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After Death cover art

After Death

By: Dean Koontz
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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Summary

A modern-day Lazarus is humanity’s last hope in a breathtaking novel about the absolute powers of good and evil by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which everyone perished—including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry.

Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he—or anyone else—has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most violent street gangs in Los Angeles.

But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas. Calaphas will stop at nothing to get his man. If Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time.

From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John—and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.

©2023 The Koontz Living Trust. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Koontz's latest thriller is superbly narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.… Narrating largely from Mace's point of view, Ballerini portrays him as an unflappable, stoic loner who helps a single mother and her son escape the grasp of the boy's father, a vicious L.A. gangbanger…. Ballerini's performance of the cat-and-mouse game between Mace and Calaphas is riveting.”AudioFile Magazine, Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

“A master of the suspense thriller genre, After Death is still another brilliant, original, memorable, and entertaining novel [from] master storyteller Dean Koontz. Deftly narrated by voice actor Edoardo Ballierini, …[this] will have a special appeal for fans of conspiracy thrillers and science fiction adventures.”Midwest Book Review

“Koontz has always had near-Dickensian powers of description and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match.”Los Angeles Times

What listeners say about After Death

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fast paced and exciting!

Another great book by Dean Koontz he never disappoints, nothing ever compares to Watchers.. Or Little Barty as a character in his contemporary work. However this is a great read, as for the hero, I think the world could be doing with a Michael Mace at the moment!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Easy enough to listen to…

The plot was a good one though not as gripping as I have found many of the great Mr Koontz - passed the time with some familiarity to his style whilst trekking to and from the office 👍🏻

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining! Well worth a listen!

Well I am a lifelong Dean Koontz fan but after reading the various negative reviews prior to listening to this book I was prepared to be seriously let down or at the very least grievously underwhelmed by this book but honestly I don’t understand what those reviews were talking about?? I found the story really interesting and entertaining. Just because it maybe isn’t written in Dean Koontz’ style of old, or isn’t a horror story as I think was mentioned (although I have never thought his books slotted perfectly into a horror genre anyway??) does not mean it isn’t well/cleverly written. It is definitely worth listening to as it has well written characters, a great storyline and a consistent pace that will keep you interested until the very end - just as you expect from Dean Koontz!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great listen

A cool Dean Koontz read/listen good pace to the action and interesting premise, with some truly wild characters

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Jo
  • 01-10-23

Slightly pointless!

Always been a huge fan of Mr Koontz but I’m beginning to wonder if it’s actually him writing his latest books! Gone is the wonder and awe! Now it’s just a bit contrived and “ here we go again “! Finished the book but was lost by the end, nothing really explained and nothing exciting happened! Super disappointed!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A bit too preachy...

I have loved Dean Koontz' books since I was a young teenager...Twilight and Phantoms and many many more, but I find that from the Odd Thomas series which I mostly loved, the language has become more a prose about feelings and love and caring for others than a scary story which is what it used to be. I used to be completely certain that I would love his books because they were scary but not too bloody, and always a fight between good and evil, but now they have more feelings and 'fluff' than a good story. It makes me sad.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing…

Given his many years of experience I was expecting a far better story from this new Dean Koontz release that I listened to. It was OK but hardly gripping and rambled on in places. It reminded me of the Jane Hawk books specifically the plot involving the Arcadians….but not a patch on that. So overall, a disappointing effort.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Keats meets pulp

I love DK. This was a hard story to like at first then it got moving . It seemed to run then stop to contemplate the flowers or the many facets of the meaning of life .
Clunky and drawn out to make a goodly thick paperback.
Frankly it had more padding than my ex’s bra.
The premise was good and the characters interesting.
The performer was softly spoken throughout which killed the drama for me.
Overall it is the one that got away .
Thankfully DK has a few masterpieces to balance the books .

MV

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Turgid, Wandering, Plotless and Dull

I have been a prolific reader for over 50 years and this is the worst book I have ever come across. What sounded like an interesting concept gets completely lost in a dragging, repetitive and plotless droning. The dialogue is so bad its hard to imagine how someone could have written it with a straight face. Whatever the story started out to be gets lost very quickly in a ridiculous cat & mouse story with excruciating detail of the backgrounds psychoses of the main characters. I feel sorry for the narrator. Some sentences are so long and complex you can literally hear him push himself through to the end before breathing. I have read Dean Koontz in the past and this is nothing like the other books. In the end, I just used this as background noise to help me get to sleep. I could doze for an hour and wake up and the characters would still be in the same place. Do not waste your time or money.

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The sound quality is really bad

I would like a refund as I cannot understand a word.
Carol Van Achter
I would like another credit for this audio

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