QUICKSILVER is the latest thriller from bestselling author Dean Koontz. The title character is an orphan boy raised by nuns, who before hitting 20 years old is working as a writer in a tourist magazine. However, that life ends abruptly when a government agency shows up wanting to take him away. After narrowly escaping with the help of some friends, he drives—or rather crashes—into another agency team that has been holding a woman by the name of Bridget Rainking and her grandfather. Now the three are running for their lives while trying to discern their purpose in the world.

The original idea for the novel can be summed up in an image: A baby in a white bassinette, abandoned in the middle of a lonely desert highway, with his name pinned to his blanket.

The full article is available in the February edition of The Big Thrill

A huge thank you to Amazon Publishing and Thomas & Mercer for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

All quotes are taken from Quicksilver by Dean Koontz.

// Content warning: violence (guns), abandonment, death, slavery, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of sex //

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// Quick Statistics //
Overall: 5/5 Stars
Plot: 5/5 Stars
Setting: 5/5 Stars
Characters: 5/5 Stars
Writing: 5/5 Stars
Memorability: 5/5 Stars

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// Quick Review //
From start to finish, Quicksilver is unpredictable. Full of lovable characters, constant peril, and a plethora of mystery, Koontz’s newest novel is dark, addictive, and thrilling. With every novel released, Dean Koontz proves that he is a master of storytelling. Quicksilver is the latest in a line of masterpieces. Mysterious from the start, Quicksilver sucked me in and didn’t spit me out until I had been thoroughly ingrained in the world of Quinn Quicksilver.

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“My understanding of the true nature of the world was undergoing a seismic shift. Or was I merely shedding adult illusions for the fantastic truth that every child knows? In spite of one bizarre turn of events after another, in spite of all my rushing around and my reckless surrender to the pull of mysterious forces, I sensed that I wasn’t falling away into a new reality. Instead, I felt as though I might be coming home to the world I knew a long time ago, where monsters lurking in the closet weren’t always imaginary, where a desperate but secret war was being waged by two armies in disguise, where victory had nothing to do with conquering territory, where the battlefield was the human heart, the spoils of war the human soul.”

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// Other Information //
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Page Count: 366 pages
Release Date: January 25, 2022
Series: None
Genre: Fiction, Adult, Horror, Thriller, Suspense

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// Book Description (via Goodreads) //
#1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz takes a surprising and exhilarating road trip with a man in pursuit of his strange past—mile by frightening mile.

Quinn Quicksilver was born a mystery—abandoned at three days old on a desert highway in Arizona. Raised in an orphanage, never knowing his parents, Quinn had a happy if unexceptional life. Until the day of “strange magnetism.” It compelled him to drive out to the middle of nowhere. It helped him find a coin worth a lot of money. And it practically saved his life when two government agents showed up in the diner in pursuit of him. Now Quinn is on the run from those agents and who knows what else, fleeing for his life.

During a shoot-out at a forlorn dude ranch, he finally meets his destined companions: Bridget Rainking, a beauty as gifted in foresight as she is with firearms, and her grandpa Sparky, a romance novelist with an unusual past. Bridget knows what it’s like to be Quinn. She’s hunted, too. The only way to stay alive is to keep moving.

Barreling through the Sonoran Desert, the formidable trio is impelled by that same inexplicable magnetism toward the inevitable. With every deeply disturbing mile, something sinister is in the rearview—an enemy that is more than a match for Quinn. Even as he discovers within himself resources that are every bit as scary.

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// Characters //
Quinn Quicksilver is a 19 year old living in Phoenix while working for Arizona! magazine. He was raised by nuns at Mater Misericordiæ after being abandoned at three days old and found by three men outside of Peptoe, Arizona. From the beginning, Quinn is a humble, curious, and utterly oblivious young man thrown into perilous situations. Quinn discovers that he possesses powers such as psychic magnetism, a force that guides him in situations and essentially gives him the ability to sense incoming dangers, obstacles, etc. While reading Quicksilver I was struck by how similar Quinn is to my best friend. It amused me how similar they were in their humor and character. Besides this, I related to the manner in which Quinn reacted in the situations he was presented with. I, too, would be terrified and unaware of how to react when faced with extraterrestrial creatures called Screamers because of their ghastly appearance. What I admire most about how Quinn was written is how he changes over the novel. Over the course of the story, he evolves to adapt to his environment, becoming brave, selfless, and full of purpose. This character growth is slow and well done. The reader first sees Quinn evade the ISA while eating breakfast, then he manages to defeat aliens, and eventually he is able to overcome long-lasting issues from his childhood, even facing characters who he once considered family.

Bridget Rainking, the granddaughter of Sparky Rainking, is a fiery and headstrong young woman who also possesses powers like Quinn. One of her powers is intuition which alerts her to the existence of Quinn even before they meet. Bridget is prepared for her true love (Quinn) to come waltzing through the door… and he does! Bridget is one of those characters that holds the rest of the characters together in conflicts and times of danger. She also is the character that takes poor Winston the dog under her wing while stealing money from a gang.

Sparky Rainking, my favorite character because of his humor, is a romance novelist under the title of Daphne Larkrise. Besides writing novels, he is the best grandpa someone could ask for. The witty remarks he makes at the worst of times really keep this novel from slipping into a dark place from which there is no return. I cannot gush enough over Sparky.

I should also introduce Panthea Ching, an artist living in the middle of Arizona that also possesses powers. However, hers are quite different from Quinn’s and Bridget’s; Panthea can tell the future through visions.

The interactions and conversations between the characters, especially between Quinn and Bridget, are entertaining and wonderfully written. All of Koontz’s characters are written with depth, liveliness, and humanity. None of the characters are perfect people, which makes them realistic.

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“I have always been an optimist, because pessimists seldom have any fun and usually fret their way into one of the horrible fates they spend their lives worrying about… the optimist, unlike the pessimist, believes that life has meaning, that there is something to learn from every adversity, and even that the absurdity of such an excess of misfortune will likely seem at least somewhat amusing after enough time has passed.”

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// Writing and Setting //
There is not a moment in this novel that I felt dragged along or was unnecessary. Every chapter is action-packed and anxiety-inducing. Overall the novel is fast-paced until the end. I resisted sleep while thinking about this novel and where the plot could go or what I could discover about this twisted world Koontz created—a world that is a direct reflection of our own. Once again, Koontz’s writing examines the faults and brilliance of humanity through the journey of lovable characters. In both our world and Quicksilver's, the power-hungry climb social and economic ladders by tearing down others. In both worlds, humans have the choice to make good or bad decisions, sometimes ones that affect others. Quinn navigates his world of good and evil by trying to understand the nature of humanity.

I really enjoyed how Quinn’s past deeply influences and reflects his present. At the end of every section, young Quinn lives through tragic and traumatic events while at the orphanage. A nun at the orphanage, Sister Theresa, attempts to help Quinn understand how and why people do bad things. While he doesn’t get it at first, the parallels between young and old Quinn help one understand why Quinn is the way he is.

The world-building of Quicksilver is one of my favorite parts of the novel. In this modern and dark world, Screamers/Nephilim are disguised alien-type monsters who have invaded Earth and caused destruction. There are ‘unique’ people who have genes that are not human. Two of these people are Bridget and Quinn. As it is later explained when they eventually reach Peptoe, there are two universes. The first was reduced to dust by Screamers who crave destruction, pain, and death. The Screamers invade the second universe (our universe) to cause more pain, which they feed upon. Bridget and Quinn were born to protect the second universe from this threat with their variety of superpowers.

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// Plot //
Beginning with a magnetic pull towards an abandoned crossroads to the feeling of coming danger, Quinn is experiencing what many would call insanity and paranoia. But when men in suits rudely interrupt his meal at Beane’s Diner, Quinn realizes that his life will never be the same. It is while on the run from the ISA (Internal Security Agency) that Quinn is pulled towards Sweetwater Flying F Ranch where he meets Bridget and Sparky Rainking.

Quinn wants to discover why the ISA is after him. He plans to do so by talking to the three men that found him outside of Peptoe as a baby. Since all three are on the run from the ISA, they decide that sticking together would be the best option. It is revealed that both Bridget and Quinn are parentless/adopted, and both are using DNA tests to discover who their parents were. Through this process, the ISA becomes alerted to the non-human genes that Bridget and Quinn possess, which is why the ISA is so desperate to contain them. Racing through the Arizona desert, the trio (and Winston) are sidetracked by the ISA, which is hot on their trail. Through this interruption of their plan they meet Panthea, who reveals to them their purpose in the world and time.

Quinn, Bridget, Panthea, and Sparky must face a variety of monsters, both human and alien, to fulfill the purpose for which they were brought into the world: keep the evil from growing stronger and destroying everything. Along the way they grow closer and become their own dysfunctional and nomadic family.

One of my favorite scenes is during the second half of the novel, where Quinn, Bridget, Panthea, Sparky, and Quinn are racing through the desert in an attempt to leave Peptoe without alerting the ISA. This proves difficult when rain and darkness fall… and the persistent ISA sends two dangerously equipped vehicles racing after them. Through Bridget’s excellent driving skills and connection to psychic magnetism (and Quinn’s panicking), they are all able to escape in one piece. The entire chase was thrilling yet infused with humor, which is common in many scenes throughout the novel.

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“How strange is the world and all life in it. How strange am I. How much stranger still—mysterious, wonderful—that there is a world at all, or me, or you.”

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// Overall Review //
I never thought that another Dean Koontz novel would top my favorite, The Door to December, but Quicksilver came pretty close. The novel was fast-paced and full of peril. Its characters, chaos, high-stakes, and dark world have found a special place in my heart.