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  • Intensity

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Dean Koontz
  • Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
  • Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (166 ratings)

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Intensity cover art

Intensity

Written by: Dean Koontz
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
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Publisher's Summary

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Past midnight, Chyna Shepard, twenty-six, gazes out a moonlit window, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley home of her best friend’s family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderous sociopath, Edgler Foreman Vess, has entered the house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed “homicidal adventurer,” Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse, or limits, to live with intensity. Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit.

Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safety and self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At first her sole aim is to get out alive - until, by chance, she learns the identity of Vess’s next intended victim, a faraway innocent only she can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaning beyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resource she has to save an endangered girl...as moment by moment, the terrifying threat of Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.

©1995 Dean Koontz (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What the critics say

“Chills the reader to the core and establishes Koontz as a master.”—Associated Press

“Tumbling, hallucinogenic prose . . . The story does not move so much as rocket up the . . . gloomy highway with the reader in violent pursuit.”—The New York Times

“The most viscerally exciting thriller of the year.”—Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about Intensity

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    81
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    11
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    17
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    12
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    78
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    10

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One word.

One word to describe this book: Intense. Hands down one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read/listened to. The performance as well kept me on my toes. Frankie Corzo brings the book to life. Bravo.

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

A lot of words, a little story

I was really patient, waiting for action, mistery, story! And all I was getting was words about the trees of the forest or how the house arranged! Over 5 hours of listening, I had 10 minutes of story telling! The rest was playing with words. Probably some people would like this book because of wordiness. But I was looking for a story. 5hours was waisted.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Still intense

I listened to this book while cutting hay at least 15 years ago and it kept me alert until I ran out of daylight.
Just listened to it again and my ageing brain still found it to be intense (and worth the listen) - working on sheep fencing this time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intensity is intense

Wow. This story had me sitting on the edge of my seat. I don’t know how many times I sucked in my breath in shock as something would happen. Intensity is the perfect name for this book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good book

Great story keeps you engaged. Finished this book in 3 sittings. Narrator does a good job

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Horrifying yet riveting

Great listen... be prepared for the violence... it is intense at times hence the title “Intensity”!

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

Middling Koontz Offering

This book starts with a tension-filled (harrowing, really) scenario where a young woman hides from a psychopathic killer as he goes room to room slaughtering a family. She ends up secreted in his corpse-filled motorhome when he escapes the scene, witnesses more murders, and discovers that he is holding a teenaged abductee in a basement dungeon somewhere. The book is written with Koontz's signature mastery of creepiness, gut-punch visceral description, and guy-at-the-end-of-the-bar realistic dialogue. I was captivated and eagerly wondering where the author was taking this story.
Unfortunately, when 'Chyna Shepard' eventually escapes, instead of calling Law Enforcement (as any semi-intelligent real-world person would do in a similar situation), the heroine obtains a gun, steals a car, and stalks the killer up & down the State of California. The book becomes so ludicrous that setting aside logic sufficiently to enjoy the tale became nearly impossible. Attempts to rationalize Chyna's decisions by fashioning a jawdroppingly dysfunctional upbringing fall flat. Her mom was awful. So What?
(Don't even get me started on the Magical Elk plot resolution).

Brilliance Audio contributes to deficiencies by casting Frankie Corzo to read the book, too. Corzo is undoubtedly professional (exhibiting creditable diction, timbre, and voice-acting, for example) - but displays something of a monotone and a fairly disinterested mien. There was some improvement with setting playback speed at 1.25X, but another reader could have done more with this project than the distinctly "average" Corzo.

I rate this recording of 'Intensity' 7.5 stars out of 10. As a 'Plus' selection, it's a serviceable Suspense-Thriller.. but it isn't one of Koontz's better efforts. Spend your Credit on something else should they ask for one.

[NOTE: The climactic escape while fighting a pack of trained Dobermans is choreographed brilliantly]

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intense

I’ve read this book a couple times over the years and wanted to give the audio version a try. So darn good! Almost gave me a little anxiety.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enunciation sucks

I don't normally write reviews, but here goes.
The story was good but the performance was terrible. Frankie Corzo needs to attend diction classes. She has almost entirely removed the letter t from the middle of most words. Buttons turns into bah-ens, certain becomes sur-en, mountains....well you get the gist. It happens so often that it takes away from the the actual story.
The next issue is that she mispronounces words all the time, the composer Mozart becomes mossart, andirons, also wrong and more.
I don't know where this girl grew up but they seem to have quite the way of speaking, and, it seems to me that if you are going to be an actress/narrator, you need to be able to speak the English language properly.
The story itself was good (Koontz never disappoints) but it was overshadowed by the constant reminders of this performer's speech impediments. I almost didn't finish it several times throughout the book, the only reason I did was because of the author and the story itself.
The old adage "you get what you pay for" is very true for this as I bought it through the Daily Deal.
Thanks for listening to my rant.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Please Ununciate!

Great book, read it when first published. The only book I have ever sneaked a peek at the end before finishing.
It was that Intense!

The only issue I had was with the narrator. She did an okay job, but her lack of clear diction when it came to certain letter pronunciaTion annoyed the heck out of me.
Any words like curtain, smitten, where T,s were used, she dropped them, sliding the word into more like, cur-in, cer-in instead of curtain or certain, like the letter T was either silent or a mere suggestion.
Overall a good enough performance, but annoying ununciTion

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2 people found this helpful