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Rating: Summary: Midnight Gothic Review: Midnight is one of the top five Koontz novels, although most of his books are very good. He really captured the cross-genre quality in this work by mixing Science Fiction and Horror in a seamless meld. I'd have to disagree with a previous reviewer who thought the transformation scenes were overdone. I enjoyed them immensely. Koontz not only tells a good story, but has a style that fits his material and which I personally consider one of the better styles in the thriller field. Books like Midnight, Lightning, and Phantoms are virtually textbooks on how to write a thriller.
Charles Gramlich
Author of "Cold in the Light"
Rating: Summary: ¿Midnight¿ by Dean Koontz Review: More science fiction than horror, Koontz delivers a gripping story about the consequences of man's need to force evolution and become omnipotent. Set in a small town in California, the atmosphere is harsh and oppressive. The story, while inventive, feels far-fetched and intricate. Koontz sticks to his patterned characters leaving readers hearing that old familiar tune and feeling cheated. Pace is precise and balanced. Written in the third person, Koontz's style of writing is smooth with proportional amounts of dialogue. Now, after stating my own view on the book, let me say I did enjoy it. Granted, even though I saw the end coming a mile away, I still felt warm and fuzzy putting it down. This book doesn't try to be more than it is, a guilty pleasure with a rewarding conclusion. Yes, the characters are transparently trivial, but you still identify and root for them. I give the book a 2 . Get it at the library, though entertaining, you might need that money for a more alluring purchase.-Bloodymary
Rating: Summary: In Moonlight Cove, something strange is going on... Review: Something is happening to the citizens. Something horrible, something terrible...something unexplainable. And it is up to a small handful of people--and a faithful dog--to find out the answer, before it is too late... Like in most Dean Koontz novels, plot is irrelevant. Not that it isn't good; Koontz weaves together some of the most creative plots in modern fiction. But the thing with a Koontz novel is this: character development. He has a knack for bringing characters to life, so it's as though they are right there beside you, telling you their accounts. Or it could just be me... Suspense, too. Koontz writes nothing without some element of suspense; in his novels (which almost always blend sci-fi and horror with commercial thriller fiction), suspense is given the go-ahead to run free and rampant, pushing you to the edge of your seat, but holding back just enough so you won't fall and hurt yourself. These Berkley reprints are great; we get some of Koontz's best novels, with new afterwords (in this one, Koontz talks about this novel being his first number one hardback, and a crocodile named Chloe who eats literary critics). The only problem is, die hard Koontz fans like myself are forced to spend another six-to-eith bucks for a book we already own...but oh well. "Midnight." Dean Koontz. How can you miss, really? A sci-fi/horror/suspense novel, "Midnight" races along at speeds faster than most automobiles. Buckle up and hang on!
Rating: Summary: In Moonlight Cove, something strange is going on... Review: Something is happening to the citizens. Something horrible, something terrible...something unexplainable. And it is up to a small handful of people--and a faithful dog--to find out the answer, before it is too late... Like in most Dean Koontz novels, plot is irrelevant. Not that it isn't good; Koontz weaves together some of the most creative plots in modern fiction. But the thing with a Koontz novel is this: character development. He has a knack for bringing characters to life, so it's as though they are right there beside you, telling you their accounts. Or it could just be me... Suspense, too. Koontz writes nothing without some element of suspense; in his novels (which almost always blend sci-fi and horror with commercial thriller fiction), suspense is given the go-ahead to run free and rampant, pushing you to the edge of your seat, but holding back just enough so you won't fall and hurt yourself. These Berkley reprints are great; we get some of Koontz's best novels, with new afterwords (in this one, Koontz talks about this novel being his first number one hardback, and a crocodile named Chloe who eats literary critics). The only problem is, die hard Koontz fans like myself are forced to spend another six-to-eith bucks for a book we already own...but oh well. "Midnight." Dean Koontz. How can you miss, really? A sci-fi/horror/suspense novel, "Midnight" races along at speeds faster than most automobiles. Buckle up and hang on!
Rating: Summary: Very god Koontz book Review: This is a very good combination of horror and science fiction. The book takes off from the very beginning and has a very uplifting ending. The characters are really good, you do care for them and this is very inportant. The characters are always in danger of being killed and you find yourself on the edge of your seat thinking please don't die. The whole concept is extremely interesting and the story is great. I highly recommend it.
Rating: Summary: Don't Mess With Mother Nature (redux) Review: This is another in the "Evil Corporation Fiddles with Mother Nature" series. As per the established formula, there's this aberrant genius-type, who owns a multi-million dollar operation, and thinks he can improve the whole Adam and Eve offspring thing.
Like The Island of Dr. Moreau, to which there are several references, humans have been identified for conversion to superior beings, and predictably, things start unraveling pretty quickly.
Our troubled hero this time is an undercover FBI agent, sent in to Moonlight Cove to investigate an alarming increase in suspicious deaths. Of course, he's got his own personal ghosts to deal with, but now there are strange creatures lurking in the shadows, and they're hungry for blood.
The rest of the defense team comprises a documentary filmmaker, seeking answers to her sister's untimely demise, and a young girl, light years ahead of her time. Rounding out the team is a disabled Vietnam war veteran and the ever present faithful canine companion.
From the numerous Jonestown references, you can tell that things are not going to end well for Moonlight Cove, but the story drags on too long, with much needless repetition. The ending is predictable, and even though there's another little story going on, that ending is also anticlimactic, to say the least.
A long read, and very detailed. Worth at least 3.5 stars
Amanda Richards November 13, 2004
Rating: Summary: Great writer Review: This is the first book I have read by this author. The science fiction element is very interesting. It quickly gets into the action. You are never bored. I read it in a day.
Rating: Summary: The Island of Dr. Moreau meets Dean Koontz. Review: This is the tale of four survivors in the town of Moonlight Cove where something sinister is going on, and their struggle to stay alive. It turns out that there is this derange techno freak that owns an electronic company, and is using his wealth for his own bizarre beliefs. He's turning the townspeople into feral creatures and in the process anybody that stands in his way is destroyed.
The story is very graphic and gory. There is a lot of violence and some pretty disgusting and malevolent scenes. All that you expect to find in a good horror novel.
The dilemma that I have with this novel is that these types of horror stories where the main character walks into a town gone mad has been done so many times before that you can easily foresee what's going to happen next. Still Dean Koontz is an extremely excellent writer and he delivers an entertaining readable tale.
Rating: Summary: Midnight a bit repetitive... Review: Usually I can not put a Koontz novel down, but this time the author went a little bit too far describing the human-to-alien-back-to-human transformations of the creatures who are terrorizing this small town. There are pages upon pages of physical descriptions of the "bad guys" turning into werewolves and demons and machines (i.e. his bones crunched and the 2 inch thick cable came out of his belly button and plugged into the wall and he tried to attack...). I found myself skimming paragraphs because it was so similar to the ones I had read before. How many times can you describe a human genetically deteriorating into a monster?
However, the "good guys" (3 adults, a handicapped assistance dog, and a child) are endearing and you find yourself rooting for them to survive the ordeal. However, it would have been much more interesting to develop these characters and spend more time with them.
My recommendation, try Koontz' "The Face" instead. That one is less science fiction, and more mystery and suspense.
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