, the emergence of the survivor and the tense chase that follows by people who want the survivor dead for their own reasons. A gripping story that shows both the lightness and the darkness of the human condition.

[anniehidalgo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Koontz and I have been slowly parting ways over the years, and for me this book details, in large part, why that is. I started to read him because I'm drawn to a good scare, and his earlier books provided that. I suppose they have the literary appeal of Saw (which I actually find awful, and completely non-appealing - no accounting for tastes, I guess - I'd much rather imagine the worst than see it.). But in the early days, Koontz was creative, both psychologically and in his unusual plots. He seems to have traded that for a sort of cheap Christian sentimentality. The Koontz of Night Chills is not the Koontz of Sole Survivor. That's undoubtedly a good thing for him personally. But it makes for a less than exciting literary ride. Stephen King seemed to have this trouble too, a few years ago, but eventually found his groove again - calmer, more optimistic, but no less exciting. I hope Koontz can do the same.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was in a bit of reading rut where I couldn't seem to get interested in any book I picked up, so I decided maybe a light read was what I needed. It's typical Koontz: Random Dude gets caught up in Serious Events, gets chased by Bad Guys, and learns of some Devious Plot which is actually a weird blend of spirtuality and questionable science. Koontz is like a chain restaurant: a decent menu of reliably tasty dishes, but not very adventurous and always the same. Just what I needed.

[teresawoolvett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This thrilling story keeps the reader engaged as Joe Carpenter realizes the depths of what he is getting involved with go beyond anything humanity has ever experienced. Readers will be kept on edge as Dean Koontz develops this story at an incredibly high-speed pace. New information is revealed at each turn as this story unfolds. Each of Joe’s decisions involves a high level of jeopardy not only for himself but also for those who he meets in this thriller. The premise of this story is captivating as it examines the moral implications of scientific experiments on human life and the corporate financial benefits that may occur. I found this book to be very compelling and at the same time contained startling insight into the human condition as it deals with death and power.

[harpua_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this one. Quick pace and keeps the page turning. I hadn’t figured out what was going on until the very end. Well worth the read. This is one of Koontz’s shorter novels so if you feel the need for a quick read, this one will fill the bill. Recommend.

[blazingice0608 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not one of my favorate Koontz books, probably one of my least favorates actually. It just didnt keep me gripped like most of his novels do, kind of had to trudge through it. However, it had a very mysterious aspect to it, kept you guessing, which was great. Another nice part about this book was that the main character is very well developed, you really get to feel his journey through his grief of the loss of his family. The end has a pretty unexpected plot twist as well, so dont get me wrong here, this was a good book, as are basically all Koontz books, just one of his "not as good" great books if that makes any sense.