Midnight

Rating:
Summary: Not believable, still good!
Review: While many of Koontz's books aren't believable, they are still good. Midnight is one of those!

Ala Stephen King, Koontz takes the idea of something other than human things walking this earth & wreaking havoc. What's scary is that these are humans, evolving into something else. The concept & the story did manage to give me the chills. I guess the main thing you need to keep in mind when reading a story like this is that it's not supposed to be realistic!

Rating:
Summary: no chills in this story
Review: Midnight is the deadline for something ominous to happen to the denizens of a small and lovely sea-side town In "Midnight". "Moonlight Cove" is far too nice to be terror-free, especially when it exists in a Dean Koontz novel. A detective comes here to investigate the mysterious death of a young woman by forces unknown. He gets little help from the town, as if the inhabitants of the cove were not only protecting something, but had become the something itself.

Unfortunately, Koontz is better at creating the idea than executing it, and he doesn't let his story get far before he just tosses mystery aside and has two of his characters explain exactly what's going on. Without explaining too much (since Koontz saves us all the trouble) the Cove has become a rather freaky laboratory run, with the tacit agreement of the town, by a local genius who's certifiable in equal parts genius and the psychotic. The experiment uses nano-computers to tap into the latent minds of all humans, all centered around a huge computer that both manages it and provides a safety device (for the inventor, that is; he can shut everything down if he wants or feels its necessary. Of course, that will also annihilate the town). Faster than you can say "monsters from the id!", the secret is out, and it's downhill from there. The way the secret is revealed is an enormous cheat - our hero is a detective! Couldn't Koontz work up a plot that has the detective being forced to learn enough about bio-mechanics so that he could at least solve some of the mystery? Instead, as the clock ticks to midnight, our heroes spend much of their time dodging the rapidly revealed menace. Also, the conversation in which the secret is revealed is impossible: with the reclusive genius and the sheriff having a completely gratuitous conversation - it's almost like me overhearing a conversation between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, in English! Even the manner in which the monsters appear is utterly fake. Koontz telegraphs his chills so that they have no edge by the time they climax. His descriptions of the monsters doesn't mount to much either - since they all pretty much have the same menace, it doesn't matter that some look like Frankenstein's monster, while others resemble werewolves. When a monster intended to resemble the creature from the "Alien" movies is described pretty much in those terms, I was ready to toss this book without waiting for midnight.

Rating:
Summary: THE BOOK ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK!
Review: At least not in the begginning.... that's what makes it so darn good! This book starts out revolving around some very mysterious dissappearances in a peaceful small town. The townspeople and cops won't cooperate. At first it seems like a simple foul-play mystery, but that perception is dashed to pieces soon enough. The townspeople suddenly have the emotional capacity of a piece of wood. But they are hiding something, and they are willing to kill to keep it a secret! But even the townspeople are slaves to a condition that is slowly devouring everything that ever made them human. In effect, keeping the secret is killing them slowly...

As the book progresses, the story subtly evolves into a weird set of occurences that chill to the bone. Three main characters become the focus of the story as they find themselves trapped in this strange town, and whose only way out is to unravel the mysteries hidden within while running for their lives. This story goes at a heart-racing pace that doesn't stop once it begins.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a big fan of Dean Koontz' books, I was rather disappointed with this one. The story dragged, the characters were less than engaging,the theme was even less believable than his norm, and it took some effort to get through it. Dean Koontz is usually a very entertaining author, however, so don't let this book put you off reading his other works, which are typically riveting page-turners.

Rating:
Summary: i don't believe in new people
Review: been a while since i read this. anyway, i seem to remember that there wasn't much of a plot, and that it seem to disappear. koontz seem only to write for his own amusement. i couldn't believe in these new people. for example they were supposed not to feel a certain way, yet one of the guys thoughts gave away that he did feel that way. not very believable. can't remember much about the book otherwise though, except that the plot was horrible. i seem to remember some descriptions making the book worth two stars instead of one

Rating:
Summary: Dean Koontz is the best of his genre!
Review: I've read all of his books, even under other pen names. I have hardback cover and paperback... Dean Koontz is not like any other horror, thriller, suspense, and you lock your doors, even to your bedroom. *Midnight* is one that is different, yet like many of his stories, which the main fact I find, is that they're not like other horror writers of unrealistic ideas. He wrote about scientific matters before it was released to the public of these studies. So ... if you read one, don't be surprised if you find out that it is a true subject matter of scientific technolgy being tested and may not be made pubic to the world. One thing I heard him say on Larry King live,"There is nothing that can be put on film, more scary than the imagination of the human mind!" I completely concur!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I rate this as one of his best. Technology has it's consequences and Dean Koontz does a brilliant job of writting about it. Great read.

Rating:
Summary: The monsters, the fog, the darkness--what more do you want?
Review: This is the 4th Koontz book I've read. On par with the others: Intensity, False Memory and, From the Corner of His Eye. I was given used copies of most of Koontz' books. When one of them grabs me, I'll grab it back. This story took off right from the start and didn't let up till the end. Koontz seems to write in a groove. Each of his books are the same... only, different. I'm not convinced that he writes on par with Steven King, but after reading Black House, by King, maybe Koontz is better. Nevertheless, his books are fun to read. The endings on some of the others have gotten soft--not this one. It was like a bad dream that just seemed to get worse... with a happy ending.

Rating:
Summary: Horrors of Technology Run Amok
Review: Still my favorite Kootz, "Midnight" is a scary and fast-paced updating of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Written well before the dot com explosion of the late 90s, it warns us of the disastrous effects of becoming too at-one-with our computers and neglecting our emotional and spiritual connections to other human beings. Those with a knowledge of northern California will recognize the town of Moonlight Cove as a dead ringer for Bodega Bay, the setting of Hitchcock's "The Birds."

Rating:
Summary: Sensationalism that will glue you to your chair
Review: Insane inventor Theodore Shaddack injects microchips into captive townspeople, giving them immense mental powers but leaving them emotionally dead. The "New People" almost all regress to animal form, experiencing animalistic sensations, becoming killers, all except Sheriff Loman Watkins. Watkins is a "New Person" but retains enough morality to be disturbed by what is happening.

Koontz is a top-notch storyteller and it's this ability to keep the reader turning pages that puts his books on the best seller list again and again. MIDNIGHT is sensationalist trash judged by even the most lax literary standards -- horror with a science fiction twist -- but it's entertaining.