Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz

Finally finished this book after many endless painful reading days. Two words: Skip this!

Don't believe the publicity and the blurbs -- this is NOT "THE MUST-READ THRILLER OF THE YEAR." Who wrote the book synopsis below?? Exaggerate much? 

Description from publisher
From #1 bestselling author Dean Koontz—the must-read thriller of the year, for readers of dark psychological suspense and modern classics of mystery and adventure.
The girl who said no to death.
Bibi Blair is a fierce, funny, dauntless young woman—whose doctor says she has one year to live.
  She replies, “We'll see.”
  Her sudden recovery astonishes medical science.
  An enigmatic woman convinces Bibi that she escaped death so that she can save someone else. Someone named Ashley Bell.
  But save her from what, from whom? And who is Ashley Bell? Where is she?
  Bibi's obsession with finding Ashley sends her on the run from threats both mystical and worldly, including a rich and charismatic cult leader with terrifying ambitions.
  Here is an eloquent, riveting, brilliantly paced story with an exhilarating heroine and a twisting, ingenious plot filled with staggering surprises. Ashley Bell is a new milestone in literary suspense from the long-acclaimed master.

This is hyped as the "thriller of the year" and geez, I miss my old Koontz ... or maybe he is an author whose work better appealed to me when I was in my late teens and early 20s.

This wavered between 1 and 2 stars for me -- I did not enjoy it and that was obvious to me by how often I didn't bother to even open my book to try to finish it. I used to love Dean Koontz and have read nearly every book he's written, usually more disappointed than entertained especially by his recent titles. This is the last one I will read.

To say that you will need to suspend disbelief is an understatement -- the premise was interesting, but then the story became completely ridiculous when I reached chapter 90. NO!!!! I said aloud. I should have stopped right then, but I labored through the rest of it, skipping the endless descriptive and repetitive prose, riddled with overuse of simile and metaphor, to the scoff-out-loud conclusion and I'm sorry I wasted my time. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the e-book ARC to review.