By the Light of the Moon

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...!

Rating:
Summary: Powers Beyond those of Ordinary Men
Review: Dylan O'Conner is both an artist and the guardian of his autistic brother Shep. They travel around the country, selling Dylan's paintings. Dylan has sacrificed plenty and is willing to sacrifice more to keep Shep out of a board and car facility.

Jillian Jackson is a comedienne ready to turn her anger on anything she sees as a slight. She, like Dylan and Shep, has been injected by a maniacal doctor straight out of, well, straight out of a horror novel.

However, before they get a chance to worry about said injection, they have to get out of Dodge, because some creepy, what appear to be secret government types, are after them. The three flee, but as they run from whoever is after them, they start to develop abilities beyond that of ordinary men. No, they can't leap tall buildings, but they can move from place to place faster than Superman ever could have.

Still again Dean Koontz has delivered a book that pulls the reader in with the first page and keeps her caught in his web of intrigue all the way through the book. I couldn't put this one down.

Rating:
Summary: By The Light Of The Moon
Review: Koontz tells a far-fetched story with stimulating ease. I'm not a huge science fiction fan which no doubt colors my opinion, but I loved the encompassing writing style that envelopes the reader from the beginning and the continual hook at the end of each short chapter which pulled me to the end of the book.

I expected more from the ending, but Koontz makes getting there a lot of fun and creates characters one can cheer for and a fast-paced assortment of scenarios that show their development as they drive through the mystery of their newfound gift/curse.

It was a fun but not necessarily memorable read.

Dane Hicks, author of THE SKINNING TREE and A WHISPER FOR HELP

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: There are three books I've read recently that I thoroughly enjoyed: THE DA VINCI CODE, BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, and BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON. While I did like ODD THOMAS better than BY THE LIGHT, I nevertheless enjoyed it! I thought the characters were particularly well developed and the premise was fascinating.

Also recommended: The Da vinci Code, Bark of the Dogwood, In this Mountain

Rating:
Summary: Most annoying
Review: The problem is this could have been a great story had Koontz's editor cut out about 1400 "where's the ice" lines and other annoying "Shep lines" at what could have otherwise been some suspensful moments. If this was not written by Koontz this story would have never been published. This was probably the most annoying story that I have listened to, (used BOT) and stayed with because just when it gets really, really annoying and you want to bail on it you also want to see what happens since you have so much time invested. The only advantage to reading it as opposed to listening to every single word, is that you could skim many, many sections as you read and that might make it tolerable.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but......
Review: I liked this book, but the end is kinda weak.....it just seems to end too convenienly. After tearing through the book at record speed, I was expecting more. I liked the relationship between the two brothers, it was very touching. But its not a bad read. If you like his other works, you'll like this.

Rating:
Summary: I want to like it, but the writing is way too sloppy.
Review: I had heard great things about this book, and Koontz' storytelling skills, and was very much looking forward to learning a thing or two from a high quality best seller. The opening paragraph is sensational, and gives great promise for a pleasurable read. But when you get to the second paragraph, and the third, and the fourth and the hundredth and thousandth (if you make it that far), you will only be baffled: how could such a sloppily written book have garnered such praise?

Almost every single sentence of this book breaks the first several rules of good writing, in the ways they describe action and setting and in the profligate use of gerunds. "While looking out the window, blah... Scared in a way he thought was wring, blah... If he had been ten years older, blah... From Safford to Globe, blah... Travelling to the city, blah... As the lights receded, blah..." This is the entire book: over and over and over, the same patterns, embellished here and there with clusters of putrid prose.

The point of view slips from a) Impervious Ignorant Dude to b) Clinical Misogynist (the omniscient narrator) to c) Misogynist's Catholic Teenage Daughter on Acid. None of the latter are as convincing as the first. All of them need an editor to strip their thoughts and speech of introductory clauses. It doesn't help that the characters each have expository monologues in the middle of the book: sure, you may have heaved the thing out of a top floor window in frustration, then picked it up again months later, but it really should not be up to the principle characters to tell you, on page 209, what the antagonist set as the theme on page 3. Thank heaven for Fred, the jade tree, who never tells what could otherwise be (and probably already has been) seen. He should have a book all his own.

If you've never been a teenaged Catholic girl on acid, and that sounds like fun to you, go ahead and spend $1.99 on a remaindered copy. If you're looking for a great, visceral mystery/suspence/best seller, try elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Abrupt ending but a good read
Review: The preceding criticisms about this book's abrupt ending are right on target. It was dangerously close to a "deus ex machina" ending where the hero wakes up and finds it's all been a dream, the principal characters are on the fringe of bankruptcy and suddenly get an inheritance, etc. It just wasn't made an integral part of the story and a scene at the North Pole (no kidding!) couldn't save it.

But in other ways, this was Koontz developing the themes that Koontz knows best. In this book in particular, published just a year or so after 9/11 and a half-century-plus after the demise of the Third Reich, the villain here is the recently-expired century's version of the devil: the Utopian:

"These were times still hammered by the utopian schemes that nearly destroyed civilization in the previous century, ideological wrecking balls that swung through the nearly years of this new millenium with diminishing force but with sufficient residual power to demolish the hopes of multitudes if sane men and women weren't vigilant." (pg. 65, Bantam Books paperback edition)

Among the most poignant non-thriller scenes in this novel are Dylan's confronting of his conflicting feelings for the autistic brother whom he loves but whose need for care and attention is frequently exhausting and has in a sense consumed Dylan's life. Anyone who has had long-term experience as a caregiver for a family member will identify with Dylan's simultaneous need to "vent" and his very real love and concern for his sibling.

Koontz has been known to continue characters over more than one book, such as his Christopher Snow character. If he should do that with this novel, it might redeem the ending somewhat. But this book is a good read for Koontz fans and generally recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but too much already
Review: This is a light murder/fiction. The author jokes around alot. Over all what I read was good read, but I just didn't finish it. It is like they took a computer generated popular word/subject list from the 90's and made sure they fit. You have Muslim terrorists on the radio, SUV's, strong reckless female characters, cockroach empathy, weak male artist caregivers, cussing, and Jimmy Hendrix & Janice Joplin drounding in their own vomit by the first 53 pages. Wow, compulisvie is one thing, but give it a break. Some people like this at lunch to escape for a few mintues. I'll give it 4 stars because it is very through, but I just couldn't get it to it for some reason. He writes like a 300 Watt flashlight powered by the media. You turn him one way and you see everything, crisp, clear, but in a rather odd way. I recall fantasy writers a long time ago, not as good, but did this as well. He is not a Tolken, but an Ophra of book writing. Again, he gets a 4 because some people love this.

Rating:
Summary: From author Joy Lee Rutter (A Disturbing Presence)
Review: The characters were real people, especially the autistic young man, Shep. Koontz's writing is detailed, captivating and lively. While three people run for their lives, strange things begin to happen to them. What were they injected with? Will they survive? By the Light of the Moon is truly a page turner and not to be missed.