Cover Contemplation

Hideaway by Dean Koontz

It’s been nearly 20 years since Hideaway was first published so there has been plenty of time for several different editions of the book to come out. Since Mr. Koontz is an internationally bestselling author, Hideaway was even published in other countries and under other names which made them slightly difficult for me to track down.

The original US hardcover of Dean Koontz’s Hideaway features an ambulance and some weird looking trees that is a scene (well, the trees aren’t mentioned) from the very beginning of the book and while the accident that caused the Harrison’s to have to travel in the ambulance (for only a short ride to a helicopter) is the catalyst for the rest of the book it doesn’t convey anything about the story really. I found it boring actually but I do like it better than the first paperback edition with the same image just a white cover. My copy was the 2005 paperback edition that’s really… orange. It has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of the book and it’s not interesting in the slightest bit.

The one above with the outdoor roller coaster on it is the UK edition. The roller coaster on this cover reminds me of The Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia which was the very first coaster I ever rode. I was so light back then I came out of the seat and that lap bar wasn’t really helping! I think the Japanese cover of the indoor roller coaster is my favorite cover image because the villian of the book actually lives in an abandoned amusement park and his very first kill happened there on an indoor roller coaster. The cherubs going up the side could even represent Dr. Nyeborn’s religious art collection. The only Spanish copy of the book I could find you can’t really see and it doesn’t make much sense because the man on the cover seems to be on fire. That translates into Kingdom of Darkness.

Germany published many of Koontz’s books including several with giant bugs on the covers and Hideaway (translated over there as The Hiding Place) received a creepy roach. It doesn’t have anything to do with the plot but I guess it does convey the fact that it’s scary. Germany also published a copy of the original US hardback cover with both the English and German title on it. However, I believe Germany is one of the only countries that had a movie tie-in cover edition since the author so vehemently denounced the 1995 film (check out my review for more info or Imdb.com).

Another great one is the French copy of the book that was retitled La Cache du Diable which means The Cache of the Devil. It’s an image of the funhouse Devil where Vissago keeps his victims and there are bound hands and even a roller coaster embedded in the image. However, one of the most unique covers besides the Japanese one is the French Pocket paperback that features a drawing of Fantasy Land where Vissago lives. Not quite as it’s described in Hideaway but the artist gets major props for it anways. France wasn’t the only country to change the title either, the Russian title translates into The Lair and has a picture of a gun with a bunch of red squiggles under it on a white background. The killer in the book does use a gun but I believe it was only one time so I thought that was odd. The Italian version translates to Black Heart, the Swedish to Hiding, and the Danish title translates to Death Museum (which really fit’s the story better in my opinion) but they only have the same as the US hardcover.

The Finnish cover (the title of which translates to Escape Venue for some reason) is really neat but it doesn’t have anything to do with the story unless it’s supposed to represent the hell that Vassago is so desperate to get back to. Those claws sure are creepy though! The only Czech cover (translated as Stash) I found isn’t very good but it looks like Vasaggo’s hideyhole in the bottom of a broken elevator shaft to me. I couldn’t find a cover for the Polish edition but the title translates to Death Pass. This probably isn’t all of the covers for this book but I did my best and I had fun looking at all the different ones and I hope you did too.