Rating: 
Summary: Very good
Review: This book was an excellent thriller. I couldn't put it down. My favorite horror author is Robert R. McCammon, and in "Midnight", Dean Koontz writes in the same style. That's why I enjoyed it so much. However, I read "Midnight" and "Servants of the Twilight" one after the other in a three day period, and I had intense and violent dreams for two days afterwards. Normally I wouldn't say anything, but I forwarded both of those books to a friend, who read them both quickly in succession, and the same thing happened to her. As in, the most disturbing dreams she ever had. So, it's safe to say that this is a pretty intense book.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts with a bang, ends with a fizzle....
Review: After reading the first 10 pages, I was immediately engrossed. Almost like beginning of the movie "Jeepers Creepers" (which stunk). I was frightened of what the "creatures" were, but once that was discovered, it was a little to difficult for me to beleive in them. This book was a little to sci-fi for my taste.
Rating:
Summary: Hallucinagenic, creepy precursor to "Fear Nothing"
Review: Starting in the mid-1980s, Dean Koontz hit his stride with a series of terrific cross-genre novels, starting with "Strangers," which was about alien contact; "Watchers," which was about genetic engineering; and "Lightning," which was about . . . well, you'll have to read that on your own. "Midnight" continues the trend, though it veers more toward horror than the others. The novel is set in a small town in Northern California, where an experiment has been transforming humans into "something else." An FBI agent and a ragtag group of survivors bands together to respond to the horror. As with most of Koontz's books, there is a palpable sense of eerieness that pervades the novel. Although the book is not without its violent and occasionally gory moments, it is not stomach-churning; Koontz generates suspense and terror more through implication than explicit description. Interestingly, Koontz recycled the central plotline here in the recent "Fear Nothing." (The setting changed from Moonlight Bay to Moonlight Cove.) The character in "Fear Nothing" is quite different, however, so you can't entirely predict the outcome from "Midnight." Still, if you like "Midnight," you should like "Fear Nothing," and vice versa. (Personally, I thought "Midnight" was creepier.)
Rating: 
Summary: Mister Roboto
Review: I love Koontz's story Midnight. I listend to the audiobook on cassette tape years ago on a trip across the country. It was rivetting. Over time I lost the tapes and years later I now wanted to hear it again. Excited, I received the Compact Disc version of Midnight as a gift. The narration is awful! It is like mister roboto is reading a book. I'm not even convinced the narrator isn't just a computer voice. If you've ever listened to the weather report at a rest-stop, that's what this entire reading sounds like. It's like Cher in that "Do you believe" song, with the voice crossing notes like a synthesizer. I tried it on various quality pieces of audio hardware and it always sounded the same, so it's certainly not a hardware issue, its just simply, as a few other reviewers pointed out, a really poor narrator and/or some very bad post processing.
Rating:
Summary: Manifold Frankenstein
Review: Beasts in the night; heroic, yet troubled FBI agent; a mad scientist; corrupt small-town police, and it is all one big smarmy cliche, right? WRONG.
MIDNIGHT is a wonderfull novel, and a terribly disturbing story. Yes, as a matter of fact, there are horror cliches. But if you prefer to think, as I do, they are stylistic tributes and more than excellent portrayals of terrifying literature.
Mr. Koontz stepped up his suspense, his characterization, as well as his tone and style with this one, and that is why it earned him his first bestseller. It's no surprise either; MIDNIGHT is a word that becomes here, a nightmare.
This was the first Koontz novel I read, long ago, when I was much younger. I was also more suscptible to scares, or being scared not only by monsters who "caper" in moonlight, but those mosters of uspeakable psycholgical madness. And after years of refusing to reread this book, for the fear of spoiling its terrific shocking contents, I choose to remember it just as well.
MIDNIGHT is really an updated FRANKENSTEIN. And although I'm not sure what the author is up to with his new endeavor with the Mary Shelley story, I know that it will be worthwhile. I know this because I've read both FRANKENSTEIN and MIDNIGHT.
Separated by more than a hundred years, these two stories hold disinct similarities. The flight from moral obligations, and the differences between progressive science and pure madness are here. But most importantly is the overwhelming human nature of escaping responsibilty. The word "regressive" implies it, but only this story and these characters can tell it as well.
Here, the townsfolk do not "regress" into a mob of different kind of monsters, as in FRANKENSTEIN. Instead, they BECOME the monster, each in their own way. They flee responsiblity and compassion and humanity to become something easier. They lose their hope, and regress. And the struggle of those left behind becomes impossible, if not hopeless. But a good Koontz charatcter has nothing if not hope.
My First, and one of my all time favorite Koontz novels.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting subject; not enough steam for my machine!
Review: I love Koontz. I have read a ton of his books, but I have noticed one strange trend. Some of his books are awesome. Others need to be rewritten or thrown in the dumper.
"Midnight" somehow falls in the middle of those two categories. I really like the subject matter - the inability for humankind to find a natural balance between enlightenment and staying true to its roots. The character of Thomas Shaddack is blatantly psychotic, the typical megolamaniac. It really is not a bad story, if the actual writing could be a bit clearer. Sometimes, Koontz gets a little lost in his description of the landscape and exterior events. Maybe it is my rampant impatience, but I always want to get to the meat of the story in as little time as possible.
Maybe, if at all interested, you (the reader of this review) can try one of Mr. Koontz's other books. For instance - I was stunned by the deeply tragic story of the young screenwriter in the novel "Whispers". The terror that was contained in that book is the Koontz that I know and really admire. It is one of his first, so check that out!
I feel like I have been reading a watered down version of this writer for some time now. I did like his recent novel, "Odd Thomas". Try that one too!
Well, to sum up, I like Midnight. I just could do without all the "filler" material in the middle.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible Narrator!
Review: Avoid at all costs buying the audio version of the novel. The narrator over pronounces the words as if he's speaking to a deaf mute trying to read his lips. Ever worse, he has no dramatic qualities to his voice. It's just comple monotone. Awful.
Rating:
Summary: Mister Roboto
Review: Though I've read most of his novels, this one is a classic and one of my favorites. I'd have to say it focuses more on the sci-fi element than his standard novels, but is no less enjoyable. It's more twisted and subtly erotic as well, which, though many "respectable" readers might not comfortably admit to liking, adds a futher level of perverse fascination.
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