Rating: 
Summary: Koontz's Grocery List
Review: Steven King once said he could send his grocery list to a publisher and they would print it. This is what Koontz seems to have done.
An interesting story is destroyed by Koontz's growing love for rediculous similies and metaphores. They distract so much, it is hard to re-focus on the tale. Action scenes are vaguely described, not nearly as complete as in earlier novels. The character interactions are laughable. The only aspect of the book that held my attention was the hope that it would improve.
I used to be a big fan of Koontz. Midnight, Lightning and Watchers are three of my favorite books. However, he seems to be commited to following the same theme, time after time. Young man and woman, thrust into an unwilling adventure, persued by unknown assailants. And don't forget the dopey, yet cute, sidekick that turns out to be the hero, whether it's a dog, kid or, in this case, an autistic twenty year-old.
Anyone newly discovering the author would do much better reading all of the above mentioned novels before commiting several evenings plodding through this laughable story.
Any commited Koontz fan, like myself, will doubtlessly read it anyway. And come away shaking their head in disbelief.
Rating: 
Summary: A smile and a sigh of relief
Review: My last Koontz experience was One Door Away From Heaven, which left me irritated and little else. That was especially hard to take after Lightning, which was such a treat.With this newest novel, he's not quite up to the level of Lightning, but he does help us forget One Door Away from Heaven, with its relentlessly cutesy wordplay and characters that never quite become sympathetic. By the Light of the Moon stays nice and tight--almost a bit too tight, because it doesn't give us full enough pictures of the parents of Jilly, Dylan and Shep. Such extra character development would give us more insight into how the protagonists became the people they did, even before their "evolution." It's not sophisticated science fiction by any stretch. If you don't like "derivative," stay far away. It's probably no accident that Book-of-the-Month released this as a dual selection with Michael Crichton's PREY. The premises are identical, though you can be sure that the writing styles are lightyears apart. But if you basically like Koontz and put down One Door Away from Heaven feeling a bit flogged, try this one...and hope that some day, "Lightning" will strike again.
Rating:
Summary: by the light of the moon
Review: long...very long ..Koontz streches this book to the limit stupid
waste of time ..took everything I had to finish the book if I had not been bored at work would not have bothered.
Rating: 
Summary: Koontz's #2 novel with best science fiction plot.
Review: The first book I read by Koontz was 'Cold Fire' some years ago. Koontz was generally found in the horror section then. I found most of his other novels to have less science fiction elements and stopped reading his books for a while. Now he's more often found in the mainline fiction section. 'Light of the Moon' got my attention with its cover and I was not disappointed! This latest book has just as much science fiction appeal as 'Cold Fire' did! Keep it up Dean, I hope to see some further adventures of the Moolight Guild...
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended story!!!
Review: One of the best things about this book is that it's fairly short by Dean Koontz standards - approximately 400 pages - and it goes right to the point from the first sentence. The action practically begins in the first chapter and doesn't stop all the way to the end. If you've got a free weekend and you want some good entertainment through books, I highly recommend that you pick this one up. Also, this is not the usual trend of gory fiction you would normally get from this genre, which is good. This story doesn't just focus on the suspense of the plot. It also focuses on the characters. The relationship between Dylan and Sheperd is poignant and touching. Dylan plays the role of the brother/father and Sheperd is the younger brother with a mental disability. Throughout the story Dean Koontz presents a quasi--3D portrayal of these two characters. I could almost feel them in real life. That's how solid Mr. Koontz' writing is in this particular story. I won't say much more because I'd be giving away the plot. All I can say is please read this book. You won't regret it. I promise.
Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: A great read for anyone who's looking for good entertainment. Solid, well--developed characters, a thrilling story line. I especially loved the relationship between Dylan and Sheperd. It's absolutely poignant and touching. It just comes to show the range of Dean Koontz' talent. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Cool book!
Review: I think it's the best Koontz book, yet. Entertaining, fast-paced, got right down to business at the first sentence. Nice touch, Dean Koontz.
Rating:
Summary: An exact cross of Creighton's "Prey" and King's "Dead Zone"
Review: We stopped reading Dean Koontz about 20 years ago as his plots and often very long stories were just a little too fantastic, in the supernatural sense, for our taste. We see in the two decades since, he has been a prolific publisher, with the now some 40 novels to his credit implying a bazillion fans. "Moon" gets off to a fast start: Dylan O'Connor, a struggling artist and caretaker for his semi-autistic brother Shep, and a struggling comedienne, Jilly Jackson, heretofore strangers, are all accosted in a motel by a "mad" doctor-type guy who overwhelms each and injects them with some sort of "stuff" featuring his life's work. He also warns them his enemies will be seeking them out. It turns out the payload was a zillion nanotechnology machines that influence brain function (ala the nanotechnology cameras and such in Michael Creighton's latest "Prey"). Each of the recipients is affected with different supernatural powers: Shep can "fold" people (teleportation); Jilly has strange visions (and learns to fold), and Dylan has sightings based on touching things (ala King's lead character in Dead Zone). The action unfolds as the three run from the chasers while acting on Dylan's need to make things right from the visions he is getting off people and objects. A somewhat poorly crafted ending, almost in the Superman style of good over evil, brings the tale to a somewhat abrupt end. Like King, Koontz has a vivid imagination and apparently can put his ideas into writing without difficulty. He seems to love to turn a good phrase, with at times prose better suited to poetry or some other genre. We thought that except for the fast start, much of the book dragged along until the second half when everybody, including us, has a better idea of what's going on and then the suspense really builds. The ending will probably disappoint most readers; we weren't at all sure it was a natural denouement of events. For our taste, we still think Koontz is a little too "fantastic", but note that in a not too crowded niche he seems to enjoy great success.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 stars for me
Review: Two strangers, Jilly and Dylan, become linked when a mad scientist knocks them out and injects them with a strange serum while mumbling about the fact that they'll either go mad or be very much improved by his "stuff". He warns them that sinister killers will soon be after them if they don't hit the road asap. When Jilly discovers that her car, stolen by "Frankenstein" (as they dub him), has been torched with "Frankenstein" still inside she begins to take the dire warnings seriously. Dylan, an artist traveling around the country with his autistic brother Shephard, advises Jilly to join them on a mad ride away from the ominous, as yet unseen, baddies. And thus begins their life altering road trip. The book, although a suspenseful road trip into the darkest corners of hell, shines because of its characters. Thirty year old Dylan has been the sole caretaker of his younger autistic brother Shep ever since their mother died tragically ten years earlier. Dylan is a kind soul who is eternally patient with his sometimes difficult brother and loves him unconditionally. His life has been shaped around caring for Shep and initially he's almost too good, too patient, and too kind to be believed but as the book progresses he becomes less of a saint. His transformation will change him in ways that shock, appall and amaze him. I found his character the most emotionally compelling. Jilly is a quirky comedian whose good humor hides a dark. She travels with a houseplant named Fred (I kid you not) in lieu of a man. She and Fred have many enjoyable one-sided conversations and Jilly prefers his company to that of a real man. And then Dylan, a panicked and very bossy Dylan, comes into her life and instantly gets on her last nerve. Their initial sparring adds a bit of lightness to the tense plot but once they realize they've been altered by the "serum" and that they're truly on the run for their lives they learn to get along (and begin to like and respect each other) and the plot takes on a much more somber tone. The story takes place over the span of what I believe is little more than 24 hours. But in that short time span these three characters lives will forever be changed. The "serum" gives them strange, awe and fear inspiring abilities and forces Dylan and Shep to face a very dark moment in their past that they've done their best to put behind them. It's creepy, and moving and continually takes unexpected twists into dark corners. The pace is fast though Koontz has a tendency to be a little too long winded and overly descriptive but I've come to expect this when I pick up a Koontz novel and it's sort of comical and comforting all at the same time. I read this as an unabridged audiobook and the actor did a fine job. He had a strong, compelling voice that didn't set me to snoozing and he didn't do any of those cringe-worthy falsetto female voice performances that grate on my nerves. I always knew when Jilly or Dylan or Shep were speaking. The only downer? There's no famous Koontz dog character here! Instead we get Fred the plant. And Fred has about as much personality as, well, a houseplant. About halfway thru the story he's stuffed in the trunk never to be heard from again. Poor Fred, we hardly knew ye. By the Light of the Moon was interesting, suspenseful and filled with characters I enjoyed and it made my stressful ride to work something I *almost* looked forward to. 4 ½ stars.
Rating:
Summary: More of the same
Review: It's Arizona. At night. In a motel. Something whacks Dylan O'Connor over the head and when he comes to he's duct taped to a chair, being injected by a crazy doctor/scientist who informs him that the fluid in this syringe is his life's work and has a different effect on every individual, and sometimes the effect is even positive. The doctor warns Dylan to flee before he is hunted down and killed. Then the doctor himself flees. But not fast enough. By the time Dylan has worked his way free, gotten together his things and his high functioning autistic brother, Shepherd, made his way outside the motel and encountered Jilly Jackson, who has also been injected; by the time all this has happened, the enemies have already arrived in black SUVs and blow the doctor to bits in Julie's car. Dylan, Jilly, and Shepherd run for their lives. It doesn't take long for the effects of the unknown substance to manifest themselves, and the three are soon caught up in a wild web of seeing visions, preventing crimes, and folding from here to there. I didn't have high hopes for BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON so I can't say I was disappointed. I found the writing style immature, the conversations truly laughable, and the characters more like two dimensional cutouts than real people. The beginning was slow, with Koontz taking whole chapters to say what he could have expressed in a couple of paragraphs. I have never much appreciated his brand of horror, in which he tries to make far out situations scary by continually mentioning blood, crosses, snakes, guillotines, darkness, eyeballs, death, doves, fire, etc., rather than creating ordinary situations gone wrong that I can identify with and therefore find truly terrifying. And I am tired of his personification of animals, although this time I have to give him credit -- in BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON it's not a dog but a jade plant named Fred. Why Fred gets almost a whole chapter to himself at the beginning of the book, I'll never know, since he disappears somewhere in the narrative never to be seen again. The pace does pick up near the middle of the book, with the suspense increasing once teleportation comes into play. Shepherd is also very well portrayed within the confines of his autism; of all the characters, he behaves the most realistically. And while the nanotechnology was a bit lost on me and therefore I can't form an opinion of its plausibility one way or the other, it did serve as an interesting explanation for the effects of the "stuff," as the mad doctor called it. About the ending? Let's put it this way: It didn't seem much worse than the rest of the book. If you're looking for a serious scientific novel about nanotechnology, I don't think this is it, but BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON certainly contains plenty of hallmark Koontz and will probably satisfy fans.
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