Rolling Stone has called Dean Koontz "America's most popular suspense novelist," but he's so much more. Incorporating elements of many genres, often including comic elements, Koontz is one of those authors who creates a completely distinct world with each novel. Since his breakthrough 1980 novel Whispers, 23 of his books have gone straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Whether it's the spirit medium/fry cook Odd Thomas, hero of the "Odd" series, or Ryan Perry, protagonist of 2008's Your Heart Belongs To Me, Koontz creates characters who are instantly engraved on the reader's consciousness. As the Los Angeles Times has said, "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."