A “superior thriller”(Oakland Press) about a man, a dog, and a terrifying threat that could only have come from the imagination of #1New York Timesbestselling author Dean Koontz—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’sThe Great American Read.Onhis thirty-sixth birthday, Travis Cornell hikes into the foothills ofthe Santa Ana Mountains. But his path is soon blocked by a bedraggledGolden Retriever who will let him go no further into the dark woods.Thatmorning, Travis had been desperate to find some happiness in hislonely, seemingly cursed life. What he finds is a dog of alarmingintelligence that soon leads him into a relentless storm of mankind’sdarkest creation…**From Publishers WeeklyCross Lassie with E.T., add a touch of The Wolfen and a dash of The Godfather, and you get a sense of some of the ingredients in this supernatural thriller, which should move Koontz ( Strangers a notch closer to Stephen King's high-rent district. When Travis Cornell, Koontz's appealing hero, encounters a stray dog while hiking, he quickly realizes that the animal is most unusual and that something terrifying is stalking them both. The encounter with the dog is the beginning of a tightly woven plot involving genetic manipulation that has created two extraordinary animals; one is the dog, named Einstein, the other is a murderous hybrid called "The Outsider." Hunted down by both the government and a professional killer who has learned the secret of the animals, Travis, Einstein and Nora Devon, a lonely woman befriended by man and canine, attempt to escape their pursuers all the while knowing that a confrontation with The Outsider is inevitable. Though the climax packs a little less wallop than it deserves, this is the sort of thoroughly frightening and entertaining tale that has its readers listening for noises in the night. 100,000 first printing; 100,000 ad/promo; Liteary Guild main selection.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library Journal