The 415-page was
published by Bantam Books in 2006. Dean Koontz is American author. His fiction
has crossed genres between horror, science fiction, thriller and mystery. It’s
said that Koontz’s novels are best-selling in Japan, and indeed, I got this novel
at the bookstore in that country. This book follows a man who is trying to save
his kidnapped wife.
The Husband, a Novel by Dean
Koontz: Summary
In his neighborhood,
most families relied on two incomes. Everyone was at work. Being together on
the front of porch offered as much pleasure as being together in Pas. They were
saving money for that. To allow his wife to risk a career change form secretary
to real estate agent. Mitchell Rafferty and his wife did not spend much on
entertainment. No vacation, no weekend. They seldom went to the movie.
He found the blood at
his kitchen, later he got a call from his wife and her kidnapper. The voice
asked 2 million cash. A stranger walking dog was killed in front of his house.
When he was shot Mitch was on the phone with his wife Holly. His employee Iggy Barnes
also witnessed the murder.
Two kidnappers seized
Mitch in his house. One of them had already pointed his gun on Mitch, but a
tower of cardboard boxes collapsed. The gunman cursed at the storm of boxes,
and he fell to the floor of garage in a clatter of broken railing and the gun
went off. He was in his middle twenties. After rolling the body in the trap, he
placed them into his Honda’s trunk. One gunman had died accidentally in his
garage, and he had seen two men shot in the same day.
The victim had stolen
dog and he was recognized as Jason Osteen. He was arrested on a drug-possession
charge after stopping for a traffic violation about two years ago. Detective
Taggart found the only one business card in Jason’s house and led him to Mitch.
Big Green ran landscaping business. Mitch and Jason went to school together and
roomed together for a year, but he had not seen him in eight years. Jason had
stolen dog and had been shot dead as an example to Mitch were mysteries to
which no solutions were at hands.
The children of
Daniel and Khaterine Rafferty, were all now adults. Mitch’s parents were both
doctors of behavioral psychology, tenured professors. The eldest daughter,
Connie, lived in Chicago. The thirty-one woman had a master’s degree in
political science before she had jumped off into an ocean entrepreneurship.
Megan, twenty-nine, had highest IQ in a family of high IQs, but she dropped out
of college. She lived in Atlanta and operated a thriving dog-grooming business,
both shop and a mobile service.
His youngest sister,
Portia, run a restaurant with her husband. Anson, Mitch’s only brother, at
thirty-three the oldest of the siblings, was the most dutiful to Daniel and
Kathy. Anson had long been his parents’ favorite. In fairness to Anson, he had
earned his status by fulfilling his parents’ expectations. He had proved, top
of his class in high school, he had earned his bachelor’s degree in two years,
a master’s in one, and a Ph.D. at the age of twenty-three.
Author of thirteen
ponderous books, Daniel believed himself to be a giant of psychology. Mitch’s
parents had done well financially. They could no doubt contribute a hundred
thousand. The kidnapper knew he visited his parents. They were keeping him
under surveillance or were monitoring his conversations.
Mitch only had
overestimated their checking- account balance, which was ten thousand dollars.
The bank statement listed the remaining loan balance. Added to their cash on
hand, the equity in the house made a total of approximately $175.000. That was far
short of two million. The kidnapper had not sound like a guy whose intention
was to negotiate in good faith. Mitch had not thought of himself as a failure.
No one could be a failure at twenty-seven. Although Holly was the center of his
life, and priceless, but when forced to put a price on her, he could pay only
thirty-seven thousand.
He asked help from
his brother Anson. According to his father, Anson just signed a major
consulting contract with China. Anson admitted, the kidnapper wanted his money.
He had two millions dollars, but he did not live like rich man to Mitch. It was
Anson, but because he was not married, did not have kids, the kidnapper came
after Holly and Mitch as a way to get him.
Though, Anson had two
million dollars but he would not pay two million to ransom Holly. The people
who kidnapped Holly were the team for one of the jobs. They made a bundle from
it, but they found out Anson’s take was bigger and now they were greedy. Holly
had been kidnapped not solely because Anson had enough money to ransom
her—Anson had cheated the abductors. Anson had known Jason as long as Mitch had
known him. Anson had remained in touch with Jason long after Mitch had lost
track of his former roommate. Jason was one of the abductors. Two solid men
pointed pistols on Mitch, Anson had hired them to kill Mitch and the
kidnappers.
Holly was in a bad
place. The kidnappers had made some considerations for Holly’s comfort, but
that was not to suggest that they were nice people. She just took the pregnancy
test a while before abducting and nobody knew she was pregnant.
His parents had been
stabbed. Mitch recognized the weapons were his, the gardening tool from his
garage. Now Anson had seized the moment to take vengeance on his parents,
pinning the crime on his brother, whom he thought would never be found.
To improve the split
from five ways to four, the kidnappers had killed Jason. Detective Taggart had
seized Anson. Jason’s girl friend said Anson had cheated Jason in some illegal
deals. Mitch hardly to believe his brother was part of illegal deals. Anson got
a Ph.D. in linguistics, and he was a computer geek. At last, Mitch told
everything about the kidnapping to Detective Taggart. Mitch only got one point
four million dollars from his brother and the kidnapper. Detective did not do
much, but Mitch had murdered the kidnapper by his own hands.
At Mitch’s
thirty-second birthday, his son was three years and Holly had good career at
the real-estate agency. Big Green owned three trucks now and there were five
employees besides Iggy Barnes. Anson was in prison facing lethal injection.
*****
Hiroshima, Japan
Sekapur Sirih
Koontz adalah penulis
laris Amerika lintas genre horror, sains fiksi, thriller dan misteri. Karyanya
yang sudah pernah difilmkan di bioskop yakni Odd Thomas tahun 2014. Sempat
menonton sedikit bagian dari film itu, hanya saja kurang bisa menikmatinya. Disebutkan
bahwa novel Koontz terjual laris di Jepang, memang saya sendiri membeli buku
thriller ini di toko buku di negara itu.
Walau sudah pernah
membaca buku ini satu dekade lalu, tapi buku ini tetap menarik dibaca kembali
dan layak dibagikan. Kisah perjuangan seorang suami sederhana berusaha
menyelamatkan istrinya yang tengah diculik. Kawanan penculik meminta uang
tebusan yang tidak mungkin ia miliki.
Tokoh utama Mitch
berasal dari keluarga akademisi dan praktisi psikologi perilaku. Kedua orang
tuanya menerapkan ilmunya pada kelima anak-anaknya sejak belia. Penulis
menggambarkan, pasangan orang tua psikolog yang kerap memberi konsultasi
perilaku pada pasien-pasiennya, namun dalam keluarganya sendiri hampa. Tak satu
pun dari kelima anaknya dikategorikan berhasil dan bahkan jauh dari harapan.
Anak tertua yang selalu mereka banggakan, berubah menjadi monster. Seorang
penurut, selalu dibebani tanggung jawab, dan memenuhi keinginan orang tuanya
sejak kecil sanggup membunuh kedua orangtuanya dan hampir saja membunuh
adiknya.
Buku ini mengandung
banyak percakapan juga ringan, mudah dimengerti, dan sarat dengan aksi,
sehingga tepat bagi mereka yang sedang mencari bacaan suspense aksi yang bebas
dari narasi panjang monoton.
Terjemahan
(Ringkasan) dalam bahasa Indonesia : The Husband (Suami) karya Dean Koontz
Baru saja Mitch
menerima telepon, seorang pejalan kaki yang sedang membawa anjing ditembak mati
di depan rumahnya. Anak buahnya, Iggy Barnes, juga meyaksikannya. Keesokan
hari, detektif menyatakan lelaki yang tewas itu memilki sebuah kartu nama
bertuliskan nama Mitchell Rafferty. Usaha Big Green, sebuah usaha pertamanan
meliputi perawatan, penanaman tanaman
dimiliki oleh Mitch.
Kartu yang membawa
Detektif Taggart bersama rekannya mendatangi Mitch. Iggy Barnes pun dimintai
keterangan, karena ia salah satu saksi fakta. Mendengar nama korban Jason
Osteen, membuat Mitch terkaget. Ia pernah tinggal satu apartemen dengan Jason,
semasa awal masa perkuliahan. Untuk apa ia mati tertembak di seberang rumah
Jason, apakah secara kebetulan saja, baik detektif maupun Mitch sendiri
kebingungan.
Detektif Taggart
mampu mencium keresahan Mitch, tetapi pengusaha pertamanan berusia dua puluh
tujuh tahun itu berusaha menutupinya. Saat kejadian, ia baru saja menerima
ancaman penculikan dan mendengar suara istrinya Holly di tangan penculik.
Penelpon minta tebusan dua juta dolar. Walau Mitch menjelaskan bahwa ia hanya
seorang petaman biasa yang hanya memilki 11 ribu dolar di rekening banknya,
tetapi penculik seolah tidak peduli. Biar semua rumah yang masih kredit dijual,
kesanggupannya hanya 30 ribu dolar dan sangat jauh dari dua juta dolar.
Penculik memberi tenggang waktu dan kalau tidak Holly akan dibunuh.
Ini adalah pernikahan
kedua Mitch. Tak satu pun anggota keluarganya menghadiri pernikahannya, ia
sengaja tidak memberitahu keluarga. Holly, seorang anak yatim piatu yang
dibesarkan oleh neneknya. Itupun Mitch cukup terbantu dari warisan nenek
Dorothy.
Daniel dan Khaty
Rafferty adalah pasangan doktor di bidang psikologi perilaku dan mereka juga
profesor pada sebuah universitas. Secara keuangan mereka mumpuni, yang pasti
mampu membayar ratusan ribu uang tebusan. Kehadiran Mitch di rumah orang tuanya
telah terium ayahnya hendak meminjam uang. Kedua orang tua termasuk aneh, Mitch
dan keempat saudara lainnya menjadi objek praktek sistem ilmu perilaku yang dikuasai orang tuanya.
Kelima anaknya kini
semua dewasa. Mitch berumur dua puluh tujuh tahun, kini menjalani pernikahan ke
dua dengan Holly. Kakaknya tertua Anson belum menikah dan sukses dalam
pendidikan. Orang tua Mitch sangat bangga pada Anson, di mana putra tertuanya
itu penurut sejak keil, juara kelas semasa SMA, dan sarjana dalam waktu dua
tahun, master dalam setahun, dan peroleh gelar Doktor Lingustik dalam waktu
singkat juga. Ia mengaku baru saja menerima pekerjaan besar dengan pemerintahan
China.
Tiga saudara
perempuan Mitch tinggal menyebar di Amerika. Saudarinya seorang master politik
sains sebelum mengambil jurusan usaha kelautan, bersama suaminya ia membuka
usaha roti. Saudarinya yang ke dua
pemilik IQ tertinggi drop out dari perkuliahan dan kini membuka toko dan servis
handphone bersama suaminya, dan adik perempuannya bungsu membuka usaha restauran bersama
suaminya.
Anson mengakui bahwa
incaran penculik adalah dirinya. Mereka menginginkan uangnya. Mitch seolah
tidak percaya bahwa kakaknya memiliki uang sebanyak itu. Anson telah terlibat
bisnis dengan para penculik dan mereka ingin lebih. Karena Anson belum menikah
dan belum memiliki anak, penculik pun mengejar Mitch dan Holly. Penculik yakin
Anson akan menyerahkan uang itu. Sangat di luar dugaan, Anson tidak
berkeinginan menyelamatkan Holly.
Anson telah menyewa
pembunuh bayaran untuk membunuh Mitch dan para penculik yang mengganggu
dirinya. Mitch sempat ditawan, tetapi ia berhasil melarikan diri. Ia sungguh
tidak menyangka kakaknya Anson tega menikam dan menyiksa kedua orang tuanya.
Sebagai aksi pelampiasan dendamnya pada mereka. Sedari kecil ia harus
bertanggung jawab pada keempat adiknya, dan selalu menuruti kedua orang tuanya.
Alat yang digunakan membunuh Daniel dan Khaterine adalah alat petamanan milik
Mitch yang biasa di garasinya. Mitch sudah direkayasa oleh Anson sebagai
pembunuh kedua orang tua mereka.
Tenggang waktu yang
ditentukan pembunuh semakin sempit, Mitch terpaksa mencari Anson dan meminta
uang itu secara paksa. Anak buah Anson terbunuh, dan Anson berhasil ditaklukkan
oleh Mitch. Ia berhasil memperoleh uang itu, walau hanya 1,6 juta dolar.
Setelah bernegosiasi dengan penculik, sang penculik yang biasa ditelpon
mengiyakan jumlah itu. Beberapa temannya tidak pernah kembali, mungkin
terbunuh—jelas tidak ada pembagian uang. Awalnya skenario dibuat oleh lima
kawanan itu – Jason mencuri anjing di lingkungan Mitch tinggal tujuannya
mengecoh. Sebetulnya yang seharusnya dibunuh adalah anjing itu, untuk memberi
contoh pada Mitch akan tetapi kawanan menyingkirkan Jason agar tebusan hanya dibagi
empat – tentu bagian akan lebih besar.
Mitch sangat heran,
setiap percakapannya diketahui si penculik, ia seperti disadap. Detektif Taggart mendapat petunjuk, kekasih Jason
bersaksi jika ia dan Jason sangat membenci Anson. Doktor Linguistik dan lihai
dalam komputer itu telah menipu Jason dan kawanannya. Mereka terlibat dalam
bisnis ilegal. Mitch sukar percaya kakaknya terlibat dengan kegiatan terlarang.
Taggart menaruh curiga dengan reaksi Mitch, akhirnya lelaki sederhana itu pun
mengakui semua tentang penculikan istrinya.
Ia berjuang sendiri
menyerahkan uang itu pada penculik dan ia sudah mengetahui siapa nama penculik
itu. Jimmy Null ramah dan berusaha membuat Holly nyaman selama di tempat
penculikan. Mata Holly selalu ditutup dan Null selalu mengenakan masker ski
sehingga wajahnya tidak pernah terlihat dari sela-sela, Holly tidak pernah
terkecoh dengan keramahan Null, baginya penculik itu tetaplah jahat. Apalagi ia
tengah hamil, Holly belum sempat memberitahukannya pada siapapun termasuk
suaminya. Rupanya Holly berusaha memiliki paku dan digunakannya melukai dirinya
untuk mengalihkan perhatian Null.
Sebelum pertukaran tebusan dengan penculik Null, Mitch sudah membekali diri
dengan sepucuk pistol, kelihaian Holly membantu Mitch menembak mati penculik
itu.
Saat ulang tahunnya
yang ke tiga puluh satu, putra Mitch telah berumur tiga tahun, Holly pun sukses
dalam karirnya sebagai sales pada agency real-estate rumah. Usaha pertamanan
Mitch meningkat pesat dan kini ia memiliki lima orang karyawan selain anak
buahnya Iggy Barnes. Anson sedang ditahan di bui, sementara pengacaranya tengah
berjuang melawan tuntutan injeksi mati atas dirinya. Dua saudarinya tinggal di
negara bagian yang cukup jauh, dan saat masa kecil mereka pun kurang dekat
sehingga ia hanya akrab dengan Portia, saudarinya yang paling dekat dengan
dirinya sejak kecil.
*****
Suatu masa di Hiroshima.
No comments:
Post a Comment