Rating: 
Summary: A Prequel for a Sequel
Review: It's a bad period for my favorite authors, John Grisham, Stephen King and Dean Koontz - all writing novels far below their capabilities.All I ask is a well thought through story, full of intrigue, mystery, action, maybe a little spooky stuff, with a plot line to keep the reader guessing, believable characters, and above all an ending that makes sense and doesn't wrap up in one or two chapters. All three authors have been misfiring badly lately, and it only takes a quick read of some of their early stuff to see the deterioration. This one starts off fine, with a workable concept, and then folds to a nonsensical quickie ending that screams "There's gonna be a part 2". Proctor and Parish are not realistic characters, and have no depth. I can't imagine a brilliant scientist calling his life's work "stuff", and his pathetic disjointed prattling grates on the nerves. The whole Shep - cake - ice thing gets boring after a while, but the "folding" is brilliant. The other leading characters are not as bad, and the redeeming feature of the book is the old premise of using one's powers to do good. Tune in next novel for the four superheroes folding herethere to save the world - possibly titled "The Moonlight Club" or "Proctor's Vengeance". Plotlines to consider: 1. A nano-superbaby who folds himself out of Jilly - the advent of painless childbirth.
2. The return of Lincoln Proctor, served over crushed ice, shaken not stirred.
3. A double cross by Parish Lantern
4. A war with the Suburbans
5. A German Shepherd injected with the last of the "stuff" saves everybody and they all live happily ever after in a new State where nobody knows them. On a more serious note, not his best work, but not a bad concept. It's fairly good and gripping reading until the last two chapters. Read it because you love Dean Koontz.
Rating: 
Summary: First in a series? Hope so!
Review: Since there are numerous descriptions of the book's content, I'll forego that. I had gotten away from reading Koontz for a few years, but when my book club picked this one to read and discuss, I found myself wondering why I stopped reading him in the first place. Nanotechnology is the theme of this book and Koontz delivers one good read along the way. The autistic character Shep is portrayed realistically and with sympathy. His brother, Dylan, seems too good to be true sometimes. I liked the bite to Jilly, and her "pet" jade plant. What's missing, though, is the ever-present dog. What happened? It takes a good portion of the book to explain what has happened to the characters, but it's all interesting. I was left with the impression this could be the first in a series, and I'm hoping that's the case.
Rating:
Summary: A step (back) in the right direction
Review: I was almost afraid to read this book. After enjoying Koontz's books for so many years, I have been rather disappointed with the last three or four offerings. This one, while not quite up to the old standard Koontz set for himself (when he included his middle initial "R" as a necessary part of his name) was enormously better that its recent predecessors. The autustic character was just a bit too much like "Thomas" in "The Bad Place" but the two "good guys" were much more "normal" people than he has populated in other recent books. The "bad guy" could have been fleshed out a lot more, I feel. And the last few pages were anti-climatic and on the verge of being silly. And, to complete what I did not like about the book, I found myself skimming or skipping over paragraphs and even pages of tedious writing. Saying that, though, leaves A LOT of great reading. If you have given up on Koontz in the past few years, give this on a try. If you hated "Corner of the Eye" (which I rather did) you just might find this book better. And we can all hope for the return of the writing that Dean R. Koontz has done so well. Oh yes--he just had to get a lab retriever in the book. But this time it was only a picture on a jigsaw puzzle!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping thriller with supernatural elements
Review: Dylan O'Connor, his autistic brother Shepherd, and comedian Jillian Jackson have something in common -- a stranger overpowers them to inject them with what he calls his life's work. He informs Dylan that the substance does something different to everyone, adding that "the effect is [...] interesting, frequently astonishing, and sometimes positive." However, the surprising effects of the unknown substance aren't the only problems Dylan, Shepherd, and their newfound friend Jillian have to deal with -- now they are also on the run from people who fear who and what they might ultimately become.
"By The Light Of The Moon" is an entertaining and thrilling novel as well as a quick read. Lively and highly amusing dialogues alternate with action-packed scenes, thus keeping the reader's interest until the very last page. Dean Koontz's strength of creating likeable characters is evident in this book. As the author also addresses problems of our time and days, his story becomes even more realistic. He never fails though to keep an underlying optimistic tone, thus adding an uplifting dimension to the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Moon is eclipsed....
Review: "By the Light of the Moon" was the 2nd Koontz novel I read in 17 years. The first "Midnight" scared me so much as a 12 year old that it took 17 years to overcome the stigma. ;) In hindsight, "By the Light of the Moon" was probably not the best choice of books to reacquaint myself. While not spooky, the plot was at times trite, and the ending rushed and almost comic. The main characters have become unwilling guinea pigs to an egocentric brilliant scientist. The "stuff" that he injects affects each person differently, and you best hope it is for the good. Fortunately for the sake of the novel, all 3 of the victims use their newfound powers to right wrongs before they can occur, and escape the bad men in dark Suburbans. The conclusion that includes the confrontation of evil-scientist Proctor, and the formation of the "Moonlight Club" is almost a true comic book without the nifty illustrations. I've heard wonderful things about this author and am eager to try other books, but if this is your first time, or first time in awhile, this novel may not be the best pick of the litter.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast-paced claptrap
Review: **1/2 I used to get a huge kick out of Dean Koontz. Still do, rereading some of the old stuff. But why, I wonder, do I keep expecting him to come back into form? He's still a master of pacing, hurling you on through the pages. But it's like the Cheshire cat, fading til only the smile is left: any clear premise, plotting that involves actual cause and effect, and all the other accoutrements of narrative, have been wafting away, til now only that heart-pounding pace remains. Koontz didn't convince me that any of these characters were real: the miraculously sweet autistic brother, the pair of misfits, thrown together because the same mad scientist attacked them both with a mysterious hypodermic needle, who are destined to fall in love because at the start they're always at each other's throats for no reason. Uh-huh. That hypodermic induces wild talents - a familiar Koontz theme by now. But why do the talents have to be meta-wild? The mad scientist's brew has "a different effect on each subject, not always lethal." What ever happened to the speculative fiction principle of introducing one otherworldly variable, and playing out its consequences? When everything's otherworldly, the plot loses its logic and gets flabby. And then there's the usual chase by nightmare agents of some shadowy power, from which the government can't protect you. But this time, neither the agents' motives, nor their powers, nor the limits to their powers, ever become clear. It's just one long series of chase scenes with no particular rhyme or reason. And a new character, a paterfamilias ex machina, appears out of nowhere to resolve all our heroes' difficulties at the end. Oh, I won't deny it qualifies as readable. But somewhere in the book of counted sorrows, Koontz's declining attention to his craft is adding to the count.
Rating:
Summary: Ice, Ice, Baby!
Review: I have to say I enjoyed "By the Light of the Moon." I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrator did a STUPENDOUS job narrating Dylan, Shep and Jilly. The plot? Dylan is staying at a hotel when a wacky and deranged doctor injects Dylan with a mysterious liquid he calls only 'stuff.' The stuff, he says has the ability to change a person into something better...Or destroy him. When Dylan manages to escape the doctor, he is joined by another hotel guest who has also been injected. Together they flee mysterious generic bad guys across the country. I liked this Koontz novel mostly because it had more of a science fiction flair and less of a horror flavor which I rather liked. Also, there were no dogs, and better still, no body-part collecting serial killers. Thank you, Mr. Koontz! I like variety, and this book was both appealing because of its lack of gratuitous gore, and thought provoking, because of the message. The only thing I didn't like? What happened to the doctor at the end....And...Also...At times Shep's repetitiveness got old. Especially in the narrated version, when you couldn't easily skip the words...I think Shep must've said "Ice and Cake" at least two-hundred times.... 5 Star effort. Only surpassed by Fear Nothing.
Rating: 
Summary: Bizzare, yet utterly intriguing
Review: When Dylan O'Connor heads out to an art exhibit with his autistic brother, Shep, he thinks this is just another road trip. He plans to sell a few paintings, spend some quality time with his brother, and overall, enjoy himself. He certainly never imagined he'd be abducted by a madman, tied to a chair, and injected with what can only be described as "stuff", even by the madman himself. Then, things only get more complicated when Dylan realizes that his brother's also been injected, and the two meet a pessimistic, negative comedienne, who - you guessed it - has also been injected with the mysterious "stuff". Now, the three of them can only depend on each other. The cops can't be of any help, and they're being chased by madmen who seem even more intent on doing them harm than the original mad scientist who got them into this mess to begin with. What follows is one bizarre adventure after another, as the three try to figure out what this "stuff" is doing to them, whether the effects can be controlled, and whether any of them can ever return to a normal life after all of this. Though the premise is bizarre, and the storyline itself is just as odd as it promises to be, BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON is utterly fascinating. Written in beautiful, entrancing prose, and offering unique insights into the human condition, this is one book that's hard to put down. I often found myself wondering whether events could get any stranger - and they always did. Koontz's imagination never fails to surprise, offering more brain candy than your mind can handle, and inserting enough metaphors and intelligent themes to make you realize that there's something deeper behind this seemingly unrealistic, yet intriguing story.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn inducing
Review: I've read almost all of Koontz's books, but this is one of the worst. It was so boring. A novel about 3 people on the run from some mysterious (government?) people after having been injected with some mysterious substance that makes them undergo some mysterious transformation should be fast-paced. Yet this plodded on, and plodded on, and plodded on. Oh yeah. It plodded on. Koontz's editors need to be slapped too. Why did they let Koontz use all the flowery language? Koontz, I'm sure, had to go purchase a new thesaurus after writing this novel, because he had to have worn his old one to shreds. Some of the wording in this novel is so awkward that it seems obvious Koontz was just flipping through lists upon lists of synonyms to find words to use--well, most of them don't work, and they seem completely amateurish. The writing style just didn't fit this story. I skipped pages upon pages in this book, but missed absolutely none of the plot (what little there was). Skip this book at all costs. ++For a similar story with a slightly better execution, read Micheal Crichton's Prey.
Rating:
Summary: Enough already with "the ice"!!
Review: Firstly, let me say that I am a long-time Koontz fan, and have read all of his published books. Among my favorites were "Strangers" (ironically, the first of his books that I ever read) and "Whispers". But this one has almost gotten me to the point where Mr. Koontz's self-serving prose style gets me to say "enough already...!". The scene in the California house, with the big shootout, was so completely ruined by Shep's constant, overdone, ANNOYING repetition of "where's the ice?" that I found myself literally skipping pages until I located the absolute LAST "where's the ice?", and I tentatively resumed reading from that point on. Mind you, this involved skipping about ten pages, if not more. The Shep character, in general, was SO completely overdone that it took what could have been a sensitive portrayal of autism and turned it into the reader wanting to scream "kill that kid, already!!". It's too bad, since the story itself is engaging and interesting -- but it's utterly defeated by this masturbatory style of prose. A suggestion for Mr. Koontz: PLEASE get away from the "how much descriptive prose can I cram into a 24-hour story", and return to the type of multifaceted, intertwining-storyline, longer-timeline works that are actually engrossing and captivating. Time is free -- don't be so stingy with it...!
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