The Husband

The Husband is a thriller by the American writer Dean Koontz, published in 2006. It is confined to a short span of hours, and the author has described the book as a suspense story and a love story at the same time.

Mitchell Rafferty runs a small landscaping business in a Californian suburb and is at work when the call comes. The voice on the other end gives him terms: two million dollars, no police, and a demonstration of seriousness. A man walking a dog on the far side of the street is shot dead while Mitch is still holding the telephone.

What follows is an ordinary man's attempt to raise a sum he has no way of getting, with a deadline that is already counting down and a family that is not what he has always believed it to be. Koontz keeps the story close to Mitch's own movements and thoughts, and the suspense comes from the fact that his only advantages are that he is careful, that he is physically capable from the work he does, and that he refuses to accept the terms he is given.