Dean Koontz
Velocity

THE REVIEW

If you don't take this ticket to the police and call them to action, I will kill a lovely blonde teacher.
If you do take this ticket to the police, I will kill an elderly lady dedicated to charity.
You have six hours to decide. It's up to you to choose.

This was the content of the first message found on the windshield of Billy's car, a bartender at a Tavern in the Northern California countryside, Napa Valley.
It could have been a stupid prank, so it was better to confide in Larry, the County cop.
Neither of them took action. So in the middle of the night, when the ultimatum expired, Billy's phone rang. No one answered the call. Perhaps a prank? But.....
The next day Larry waited for Billy outside the Tavern to inform him about the murder of a teacher. Coincidence?
They needed to understand a bit more.
And here's the second message that awaited them on Billy's car.

If you don't go to the police and call them to action, I will kill a bachelor whom the world won’t miss.
If you do go to the police, I will kill a young mother of two children.

They both understood that not taking action was still an action, a condemnation. The cop took the two messages and asked for some time to think about how to solve the case.
At the new ultimatum, the phone rang. And like the previous time, no one answered. Billy requested the operator for the last number called and discovered it matched Larry's residence. Annoyed, he decided to go to his friend's house to end this stupid prank. He left the car on the isolated road to reach Larry's remote house. Just as he reached the front door, something came to mind that he hadn't thought of. Larry was a bachelor, and perhaps the world wouldn't miss him.

Let the terror begin......
Happy reading.