The story focuses around a set of five characters all caught up in events happening in the small town of Moonlight Cove over a period of about forty-eight hours.
Sam Booker is an undercover F.B.I Agent sent in to investigate a series of deaths that his superiors believe to be part of an ongoing conspiracy. In a matter of just a few months, the death rate in Moonlight Cove has risen dramatically and, with a hell of a lot of those bodies being cremated, any chance of further Forensic investigation has been rendered null and void. But soon after he arrives, Booker quickly determines that his presence has already been discovered and finds himself embroiled in a game of cat and mouse as he seeks to avoid the local authorities wishing to silence him before he can discover the truth.....
Eleven year old Chrissie comes home from school early only to find her parents in the midst of some kind of perverted bodily transformation. Locked in the closet until assistance can arrive, she learns that she is due to also be "converted", transforming her into whatever her parents have become. Desperate and scared, Chrissie makes her escape out into the night pursued by both her parents and their new friend, Tucker. Except her parents and Tucker aren't quite the same any more......something about them has changed, and not for the better, and Chrissie knows that if she is caught it will only be bad news for her! Scared and alone, she seeks help but is no longer sure who she can trust......
Tessa has come to Moonlight Cove because she doesn't believe her sister committed suicide and is frustrated that the body was cremated before it could be independently examined. But soon after arriving at the Cove, she is forced to flee her Motel room and escape into the night when fierce and unnatural creatures break down her door and attempt to attack......
Meanwhile, Harry Talbot, a disabled Vietnam Vet, spends all his time examining events going on around him in the town from the safety of his apartment using a high powered telescope. He knows something is wrong on the streets and is partially responsible for alerting the F.B.I but even he cannot grasp the true horrors of what is happening in Moonlight Cove.....
Finally there is Loman Watkins. Loman is the town Sheriff and one of the changed. He knows exactly what is going on in Moonlight Cove but has started to suspect that it is not all for the best as he was promised and that the man behind it all has started to lose control. But can he help bring his town back to normal before he too loses control or is it already too late.......
Like I say, this is among Koontz's better works and is a proper, tense thriller with some great moments and some truly terrifying scenes. It loses a star for the trite and cheesy ending but otherwise is a study in how to write a really good horror-thriller. It far surpasses anything he has written in more recent times and remains one of my favourite Koontz novels of all time.
******
Another of Dean Koontz's early thrillers, The Bad Place is another fine example of the author's early work before he began to get a bit cliched and more better suited for the mundane mass market! The Bad Place is, at its heart, a mystery that the reader is asked to unravel along with the main characters......
Frank Pollard wakes up in an alley with no knowledge of how he got there or where he came from. Pursued by a man who can fire blue energy waves from his hands, Frank flees into the night and ends up seeking the assistance of Private Detectives Dakota And Dakota.
Bobby and Julie are a couple who have dealt with some strange cases in their time but none quite as strange as this.
Frank appears to be teleporting in his sleep and not all of the places he visits are of this world. What is more, he is part of a bizarre and twisted family legacy and his brother will do quite literally anything to get his hands on him again. For Frank's Brother is a psycho and, once he gets a sniff of Frank's trail, no one around him is safe!
This is a great thriller that moves at a terrific pace. It is one of Koontz's shorter novels and a fairly easy read. The characters are all very like-able and there is a lot here to like. Part of the premise has to kind of be taken at face value as Koontz does his usual trick of explaining stuff away with very pseudo-science that may or may not be strictly scientifically accurate but if you can accept some of the more basic concepts behind what is going on then you are in for a treat of a ride.
I have always quite liked this novel and though it is not Koontz's best, it is still certainly better than much of his more recent work! It is definitely an above average thriller and unlike anything else you are likely to read; though many of the themes here are reminiscent of other similar ones used by Koontz before and since and the characters could easily be transported into pretty much any other Koontz novel with very little discrepancy.
Frank Pollard wakes up in an alley with no knowledge of how he got there or where he came from. Pursued by a man who can fire blue energy waves from his hands, Frank flees into the night and ends up seeking the assistance of Private Detectives Dakota And Dakota.
Bobby and Julie are a couple who have dealt with some strange cases in their time but none quite as strange as this.
Frank appears to be teleporting in his sleep and not all of the places he visits are of this world. What is more, he is part of a bizarre and twisted family legacy and his brother will do quite literally anything to get his hands on him again. For Frank's Brother is a psycho and, once he gets a sniff of Frank's trail, no one around him is safe!
This is a great thriller that moves at a terrific pace. It is one of Koontz's shorter novels and a fairly easy read. The characters are all very like-able and there is a lot here to like. Part of the premise has to kind of be taken at face value as Koontz does his usual trick of explaining stuff away with very pseudo-science that may or may not be strictly scientifically accurate but if you can accept some of the more basic concepts behind what is going on then you are in for a treat of a ride.
I have always quite liked this novel and though it is not Koontz's best, it is still certainly better than much of his more recent work! It is definitely an above average thriller and unlike anything else you are likely to read; though many of the themes here are reminiscent of other similar ones used by Koontz before and since and the characters could easily be transported into pretty much any other Koontz novel with very little discrepancy.
*********************
Finally, and a new addition to my 1001 Books List, is Lightning.
This was one of the very first ever Dean.R.Koontz novels I read, after Twilight Eyes, and remains one of my all-time favourites. The story is so fast-paced, the plot so action-packed and the characters so well crafted that there is very little here to fault and the whole thing is timeless!
On the night Laura Shane is born, lightning strikes and a mysterious stranger crosses her path though, at the time, of course she is blissfully unaware of it. The second time lightning strikes, the same stranger saves her from the intentions of a drug-crazed assailant. When Laura encounters the stranger for a third time and her life is saved once more, she comes to believe that she has a guardian angel who watches over her every move. But the truth, in fact, is even stranger than that and when it is revealed, Laura's life and that of her closest ever friend will never be the same again.....
I have always been a fan of anything involving Time Travel- one of my favourite ever films is the little known Jeff Daniels flick, Timescape- and here it is used in, what to my mind, is one of the most original ways ever. I am not going to give anything away and refuse to spoil a crucial part of the plot, but the way Koontz utilises this staple of science-fiction in such a unique and thought-provoking way is simply inspired and I love the way he gets around the whole issue of paradox ever present in Time Travel stories. This is the sort of book that has helped to establish Koontz as one of this generations' best-selling authors and has earned him a multi-multitude of loyal and devoted fans. Unlike some of his novels too, this book is over-charged with emotion and really touches you and takes a firm grip on your heart with it's wonderfully created characters. Not just Laura Shane but all of the main characters here manage to work their way into your heart and there is little doubt that this is one of his finest masterpieces. If you loved the original Odd Thomas or Watchers made you start to well up, then this book is for you! I honestly think this is perhaps his crowning acheivement and it is only a shame that more of his stories don't grab you the way that this does.
This was one of the very first ever Dean.R.Koontz novels I read, after Twilight Eyes, and remains one of my all-time favourites. The story is so fast-paced, the plot so action-packed and the characters so well crafted that there is very little here to fault and the whole thing is timeless!
On the night Laura Shane is born, lightning strikes and a mysterious stranger crosses her path though, at the time, of course she is blissfully unaware of it. The second time lightning strikes, the same stranger saves her from the intentions of a drug-crazed assailant. When Laura encounters the stranger for a third time and her life is saved once more, she comes to believe that she has a guardian angel who watches over her every move. But the truth, in fact, is even stranger than that and when it is revealed, Laura's life and that of her closest ever friend will never be the same again.....
I have always been a fan of anything involving Time Travel- one of my favourite ever films is the little known Jeff Daniels flick, Timescape- and here it is used in, what to my mind, is one of the most original ways ever. I am not going to give anything away and refuse to spoil a crucial part of the plot, but the way Koontz utilises this staple of science-fiction in such a unique and thought-provoking way is simply inspired and I love the way he gets around the whole issue of paradox ever present in Time Travel stories. This is the sort of book that has helped to establish Koontz as one of this generations' best-selling authors and has earned him a multi-multitude of loyal and devoted fans. Unlike some of his novels too, this book is over-charged with emotion and really touches you and takes a firm grip on your heart with it's wonderfully created characters. Not just Laura Shane but all of the main characters here manage to work their way into your heart and there is little doubt that this is one of his finest masterpieces. If you loved the original Odd Thomas or Watchers made you start to well up, then this book is for you! I honestly think this is perhaps his crowning acheivement and it is only a shame that more of his stories don't grab you the way that this does.
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