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Moonlight Bay #1
Fear Nothing
If you think you've got it tough, meet Christopher Snow, the hero of Dean Koontz's novel Fear Nothing. Not only did his parents die under mysterious circumstances, but he's also being stalked by shadowy characters who want Snow to stop trying to find out how they died--or else they'll bump off his remaining loved ones (his supersmart, beer-lapping dog Orson; his best surfing buddy Bobby; and his late-night deejay girlfriend Sasha). And as if being on the lam in his own hometown, Moonlight Bay, California, isn't bad enough, Snow has to outrun his pursuers without leaving town. He has XP--xeroderma pigmentosum--a rare genetic affliction that forces him to avoid light. Cumulative exposure to sun, fluorescent lights, and the like will give him cancer eventually, and he doesn't dare leave the place where he's skillfully "done the mambo with melanoma" for all of his 28 years. Koontz makes the night-town of Moonlight Bay come alive in this sometimes pulse-pounding, sometimes funny, but mostly rather lyrical thriller. Fans of Koontz's legendary 1986 novel Watchers will love this book's similar theme: our hero and a loveable super-dog deal with a genetic engineering laboratory run amok. Horror fans will savor the evil mutant rhesus "millennium monkeys" who hunt Snow, the few scenes of eloquent gore, and the plight of certain mutating townsfolk who are, as they put it, "becoming" something very creepy.
Koontz gives Snow and Bobby a lingo that does for surfer talk what Austin Powers did for the Swinging '60s, and his metaphors are almost as madcap as Tom Robbins's: "As the chains of the swinging light fixture torqued, the links twisted against one another with enough friction to cause an eerie ringing, as if lizard-eyed altar boys in blood-soaked cassocks and surplices were ringing the unmelodious bells of a satanic mass." Sometimes Koontz's style goes over the top and wipes out, surfer-style, but for the most part, Fear Nothing will have readers bellowing "Cowabunga!"
12 pages, Audio Cassette
First published January 1, 1997
1365 people are currently reading
14265 people want to read
About the author
Dean Koontz
883 books40k followersAcknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" (Rolling Stone) and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers, Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character, mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be human.
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
Dean, the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
Facebook: Facebook.com/DeanKoontzOfficial
Twitter: @DeanKoontz
Website: DeanKoontz.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,345 reviews
September 5, 2018
I usually like to wait a bit before posting a review. However, I just want to be done with this terrible book. I cannot with how slow and boring it was and how there was no development to any character we meet! At one point I was having a flashback to another Koontz book where there is a super dog, a man and woman, and an other thing that wanted to kill the dog. No I don't care what book I am thinking of, I am just writing that to prove the point that Koontz repeats himself. In addition this whole book is like a prelude to the Odd Thomas series. Christopher Snow acts like Odd Thomas's long lost brother in so many ways I kept getting confused. The ending was a joke. I know there is a second book in this series, well too bad, I have no intention of reading it.
"Fear Nothing" had an interesting premise. A young man who has a rare genetic disorder cannot be out in the sunlight. He has lived his life at night and under the moon. He somehow has a super hot girlfriend who is a deejay, and also knows her way around guns (like most female characters in Koontz's books). He has a cool dog named Orson and apparently parents who loved him. He also has a best friend who is a surfer that talks like he's in his 50s though he is the same age as Christopher (late 20s).
Koontz pitches you into something dark and nasty right away when we find out that Christopher's father is dying and he goes to the hospital to be there when he passes away. Apparently his father dying was the last thing keeping things in the community of Moonlight Bay together. After Christopher witnesses people stealing his father's body, he is on the run for his life and hiding from long time friends he has known since he was a boy.
There are also monkeys. Sigh.
Christopher is Odd Thomas and Odd Thomas is Christopher. Not quite a Gary Sue here, but pretty freaking close. He talks in metaphors and similes and made me wish for his character's death. He also is Too Stupid to Live (TSTL) as shown by him running from place to place and not telling anyone what is going on. when he does talk to his girlfriend, Sasha, he doesn't tell her what's going on for plot reasons.
He does have a break and go to his best friend's house where surfer talk reigns and where I once again hoped for the death of both of these characters.
The secondary characters are merely there to prop up Christopher or throw some random saying at him.
Christopher's girlfriend is just there. She has no personality at all besides she's a deejay and she loves Christopher and calls him Snowman. The dog had more of a personality than she did.
Christopher's best friend Bobby is kind of a jerk. He doesn't like to listen to unpleasant things and just tells Christopher to forget about things. And then randomly throws out how his estranged girlfriend thinks she's the reincarnation of an Hawaiian goddess. And maybe he is a god. I don't know. My brain shut off at that point and watched a British baking show which I am now obsessed with.
There are multiple bad guys and evil animals and it was just not very well done. We had one character talk about raping his granddaughter and my bile rose up. This didn't make it horror, just something unpleasant that was trying too hard.
The why behind all of this is beyond stupid. I could not with the reveal.
The writing is late in his career Koontz. There just seems to be pointless dialogue between characters and them people running. There is a gunfight in the end and I maybe laughed cause the whole thing was peak absurd.
The flow was awful. This was a struggle to keep reading and to stay on top of while I was reading too.
The setting of Moonlight Bay must have only 20 people that live there since that is all who seemed to make up this book.
The ending was a hot mess. Not really an ending and I am guessing using to set up book #2 which is "Seize the Night."
"Fear Nothing" had an interesting premise. A young man who has a rare genetic disorder cannot be out in the sunlight. He has lived his life at night and under the moon. He somehow has a super hot girlfriend who is a deejay, and also knows her way around guns (like most female characters in Koontz's books). He has a cool dog named Orson and apparently parents who loved him. He also has a best friend who is a surfer that talks like he's in his 50s though he is the same age as Christopher (late 20s).
Koontz pitches you into something dark and nasty right away when we find out that Christopher's father is dying and he goes to the hospital to be there when he passes away. Apparently his father dying was the last thing keeping things in the community of Moonlight Bay together. After Christopher witnesses people stealing his father's body, he is on the run for his life and hiding from long time friends he has known since he was a boy.
There are also monkeys. Sigh.
Christopher is Odd Thomas and Odd Thomas is Christopher. Not quite a Gary Sue here, but pretty freaking close. He talks in metaphors and similes and made me wish for his character's death. He also is Too Stupid to Live (TSTL) as shown by him running from place to place and not telling anyone what is going on. when he does talk to his girlfriend, Sasha, he doesn't tell her what's going on for plot reasons.
He does have a break and go to his best friend's house where surfer talk reigns and where I once again hoped for the death of both of these characters.
The secondary characters are merely there to prop up Christopher or throw some random saying at him.
Christopher's girlfriend is just there. She has no personality at all besides she's a deejay and she loves Christopher and calls him Snowman. The dog had more of a personality than she did.
Christopher's best friend Bobby is kind of a jerk. He doesn't like to listen to unpleasant things and just tells Christopher to forget about things. And then randomly throws out how his estranged girlfriend thinks she's the reincarnation of an Hawaiian goddess. And maybe he is a god. I don't know. My brain shut off at that point and watched a British baking show which I am now obsessed with.
There are multiple bad guys and evil animals and it was just not very well done. We had one character talk about raping his granddaughter and my bile rose up. This didn't make it horror, just something unpleasant that was trying too hard.
The why behind all of this is beyond stupid. I could not with the reveal.
The writing is late in his career Koontz. There just seems to be pointless dialogue between characters and them people running. There is a gunfight in the end and I maybe laughed cause the whole thing was peak absurd.
The flow was awful. This was a struggle to keep reading and to stay on top of while I was reading too.
The setting of Moonlight Bay must have only 20 people that live there since that is all who seemed to make up this book.
The ending was a hot mess. Not really an ending and I am guessing using to set up book #2 which is "Seize the Night."
March 30, 2016
This is the one and only Dean Koontz novel I've ever read, since it managed to put me right off DK forever.
It wasn't awful, but wow, it was just so, so (so, so, so) many extra and unneeded words. IIRC, it took the main character something like seven full pages just to make his way up a flight of stairs at one point, and it wasn't because the steps were just that exciting. I can't believe I actually finished this.
I guess some writers are just not for me.
November 29, 2017
Koontz Group Read September 2017
Second read - 2017
These are the Items not listed in my first read.
- Chris Snow born with "XP" - Xeroderma Pigmentosum - skin cancer when exposed to bright lights. During day, Chris always wears sunglasses, as light can make him "blind". ("Wikipedia" lists - 1 person per 250,000 in USA has XP.)
- This allows him go to Kirk's Funeral Home at night & prove his father's body was swapped at Mercy Hospital. They would not let him enter to see the body, they said cremation started. Chris' XP let's him escape a chase in the night.
- Fort Wyver uses world-wide "Resus" monkeys ("Wikipedia") used for experiments to chase kill him. Chris escapes & finds pile of skulls at Kirk's bottom of a hill, killed by them.
Second read - 2017
These are the Items not listed in my first read.
- Chris Snow born with "XP" - Xeroderma Pigmentosum - skin cancer when exposed to bright lights. During day, Chris always wears sunglasses, as light can make him "blind". ("Wikipedia" lists - 1 person per 250,000 in USA has XP.)
- This allows him go to Kirk's Funeral Home at night & prove his father's body was swapped at Mercy Hospital. They would not let him enter to see the body, they said cremation started. Chris' XP let's him escape a chase in the night.
- Fort Wyver uses world-wide "Resus" monkeys ("Wikipedia") used for experiments to chase kill him. Chris escapes & finds pile of skulls at Kirk's bottom of a hill, killed by them.
first read - 2015
"Fear Nothing" is (Moonlight 1) like "Seize the Night" (Moonlight 2) an exciting chase book with Chris Snow as the main character. In this book, his dad's dead body (Steven Snow) was to be creamated and is instead swapped with a dead hitchhiker by Kirk's Funeral Home for the "closed" Fort Wyvern's experiments. Bobby Halloway (best friend), Sasha Cohan (girlfriend) and Olsen (his dog) are being chased by several after their discovery. Simple chase theme on who will get hurt/killed first.
May 13, 2023
Koontz is a very prolific author, and the Goodreads list tells me that I've read over ninety of his books, and this one is my favorite. The dog people may prefer Watchers and the quirky romantics may prefer Odd Thomas and the female-empowerment folks may prefer Jane Hawk and... I could go on, but in my opinion Fear Nothing gets the blue-ribbon prize. Spoiler-free thoughts are that I thought he got the perfect blend of character and mystery, and the story drew me in from the beginning and never let go. He published a sequel to it called Seize the Night, about which I said: "Seize the Night is a sequel to Fear Nothing, which is my favorite Dean Koontz book. I've read eleventy-zillion Koontz novels over the last six or eleven decades, and Christopher and Orson and the folks of Moonlight Bay and the Mystery Train remain the most compelling of his creations for me. This sequel is a good story, but doesn't wrap anything up, and though a concluding volume was announced several times over the years it hasn't appeared yet...which, it amuses me to no end, has not stopped well over two-hundred careful and incisive reviewers from rating that book which doesn't exist on Goodreads. Anyway, Fear Nothing should be read first and in the meantime we can all keep hoping that the train comes into the station at last." That was a while back, but I'm still hopeful... in the meantime, if any of the two-hundred-some folks who have rated Storm Front (or Ride the Storm) could be persuaded to hook me up....? Please?
March 30, 2024
“Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next.”
I love this book. I really do. I’m not certain why, really. Dean Koontz is a schmaltzy writer. He overuses analogies and some of them are rather bizarre. Many of his books have similar details — bad ass chicks, unlikely heroes, a golden retriever or two. They start to blur together after a while. But when I was in middle school and high school, I read every single thing Koontz had published. This book (and its sequel, Seize the Night) always seemed to stand out. I reread it every few years, and I’ve also listened to the audiobook a few times. This time was the audiobook, mostly at the gym. It’s just a good, solid story with a very likable lead (and a black lab).
Fear Nothing is about a 28 year old man named Chris Snow. I am now 28. I think I read this book for the first time when I was 12. I feel old. Chris suffers from a condition called xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) that prevents his cells from being able to repair themselves after exposure to light. As a result, he has lived his life in a dimly lit house during the day. At night, he explores the small town of Midnight Bay, where he lives.
This novel begins in the evening, as Chris gets a phone call that his father has passed away from cancer. A fluke event at the hospital leads Chris to see someone do something strange with his father’s remains. He investigates, and stumbles upon a mystery that affects his whole town. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’ll say one thing: genetically modified monkeys. Yeah, that’s right.
The events of the novel take place primarily over a 24 hour period, as Chris explores his town and visits friends and enemies, trying to find the truth about his father’s death. I think one of the things I loved so much about this novel was the romantic idea of having a whole town to yourself in the dark; just you, your dog and your bicycle.
Fear Nothing ends abruptly, with few questions answered. Koontz published a sequel, Seize the Night, the following year. Supposedly he’s working on a third. 13 year old me can’t wait.
I love this book. I really do. I’m not certain why, really. Dean Koontz is a schmaltzy writer. He overuses analogies and some of them are rather bizarre. Many of his books have similar details — bad ass chicks, unlikely heroes, a golden retriever or two. They start to blur together after a while. But when I was in middle school and high school, I read every single thing Koontz had published. This book (and its sequel, Seize the Night) always seemed to stand out. I reread it every few years, and I’ve also listened to the audiobook a few times. This time was the audiobook, mostly at the gym. It’s just a good, solid story with a very likable lead (and a black lab).
Fear Nothing is about a 28 year old man named Chris Snow. I am now 28. I think I read this book for the first time when I was 12. I feel old. Chris suffers from a condition called xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) that prevents his cells from being able to repair themselves after exposure to light. As a result, he has lived his life in a dimly lit house during the day. At night, he explores the small town of Midnight Bay, where he lives.
This novel begins in the evening, as Chris gets a phone call that his father has passed away from cancer. A fluke event at the hospital leads Chris to see someone do something strange with his father’s remains. He investigates, and stumbles upon a mystery that affects his whole town. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’ll say one thing: genetically modified monkeys. Yeah, that’s right.
The events of the novel take place primarily over a 24 hour period, as Chris explores his town and visits friends and enemies, trying to find the truth about his father’s death. I think one of the things I loved so much about this novel was the romantic idea of having a whole town to yourself in the dark; just you, your dog and your bicycle.
Fear Nothing ends abruptly, with few questions answered. Koontz published a sequel, Seize the Night, the following year. Supposedly he’s working on a third. 13 year old me can’t wait.
July 17, 2024
Hmm....this was such a strange book. I'm so confused why this has an average rating of 4. I don't know if I missed something but this book just didn't do it for me at all.
When I first starting reading this book I thought this was going to be another good book by Koontz but it gradually got worse and more non-sensical. The main character has a genetic order so he can't go out in the sunlight/any light (yes this is massively oversimplified) which was really interesting and well explored.
All and I mean All of the other characters I thought were Pointless! They are all so lame and underdeveloped, I didn't care about any of them. The characters reactions to situations were awful Koontz often used sentences like 'if she seemed shocked she didn't show it' basically to move the plot along with any interruption. However this caused all of the supporting characters to feel robotic and ultimately forgettable.
I mean there is a dog, so points for that I suppose?
There is one scene which really got my intrigue going and I was feeling invested and then the mention of monkeys, yes monkeys took straight out of the flow of the plot.
Booby is a bit of a jerk to - but he does come out with some nice philosophical moments but they were much too often. The actually plotline was messy, incoherent and gave me whiplash.
I have read some really bad Dean Koontz books and some really good ones, so I will try a few more but only because I own more. If you want a good Dean Koontz book go for Life Expectancy, if you want a weird well paced Dean Koontz book go for Tick Tock.
When I first starting reading this book I thought this was going to be another good book by Koontz but it gradually got worse and more non-sensical. The main character has a genetic order so he can't go out in the sunlight/any light (yes this is massively oversimplified) which was really interesting and well explored.
All and I mean All of the other characters I thought were Pointless! They are all so lame and underdeveloped, I didn't care about any of them. The characters reactions to situations were awful Koontz often used sentences like 'if she seemed shocked she didn't show it' basically to move the plot along with any interruption. However this caused all of the supporting characters to feel robotic and ultimately forgettable.
I mean there is a dog, so points for that I suppose?
There is one scene which really got my intrigue going and I was feeling invested and then the mention of monkeys, yes monkeys took straight out of the flow of the plot.
Booby is a bit of a jerk to - but he does come out with some nice philosophical moments but they were much too often. The actually plotline was messy, incoherent and gave me whiplash.
I have read some really bad Dean Koontz books and some really good ones, so I will try a few more but only because I own more. If you want a good Dean Koontz book go for Life Expectancy, if you want a weird well paced Dean Koontz book go for Tick Tock.
December 29, 2021
We have a weight to carry and a distance we must go.
We have a weight to carry, a destination we can't know.
We have a weight to carry and can put it down nowhere.
We are the weight we carry from there to here to there.
-The Book Of Counted Sorrows
It's easy to see why Christopher Snow of Moonlight Bay has such a fan following. The story and dialogue is entertaining and the writing is intriguingly executed. Dean Koontz Addicts continue to hold out hope for book three, Ride The Storm, to be completed and published even though it's been over 20 years since the journey began.
This series is recommended for readers who are interested in venturing into the mysterious threshold of alternate realities.
Favorite Passages:
On the desk in my candlelit study, the telephone rang, and I knew it that terrible change was coming.
I am not psychic. I do not see signs and portents in the sky. To my eye, the lines in my palm reveal nothing about my future, and I don't have a Gypsy's ability to discern the patters of fate in wet tea leaves.
______
He was great because he was kind. He was great because he was humble, gentle, full of laughter.
______
So many thoughtless people have made unkind assumptions about me, based on my appearance and my affinity for the night, that I am reluctant to join the club of cruelty and speak ill of anyone without ample reason.
______
A sense of unreality overcame me - that I should find myself in these strange circumstances. I could almost believe that I had somehow fallen into a dream without first falling asleep.
______
I felt wonderful, really wonderful. It was the last time I ever felt wonderful - and the last time I ever will.
______
Like blood out of a wound, silence welled up from the bottom of the house into this upstairs hall.
______
I stopped chasing ghosts and reluctantly returned to the upstairs hallway. A doll was waiting for me.
______
This narrow, life-sustaining realm under the smoke seemed to be an alternate world into which I had fallen after stepping through a door between dimensions.
______
An inhuman cry issued from him, primitive and psychotic, a caterwaul of the sort that sometimes wakes you in the night and leaves you wondering about the species of origin.
______
"And they left me a warning," Bobby said.
I pictured a threatening note laboriously printed in crude block letters - WATCH YOUR ASS. Signed, THE MONKEYS.
They were too clever to leave a paper trail, however, and even more direct. Bobby said, "One of them crapped on my bed."
______
"The first big hurdle is believing you can actually do it. Putting aside your doubt, your cynicism, all your preconceived notions about what's possible and what isn't. Most of all, hardest of all, you have to stop worrying about looking foolish, 'cause fear of being humiliated really limits you. Lots of folks could never get past all that, and I'm sort of surprised that I got past it myself."
_____
"Sir," I told him, "I take back what I said earlier. After careful consideration, I've decided you're totally awesomely crazy, whacked-out to the max."
_____
As Roosevelt settled into his chair again, my bewilderment began to give way to a tremulous sense of the miraculous. I am aware of a looming revelation that would rock my life forever, expose dimensions of the world that I could not now imagine; but although I strained to grasp it, this understanding remained elusive, tantalizing just beyond the limits of my reach.
_____
"But these new cats I've been encountering the last two years or so . . . they open a far more exciting dimension of communication."
_____
"They have their own agenda. Maybe sometimes it matches ours. They don't want the world to know about this, either. Their future isn't in undoing what's been done. Their future is the new world coming."
We have a weight to carry, a destination we can't know.
We have a weight to carry and can put it down nowhere.
We are the weight we carry from there to here to there.
-The Book Of Counted Sorrows
It's easy to see why Christopher Snow of Moonlight Bay has such a fan following. The story and dialogue is entertaining and the writing is intriguingly executed. Dean Koontz Addicts continue to hold out hope for book three, Ride The Storm, to be completed and published even though it's been over 20 years since the journey began.
This series is recommended for readers who are interested in venturing into the mysterious threshold of alternate realities.
Favorite Passages:
On the desk in my candlelit study, the telephone rang, and I knew it that terrible change was coming.
I am not psychic. I do not see signs and portents in the sky. To my eye, the lines in my palm reveal nothing about my future, and I don't have a Gypsy's ability to discern the patters of fate in wet tea leaves.
______
He was great because he was kind. He was great because he was humble, gentle, full of laughter.
______
So many thoughtless people have made unkind assumptions about me, based on my appearance and my affinity for the night, that I am reluctant to join the club of cruelty and speak ill of anyone without ample reason.
______
A sense of unreality overcame me - that I should find myself in these strange circumstances. I could almost believe that I had somehow fallen into a dream without first falling asleep.
______
I felt wonderful, really wonderful. It was the last time I ever felt wonderful - and the last time I ever will.
______
Like blood out of a wound, silence welled up from the bottom of the house into this upstairs hall.
______
I stopped chasing ghosts and reluctantly returned to the upstairs hallway. A doll was waiting for me.
______
This narrow, life-sustaining realm under the smoke seemed to be an alternate world into which I had fallen after stepping through a door between dimensions.
______
An inhuman cry issued from him, primitive and psychotic, a caterwaul of the sort that sometimes wakes you in the night and leaves you wondering about the species of origin.
______
"And they left me a warning," Bobby said.
I pictured a threatening note laboriously printed in crude block letters - WATCH YOUR ASS. Signed, THE MONKEYS.
They were too clever to leave a paper trail, however, and even more direct. Bobby said, "One of them crapped on my bed."
______
"The first big hurdle is believing you can actually do it. Putting aside your doubt, your cynicism, all your preconceived notions about what's possible and what isn't. Most of all, hardest of all, you have to stop worrying about looking foolish, 'cause fear of being humiliated really limits you. Lots of folks could never get past all that, and I'm sort of surprised that I got past it myself."
_____
"Sir," I told him, "I take back what I said earlier. After careful consideration, I've decided you're totally awesomely crazy, whacked-out to the max."
_____
As Roosevelt settled into his chair again, my bewilderment began to give way to a tremulous sense of the miraculous. I am aware of a looming revelation that would rock my life forever, expose dimensions of the world that I could not now imagine; but although I strained to grasp it, this understanding remained elusive, tantalizing just beyond the limits of my reach.
_____
"But these new cats I've been encountering the last two years or so . . . they open a far more exciting dimension of communication."
_____
"They have their own agenda. Maybe sometimes it matches ours. They don't want the world to know about this, either. Their future isn't in undoing what's been done. Their future is the new world coming."
January 18, 2018
This was an exciting, suspenseful book! Chris Snow is a complex character and I look forward to seeing what happens next in the series!!
December 28, 2015
I loved this book! Christopher Snow is a character to remember. He's one of my favorites.
July 11, 2018
This is a Dean Koontz novel. You know what you’re going to get.
Some wonky science gone horribly wrong. Conspiracies. Government involvement. A smart dog. A preachy protagonist. The Koontzian equivalent of a manic pixie girl (who is, of course, deeply and madly in love with the protagonist).
Yeah, Fear Nothing is one of those quintessential Koontz books: pretty by-the-numbers stuff, but still fun.
Something I appreciated is the reference to Watchers; the goings on in Moonlight Bay are explained as an “improvement upon” the scientific discoveries from Koontz’s most famous work. This author does not typically reference himself, but in this case it worked. It made the book feel not quite so derivative.
Fear Nothing is just plain fun. I couldn’t stop reading; I had to figure out the mysteries. Cheesy surfer lingo aside (in fact, most of the dialogue in this book is painfully cheesy and overwritten), this is a relatively solid adventure. Recommended for established Koontz fans, or anyone looking for a breezy summer read!
Some wonky science gone horribly wrong. Conspiracies. Government involvement. A smart dog. A preachy protagonist. The Koontzian equivalent of a manic pixie girl (who is, of course, deeply and madly in love with the protagonist).
Yeah, Fear Nothing is one of those quintessential Koontz books: pretty by-the-numbers stuff, but still fun.
Something I appreciated is the reference to Watchers; the goings on in Moonlight Bay are explained as an “improvement upon” the scientific discoveries from Koontz’s most famous work. This author does not typically reference himself, but in this case it worked. It made the book feel not quite so derivative.
Fear Nothing is just plain fun. I couldn’t stop reading; I had to figure out the mysteries. Cheesy surfer lingo aside (in fact, most of the dialogue in this book is painfully cheesy and overwritten), this is a relatively solid adventure. Recommended for established Koontz fans, or anyone looking for a breezy summer read!
January 22, 2023
Non sono un profondo conoscitore di Koontz ma questo romanzo, più per caso che per altro, l'ho letto due volte, a distanza di parecchi anni una dall'altra.
Premettendo che il voto reale sarebbero 3.5 stelle e non 3, posso dire che a mio parere il punto di forza del romanzo non è strettamente nel corso degli eventi che si succedono quanto piuttosto nella base della storia in sé.
Ambientato in una località marittima (non ricordo dove) immersa in un'atmosfera sonnolenta e un po' malinconica, il libro vede il nostro protagonista (un giovane afflitto da una grave malattia che gli impedisce di esporsi alla luce, costringendolo a vivere di notte) imbattersi in una serie di avvenimenti inquietanti, che lo portano a scoprire una verità sinistra. Insieme al suo amico Orson, un labrador talmente intelligente da sembrare a tratti quasi umano, si troverà costretto ad affrontare altre creature molto più intelligenti (e pericolose) di quanto dovrebbero, fino a una conclusione nella quale si mescoleranno spunti orrorifici e vicende personali.
Come ho già detto, più che gli eventi e la narrazione ho apprezzato "il mood", la sensazione malinconica che si mischia alla tensione crescente, anche questa moderata, senza picchi o esplosioni particolari, confluendo in un finale forse un po' sottotono ma non deludente.
Azzeccato poi il protagonista e i comprimari, anche se personalmente mi è rimasto dentro Orson, cane più sensibile ed empatico di molti umani di mia conoscenza.
Premettendo che il voto reale sarebbero 3.5 stelle e non 3, posso dire che a mio parere il punto di forza del romanzo non è strettamente nel corso degli eventi che si succedono quanto piuttosto nella base della storia in sé.
Ambientato in una località marittima (non ricordo dove) immersa in un'atmosfera sonnolenta e un po' malinconica, il libro vede il nostro protagonista (un giovane afflitto da una grave malattia che gli impedisce di esporsi alla luce, costringendolo a vivere di notte) imbattersi in una serie di avvenimenti inquietanti, che lo portano a scoprire una verità sinistra. Insieme al suo amico Orson, un labrador talmente intelligente da sembrare a tratti quasi umano, si troverà costretto ad affrontare altre creature molto più intelligenti (e pericolose) di quanto dovrebbero, fino a una conclusione nella quale si mescoleranno spunti orrorifici e vicende personali.
Come ho già detto, più che gli eventi e la narrazione ho apprezzato "il mood", la sensazione malinconica che si mischia alla tensione crescente, anche questa moderata, senza picchi o esplosioni particolari, confluendo in un finale forse un po' sottotono ma non deludente.
Azzeccato poi il protagonista e i comprimari, anche se personalmente mi è rimasto dentro Orson, cane più sensibile ed empatico di molti umani di mia conoscenza.
September 4, 2025
Chris Snow has a rare genetic disease that makes bright light, especially sunlight, deadly to him. Even slight exposure could burn him and cause major skin cancer. He spends his days indoors, asleep. It's at sundown when his day starts. He rides his bike around the small California town of Moonlight Bay, night-surfs with his beach-bum buddy, and hooks up with his girlfriend. Other than the fact that his world is constantly shrouded in night, Chris lives a normal 20-something life.
Dean Koontz's 1997 novel "Fear Nothing" is, to put it nicely, weird. It's a horror novel, yes, but it's pretty funny for a horror novel. The fact that the main characters are white, rich, entitled young kids who don't care about anything other than surfing, watching movies, and listening to music should clue you in to the world Koontz is building in this story.
Don't get me wrong: the horror in this---when it arrives---is pretty damned horrifying. But this is an extremely slow-burn story, where Koontz drops clues throughout about the Big Reveal, and the events and happenings don't make any logical sense. The reader has the distinction of being in the exact same boat as Chris: you won't know what the fuck is going on until the very end, so just enjoy the ride.
The book takes place all in one 12-hour period, at night. Chris wakes up to the gut-wrenching news that his father---who has been in the hospital---has died. He rushes to the hospital where he witnesses the morgue inexplicably switch his father's body with that of a vagrant whose eyes have been ripped out. That's just the beginning of his night of weird, inexplicable shit. A night that will involve family secrets, government experiments, super-intelligent cats and dogs, vicious monkeys, and murder.
Thankfully, Koontz takes his cues less from Lovecraft than he does Lebowski in this. End-of-the-world Lovecraftian horror is simply more fun and hilarious when told from the perspective of bored, entitled, weed-smoking surfer kids.
Dean Koontz's 1997 novel "Fear Nothing" is, to put it nicely, weird. It's a horror novel, yes, but it's pretty funny for a horror novel. The fact that the main characters are white, rich, entitled young kids who don't care about anything other than surfing, watching movies, and listening to music should clue you in to the world Koontz is building in this story.
Don't get me wrong: the horror in this---when it arrives---is pretty damned horrifying. But this is an extremely slow-burn story, where Koontz drops clues throughout about the Big Reveal, and the events and happenings don't make any logical sense. The reader has the distinction of being in the exact same boat as Chris: you won't know what the fuck is going on until the very end, so just enjoy the ride.
The book takes place all in one 12-hour period, at night. Chris wakes up to the gut-wrenching news that his father---who has been in the hospital---has died. He rushes to the hospital where he witnesses the morgue inexplicably switch his father's body with that of a vagrant whose eyes have been ripped out. That's just the beginning of his night of weird, inexplicable shit. A night that will involve family secrets, government experiments, super-intelligent cats and dogs, vicious monkeys, and murder.
Thankfully, Koontz takes his cues less from Lovecraft than he does Lebowski in this. End-of-the-world Lovecraftian horror is simply more fun and hilarious when told from the perspective of bored, entitled, weed-smoking surfer kids.
September 22, 2012
Too weird. No good story underneath. Events not supported. Lots of threats. Things not explained.
Most of the story takes place during two nights. Chris visits several people. There are long, vague, incomplete conversations with each person. There is a conspiracy/mystery and Chris is trying to figure out what is going on. Most people tell him things like “stop investigating. If you know too much you will regret it. The end of the world as we know it has begun.” A couple of people are angry and accusing toward Chris saying “You are responsible for this.” Most people know things, but they won’t tell Chris. Instead they say “you shouldn’t know all of it, just enough to forget what you saw.” There is a tell all at the end where Chris finds answers in a letter. I did not enjoy it. I felt like I was watching the author’s dreams.
Here’s an example of Chris visiting Roosevelt, a friend. Roosevelt knows what is going on but he won’t tell Chris. Instead it’s a long scene with Roosevelt talking to Chris’ dog Orson and talking about other pets and animals. Finally at the end of the scene, Roosevelt tells Chris that he must not ask any more questions or “they” will kill Chris’ friends, but “they” are not interested in killing Chris. He won’t give any more details.
Too many things are not explained, for example: Why some revered Chris and were in awe of him and wouldn’t kill him. Why wouldn’t people tell Chris the whole story? What happened and why with the hitchhiker. The title of the book didn’t make sense. Those were the dad’s last words to Chris. I wanted more details about why and what happened to the dad. Why Chris’ friendship with Manuel is now over. Why did Orson hate Chris temporarily three years ago. What was the cause and motive for Chris’ mother’s death? What are the motives for why some monkeys are killing humans. What’s the deal with dolls that looked like Chris? I wanted to know more about the leader of the monkeys? How did that work? How did that start?
What I liked: Chris had a genetic disorder. He will develop skin cancer and eye cancer from light bulbs and the sun. It’s almost a miracle that he’s lived to age 28. He knows he doesn’t have a long life ahead. I liked his attitude about living. After a major crisis that almost killed Chris and his friends, a friend asked “what do we do now?” Chris said “get a beer.” She said “after that?” Chris said “Can’t drink beer forever. Catch a wave.” Although he’s carrying a gun (for the first time in his life) he’s not worrying about things. It’s calming to see his attitude.
The narrator Keith Szarabajka was excellent. I’d be interested in another book just for his narration. At times his voice is gravelly and low. I really liked listening to him.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Chris. Unabridged audiobook reading time: 12 hrs and 37 mins. Swearing language: strong including religious swear words, but not often. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: one referred to, no details. Setting: around 1998 Moonlight Bay, California. Book copyright: 1998. Genre: mystery suspense. Ending: good for now.
OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Dean Koontz books, see my 5 star review of Lightning
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Most of the story takes place during two nights. Chris visits several people. There are long, vague, incomplete conversations with each person. There is a conspiracy/mystery and Chris is trying to figure out what is going on. Most people tell him things like “stop investigating. If you know too much you will regret it. The end of the world as we know it has begun.” A couple of people are angry and accusing toward Chris saying “You are responsible for this.” Most people know things, but they won’t tell Chris. Instead they say “you shouldn’t know all of it, just enough to forget what you saw.” There is a tell all at the end where Chris finds answers in a letter. I did not enjoy it. I felt like I was watching the author’s dreams.
Here’s an example of Chris visiting Roosevelt, a friend. Roosevelt knows what is going on but he won’t tell Chris. Instead it’s a long scene with Roosevelt talking to Chris’ dog Orson and talking about other pets and animals. Finally at the end of the scene, Roosevelt tells Chris that he must not ask any more questions or “they” will kill Chris’ friends, but “they” are not interested in killing Chris. He won’t give any more details.
Too many things are not explained, for example: Why some revered Chris and were in awe of him and wouldn’t kill him. Why wouldn’t people tell Chris the whole story? What happened and why with the hitchhiker. The title of the book didn’t make sense. Those were the dad’s last words to Chris. I wanted more details about why and what happened to the dad. Why Chris’ friendship with Manuel is now over. Why did Orson hate Chris temporarily three years ago. What was the cause and motive for Chris’ mother’s death? What are the motives for why some monkeys are killing humans. What’s the deal with dolls that looked like Chris? I wanted to know more about the leader of the monkeys? How did that work? How did that start?
What I liked: Chris had a genetic disorder. He will develop skin cancer and eye cancer from light bulbs and the sun. It’s almost a miracle that he’s lived to age 28. He knows he doesn’t have a long life ahead. I liked his attitude about living. After a major crisis that almost killed Chris and his friends, a friend asked “what do we do now?” Chris said “get a beer.” She said “after that?” Chris said “Can’t drink beer forever. Catch a wave.” Although he’s carrying a gun (for the first time in his life) he’s not worrying about things. It’s calming to see his attitude.
The narrator Keith Szarabajka was excellent. I’d be interested in another book just for his narration. At times his voice is gravelly and low. I really liked listening to him.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Chris. Unabridged audiobook reading time: 12 hrs and 37 mins. Swearing language: strong including religious swear words, but not often. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: one referred to, no details. Setting: around 1998 Moonlight Bay, California. Book copyright: 1998. Genre: mystery suspense. Ending: good for now.
OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Dean Koontz books, see my 5 star review of Lightning
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
September 7, 2022
Christopher Snow tiene una enfermedad genética que le obliga a vivir en la noche y en la penumbra, ocultándose de la luz y del sol. Pero cuando su padre muere y es testigo de algo que nunca debería haber visto deberá exponerse como nunca, porque ni la noche le podrá proteger de quien le quiere muerto. Desde ese momento Chris y Orson, su fiel compañero, son observados, vigilados y perseguidos, pero ¿por qué?, ¿por quién? Vivirán una fantástica y oscura aventura en la que no cesarán hasta saber quién está detrás de todo, para así intentar salvar sus vidas, pero descubrirán que, en realidad, es toda la bahía de Moonlight la que está en peligro.
🌚Nocturno tiene un ritmo rápido en casi todo el libro, es una persecución constante llena de misterios y te crea esa ansia lectora y esas ganas de saber que tanto prestan. No me gustó mucho que el autor tenga momentos en los que se va por los Cerros de Úbeda, lo que rompe un poco el ritmo de la historia, más aún cuando lo hace en momentos de tensión (apetece matarlo😠)
Al ser el primero de lo que se supone es una trilogía su final es abierto, lo que me dejo un poco chof😓 porque no sabía que era una trilogía, pero luego me quedé mas chof😓 todavía cuando descubrí que el final de la supuesta trilogía no está ni escrito…🤦🏻♀️
🖤Lo que Koontz deja muy claro en esta novela es su amor por los perros, porque la especial relación de Chris y Orson es digna de mención, así como la forma del autor de tratar y presentar el tema de la comunicación animal, muy natural, respetuosa y con un toque de humor.
😊Es el primer libro que leo del autor y me ha gustado mucho su forma de escribir, lo suficiente como para seguir leyéndole y solo por la genial pareja, Chris y Orson, me haré con la segunda parte, Tinieblas.
Sí, aún sabiendo que seguramente el final me dejará chof otra vez 😅🤷🏻♀️
🌚Nocturno tiene un ritmo rápido en casi todo el libro, es una persecución constante llena de misterios y te crea esa ansia lectora y esas ganas de saber que tanto prestan. No me gustó mucho que el autor tenga momentos en los que se va por los Cerros de Úbeda, lo que rompe un poco el ritmo de la historia, más aún cuando lo hace en momentos de tensión (apetece matarlo😠)
Al ser el primero de lo que se supone es una trilogía su final es abierto, lo que me dejo un poco chof😓 porque no sabía que era una trilogía, pero luego me quedé mas chof😓 todavía cuando descubrí que el final de la supuesta trilogía no está ni escrito…🤦🏻♀️
🖤Lo que Koontz deja muy claro en esta novela es su amor por los perros, porque la especial relación de Chris y Orson es digna de mención, así como la forma del autor de tratar y presentar el tema de la comunicación animal, muy natural, respetuosa y con un toque de humor.
😊Es el primer libro que leo del autor y me ha gustado mucho su forma de escribir, lo suficiente como para seguir leyéndole y solo por la genial pareja, Chris y Orson, me haré con la segunda parte, Tinieblas.
Sí, aún sabiendo que seguramente el final me dejará chof otra vez 😅🤷🏻♀️
December 6, 2018
5 stars.
🇺🇸🦋
🇺🇸🦋
March 19, 2011
Fear Nothing introduces Christopher Snow, a 20-something surfer who suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum - he can't go out during the day, as light is deadly for him. All light. Chris lives by candles, and by night.
Dean Koontz has the skill to write books that sustain the suspense and deliver engaging action, but he fails to do both with this one. The novel is narrated in the 1st person, a technique Koontz employed for the first time in Twilight Eyes, back in 1987. Sine the main character is a surfer, he and his friends speak only in surfer lingo, because that's how cool guys must talk right? To make matters worse, Koontz actually explains the lingo to the reader. I guess he truly does think that his readers are too stupid to understand slang, but for some reasons use words like "susurration" or "caterwaul" in their daily speech.
The characters are cartoonish. Snow has nothing better to do than to go on and have adventures with his beautiful and perfect girlfriend who must be the next incarnation of Venus. His friend, Bobby, is a multimilionaire who drinks Heineken and has nothing better to do and go on adventures.
Still, there's a pleasant story there. A small, quiet town haunted by the secrets of its inhabitants. It's been done multiple times before, both by Koontz and other writers, but it is a good frame for a story. Still, in this particular work Koontz tries to show off with some of the most self-indulgent, embarassing and overblown prose style since the Victorian novel. When one word is enough, he'll use twenty; he never misses an occasion to sidetrack the action with pointless detail and draw out the narrative to the extreme. The musing of the hero are not enlightening nor interesting; the descriptions that were the key points of his novels are inflated and pompuous beyond belief. This work is the antithesis of Intensity, which is propably Koontz's best novel. It foreshadows the terrible gradiloquent monsters that Koontz will write in years to come. This marks the end of his tight, entertaining thrillers.
Still, even though Koontz is completely inept at telling the story he somehow succeeds at creating an eerie mood, even if he interrupts it with lame jokes and platitudes. Fear Nothing shares a lot of similarities with his earlier novel, Midnight, yet the fact is never brought up.
Fear Nothing contains a good story that screams for a good teller; unfortunately it suffers from too many of Koontz's literary abuses to be properly enjoyed.
Dean Koontz has the skill to write books that sustain the suspense and deliver engaging action, but he fails to do both with this one. The novel is narrated in the 1st person, a technique Koontz employed for the first time in Twilight Eyes, back in 1987. Sine the main character is a surfer, he and his friends speak only in surfer lingo, because that's how cool guys must talk right? To make matters worse, Koontz actually explains the lingo to the reader. I guess he truly does think that his readers are too stupid to understand slang, but for some reasons use words like "susurration" or "caterwaul" in their daily speech.
The characters are cartoonish. Snow has nothing better to do than to go on and have adventures with his beautiful and perfect girlfriend who must be the next incarnation of Venus. His friend, Bobby, is a multimilionaire who drinks Heineken and has nothing better to do and go on adventures.
Still, there's a pleasant story there. A small, quiet town haunted by the secrets of its inhabitants. It's been done multiple times before, both by Koontz and other writers, but it is a good frame for a story. Still, in this particular work Koontz tries to show off with some of the most self-indulgent, embarassing and overblown prose style since the Victorian novel. When one word is enough, he'll use twenty; he never misses an occasion to sidetrack the action with pointless detail and draw out the narrative to the extreme. The musing of the hero are not enlightening nor interesting; the descriptions that were the key points of his novels are inflated and pompuous beyond belief. This work is the antithesis of Intensity, which is propably Koontz's best novel. It foreshadows the terrible gradiloquent monsters that Koontz will write in years to come. This marks the end of his tight, entertaining thrillers.
Still, even though Koontz is completely inept at telling the story he somehow succeeds at creating an eerie mood, even if he interrupts it with lame jokes and platitudes. Fear Nothing shares a lot of similarities with his earlier novel, Midnight, yet the fact is never brought up.
Fear Nothing contains a good story that screams for a good teller; unfortunately it suffers from too many of Koontz's literary abuses to be properly enjoyed.
April 7, 2024
One of the people that I follow on Instagram wanted to read a marathon of Dean Koontz books from what is considered his best works and I decided to join along. This is my first Koontz read. I can see the appeal. It jumps right into the action almost immediately and doesn't slow down until the end.
I did not see a lot of story elements and plot points coming. If I was a regular reader of Koontz, I might expect it, but it was out of nowhere for me. I really enjoyed reading it because I kept thinking, "This book is insane!"
One drawback was whenever Koontz would describe surf lingo or something similar it would take me out of the story. One of the main character's friends is a surfer so it would be fine for the friend to speak that way, but it was weird to have the surfer speak that way and then have the author explained what he was saying. I think we could have figured it out, if we didn't know. Also, I felt that everything that was explained was pretty common knowledge. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt thinking that it might not have been common knowledge when this book was written in 1998, but I feel like it was.
There really isn't an ending to this book. Some freaky stuff happens and then it calms down only slightly at the end. Between the government experiments, conspiracies, and non-ending, it really reminded me of an X-Files episode. I could also see this as a schlocky sci-fi movie that would be really fun to watch.
Have any of his books been made into movies? After a Google search, I see there has been and I've seen none of them. Maybe I will someday.
I did not see a lot of story elements and plot points coming. If I was a regular reader of Koontz, I might expect it, but it was out of nowhere for me. I really enjoyed reading it because I kept thinking, "This book is insane!"
One drawback was whenever Koontz would describe surf lingo or something similar it would take me out of the story. One of the main character's friends is a surfer so it would be fine for the friend to speak that way, but it was weird to have the surfer speak that way and then have the author explained what he was saying. I think we could have figured it out, if we didn't know. Also, I felt that everything that was explained was pretty common knowledge. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt thinking that it might not have been common knowledge when this book was written in 1998, but I feel like it was.
There really isn't an ending to this book. Some freaky stuff happens and then it calms down only slightly at the end. Between the government experiments, conspiracies, and non-ending, it really reminded me of an X-Files episode. I could also see this as a schlocky sci-fi movie that would be really fun to watch.
Have any of his books been made into movies? After a Google search, I see there has been and I've seen none of them. Maybe I will someday.
April 8, 2021
Доста приятна изненада от чичо Дийн, но с времето съм установил, че той ги умее тези работи - да зарадва коренно различни във вкусовете си читатели с някое произведение.
Въпреки няколкото рециклирани идеи от друга моя любима книга - "Пазители", и няколкото типични за Кунц всеповтарящи се теми в произведенията му, "Не бой се от нищо" влезе много свежо. Защо? Защото за разлика от обичайната схема с чудовище/ппсихопат/проклятие преследващо главния герой (както и обичайната помощ от супер непознат/гадже/приятел/леля) тук Кунц успява да постави едно цяло градче в ролята на злодей/конспиратор. Другият плюс е, че не се е отпуснал във фантастичните си допуски и произведението запазва един хомогенен край (той там обикновено успява да ме разочарова).
Кристофър е 28 годишен младеж с рядко заболяване, което не му позволява да седи на дневна светлина, и не само. Той е успял да балансира живота си, да намери щастие, приятели и призвание и всичко си му е дори по-наред от на средностатистическия Джо. Докато при смъртта на баща си не става неволен свидетел на подмяна на тялото му. Така в една кошмарна нощ целият му живот ще се окаже внимателно градена илюзия и ще му се наложи да открие истини за себе си, родителите и съгражданите си, които вече променят света такъв какъвто го познаваме.
Определено ще прегледам и следващата книга от "Лунния залив", градчето ми се нареди до другите такива присъстващи из литературата на почти всеки автор любител на нестандартните истории - знаете добре кои са, изброявал съм нееднократно, а списъкът май е време да се направи на файл.
Въпреки няколкото рециклирани идеи от друга моя любима книга - "Пазители", и няколкото типични за Кунц всеповтарящи се теми в произведенията му, "Не бой се от нищо" влезе много свежо. Защо? Защото за разлика от обичайната схема с чудовище/ппсихопат/проклятие преследващо главния герой (както и обичайната помощ от супер непознат/гадже/приятел/леля) тук Кунц успява да постави едно цяло градче в ролята на злодей/конспиратор. Другият плюс е, че не се е отпуснал във фантастичните си допуски и произведението запазва един хомогенен край (той там обикновено успява да ме разочарова).
Кристофър е 28 годишен младеж с рядко заболяване, което не му позволява да седи на дневна светлина, и не само. Той е успял да балансира живота си, да намери щастие, приятели и призвание и всичко си му е дори по-наред от на средностатистическия Джо. Докато при смъртта на баща си не става неволен свидетел на подмяна на тялото му. Така в една кошмарна нощ целият му живот ще се окаже внимателно градена илюзия и ще му се наложи да открие истини за себе си, родителите и съгражданите си, които вече променят света такъв какъвто го познаваме.
Определено ще прегледам и следващата книга от "Лунния залив", градчето ми се нареди до другите такива присъстващи из литературата на почти всеки автор любител на нестандартните истории - знаете добре кои са, изброявал съм нееднократно, а списъкът май е време да се направи на файл.
April 6, 2020
Abusa más de las metáforas que una canción de Arjona.
July 9, 2025
This started out really good. Sadly it got really slow for me. I like the character Christopher Snow but for some reason I just kept getting irritated while reading.
As Koontz got older and more confident (or less edited), he often indulged in repetition, philosophy, and scenic detours. Instead of tightening scenes for tension, he lets them breathe too much. For readers like me who want forward motion, it kills momentum.
That long chase/run isn't about events-it's about mood and tone. But that only works if the tension is sharp. If it feels like a treadmill with some vague cat/ coyote mystery, it turns into filler fast.
When an author keeps repeating the same idea or imagery, it's often because they don't trust the reader to "get it." So they drive it home again and again-like we didn't already understand the stakes.
Long story short. There was a lot of filler that everyone know I hate. I’m not sure why authors put so much filler. The only people that care about the word count is the publisher. The reader doesn’t need it.
As Koontz got older and more confident (or less edited), he often indulged in repetition, philosophy, and scenic detours. Instead of tightening scenes for tension, he lets them breathe too much. For readers like me who want forward motion, it kills momentum.
That long chase/run isn't about events-it's about mood and tone. But that only works if the tension is sharp. If it feels like a treadmill with some vague cat/ coyote mystery, it turns into filler fast.
When an author keeps repeating the same idea or imagery, it's often because they don't trust the reader to "get it." So they drive it home again and again-like we didn't already understand the stakes.
Long story short. There was a lot of filler that everyone know I hate. I’m not sure why authors put so much filler. The only people that care about the word count is the publisher. The reader doesn’t need it.
October 29, 2024
4.5 ⭐️s
SpookTober read 2024 - #8
Get ready to fall in love with Chris, his girlfriend Sasha, and his best mate Bobby in this thrilling and fascinating book. Their banter is fun and funny. Serious sh*t goes down too.
Mutations. Monkeys. Genetics. Cover-ups.
And special mention goes to Chris Snow’s sidekick, Orson the adorable and loveable wonder-dog. He steals the show.
A brilliant read.
SpookTober read 2024 - #8
Get ready to fall in love with Chris, his girlfriend Sasha, and his best mate Bobby in this thrilling and fascinating book. Their banter is fun and funny. Serious sh*t goes down too.
Mutations. Monkeys. Genetics. Cover-ups.
And special mention goes to Chris Snow’s sidekick, Orson the adorable and loveable wonder-dog. He steals the show.
A brilliant read.
October 2, 2009
Christopher Snow lives in the sleepy little town of Moonlight Bay. He has a rare disease called XP which prevents him from getting any sunlight or being in bright light at all. His body doesn’t repair ultra-violet damage the way most bodies do. Therefore Christopher is resigned to live his life by the night and he knows just about every inch of Moonlight Bay.
His girlfriend Sasha and his boyhood friend Bobby are his closest companions and they both love him dearly and would do anything for him.
He lives with his dog, Orson, who almost seems to be able to understand what you’re saying and respond.
On this night, Christopher Snow’s father, who is afflicted with cancer, dies. Chris makes a rare venture out into the world of light to go to the hospital to see his father one last time before he dies. After he’s gone and the body is taken to be cremated, Chris remembers his father wants to be cremated with a picture of Chris’s mother who died two years ago in a car accident. He rushes down to the basement to catch up with the men who took the body, but instead he finds an odd scene. A man in a van brought another body of a dead hitchhiker to be swapped out with Chris’s dad. Apparently someone wants to do more tests on Chris’s father.
This is the beginning of a strange night full of events for Chris Snow which leads him to discover a frightening military experiment has been going on in Moonlight Bay for years. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it’s too late to stop what’s already happened.
What’s worse, Chris’s mother was involved in the whole thing and as it turns out, she may have been murdered or killed herself.
Chris tries to find the truth in amid all the lies and secrets. He risks his life and his friends’ lives in this pursuit.
The ‘frightening experiment’ involves gene splicing which will allow superior intelligence. It has been tested on a variety of animals and in the first batch, although they exhibited superior intelligence, they also exhibited massive violence and hatred.
This book reminded me too much of Watchers and it even refers to The Francis Project that was behind all the happenings in Watchers. The difference is that this book didn’t have any of the heart that Watchers had. It was well written and suspenseful, but in the end, I didn’t really care about any of the characters. Orson didn’t win me over as much as Einstein. And the violent creatures resulting in the experiment didn’t have the heart that The Outsider was known to have.
Overall, this was a big let down. There’s another book with the same characters, but they didn’t win me over enough to want to read more about them.
His girlfriend Sasha and his boyhood friend Bobby are his closest companions and they both love him dearly and would do anything for him.
He lives with his dog, Orson, who almost seems to be able to understand what you’re saying and respond.
On this night, Christopher Snow’s father, who is afflicted with cancer, dies. Chris makes a rare venture out into the world of light to go to the hospital to see his father one last time before he dies. After he’s gone and the body is taken to be cremated, Chris remembers his father wants to be cremated with a picture of Chris’s mother who died two years ago in a car accident. He rushes down to the basement to catch up with the men who took the body, but instead he finds an odd scene. A man in a van brought another body of a dead hitchhiker to be swapped out with Chris’s dad. Apparently someone wants to do more tests on Chris’s father.
This is the beginning of a strange night full of events for Chris Snow which leads him to discover a frightening military experiment has been going on in Moonlight Bay for years. It’s the end of the world as we know it and it’s too late to stop what’s already happened.
What’s worse, Chris’s mother was involved in the whole thing and as it turns out, she may have been murdered or killed herself.
Chris tries to find the truth in amid all the lies and secrets. He risks his life and his friends’ lives in this pursuit.
The ‘frightening experiment’ involves gene splicing which will allow superior intelligence. It has been tested on a variety of animals and in the first batch, although they exhibited superior intelligence, they also exhibited massive violence and hatred.
This book reminded me too much of Watchers and it even refers to The Francis Project that was behind all the happenings in Watchers. The difference is that this book didn’t have any of the heart that Watchers had. It was well written and suspenseful, but in the end, I didn’t really care about any of the characters. Orson didn’t win me over as much as Einstein. And the violent creatures resulting in the experiment didn’t have the heart that The Outsider was known to have.
Overall, this was a big let down. There’s another book with the same characters, but they didn’t win me over enough to want to read more about them.
February 28, 2010
AWESOME! This book grabs you from the beginning and pulls you through a page turning adventure. I starting the follow-up book as soon as I finished this one. More on that one later.
Publisher's Summary
Christopher Snow is the best-known resident of 12,000-strong Moonlight Bay, California. This is because 28-year-old Chris has xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a light-sensitivity so severe that he cannot leave his house in daylight, cannot enter a normally-lit room, cannot sit at a computer. Chris' natural element is the night, and his parents, both academics, chose to live in Moonlight Bay because in a small town Chris can make the nightscape his own, roaming freely through the town on his bike, surfing in the moonlight, exploring while most people sleep.
But Chris' brilliant mother, a scientist, was killed in a car accident two years ago, and as the book opens his father, Steven Snow, is dying of cancer; Chris' protected life is about to change forever. We meet Chris as he is carefully preparing himself to go out in the late-afternoon sun to visit the hospital. In his last moments of life his father tells Chris he is sorry and that Chris should fear nothing, cryptic words that Chris cannot really relate to.
Steven Snow's body is removed to the hospital basement for transport to the funeral home/crematorium, and when Chris goes downstairs for a final moment of farewell, he witnesses a frightening and clandestine encounter: the funeral director and another man Chris doesn't recognize are substituting the body of a hitchhiker for Steven Snow's body, which is being taken not to the crematorium but to some secret destination.
For Chris, this scene is the first intimation of a conspiracy that he will come to realize envelopes many of his townspeople. His parents knew of it and wanted to protect Chris from it. His best friend has had hints of something wrong because of the frightening nocturnal visitors that have come to his beach house. And the first person to try to explain to Chris what's going on, and warn him about the special danger he himself is in, will be hideously murdered.
Publisher's Summary
Christopher Snow is the best-known resident of 12,000-strong Moonlight Bay, California. This is because 28-year-old Chris has xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a light-sensitivity so severe that he cannot leave his house in daylight, cannot enter a normally-lit room, cannot sit at a computer. Chris' natural element is the night, and his parents, both academics, chose to live in Moonlight Bay because in a small town Chris can make the nightscape his own, roaming freely through the town on his bike, surfing in the moonlight, exploring while most people sleep.
But Chris' brilliant mother, a scientist, was killed in a car accident two years ago, and as the book opens his father, Steven Snow, is dying of cancer; Chris' protected life is about to change forever. We meet Chris as he is carefully preparing himself to go out in the late-afternoon sun to visit the hospital. In his last moments of life his father tells Chris he is sorry and that Chris should fear nothing, cryptic words that Chris cannot really relate to.
Steven Snow's body is removed to the hospital basement for transport to the funeral home/crematorium, and when Chris goes downstairs for a final moment of farewell, he witnesses a frightening and clandestine encounter: the funeral director and another man Chris doesn't recognize are substituting the body of a hitchhiker for Steven Snow's body, which is being taken not to the crematorium but to some secret destination.
For Chris, this scene is the first intimation of a conspiracy that he will come to realize envelopes many of his townspeople. His parents knew of it and wanted to protect Chris from it. His best friend has had hints of something wrong because of the frightening nocturnal visitors that have come to his beach house. And the first person to try to explain to Chris what's going on, and warn him about the special danger he himself is in, will be hideously murdered.
October 5, 2017
"Although I wasn't trained for this work, there was no one but me to do the job."
This quote really sums up almost every Dean Koontz protagonist, and Christopher Snow is no different. Although there is darkness and creepiness in this book, it is very inspiring. It gives hope, because no matter what is happening in the world, there is always something good out there.
"A lot of the time, reality is what you make it."
I don't know why I haven't read this book before, because it's one of the best Koontz novels that I've read. The characters are vivid, the storyline is creepy, and it has a beautiful message. Although Chris has a less than ideal life, he lives. Life isn't about what you're given, it's what you make it.
"When a society erases its past, for whatever reason, it cannot have a future."
There isn't a lot that I can say about this book without giving away lots of the plot. If you like Koontz you will probably enjoy this. You spend most of your time in Chris Snow's head, following a trail that leads to creepier and creepier revelations. The writing is stunningly beautiful. Orson, Chris's dog companion, is fantastic. Sasha and Bobby are wonderful friends.
Just read the book. Right now.
"I believe in the possibility of miracles."
August 24, 2007
I picked up this book at the airport when I came dangerously close to finishing my current book (The Unthiknable Thoughts of Jacob Green) before my 4 hour flight back to Chicago from LA. It was the best choice they had. I anticipate a mediocre reaction to this book. I like Koontz, but a lot of his books seem to be too similar for me.
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Despite not being a big fan of the 'formula novel' - you know, all those books that authors constantly crank out and end up on the top of the NYT bestseller's list - I have to say that I enjoyed this book. I haven't really happened upon an engrossing read yet this year, but this book turned out to be one that had me longing to pick it up again. As with other Koontz novels, this book was a psychological thriller with a supernatural twist. Although engaging, I'm looking forward to reading something a bit 'meatier' from a more obscure author.
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Despite not being a big fan of the 'formula novel' - you know, all those books that authors constantly crank out and end up on the top of the NYT bestseller's list - I have to say that I enjoyed this book. I haven't really happened upon an engrossing read yet this year, but this book turned out to be one that had me longing to pick it up again. As with other Koontz novels, this book was a psychological thriller with a supernatural twist. Although engaging, I'm looking forward to reading something a bit 'meatier' from a more obscure author.
May 16, 2021
I have read this book more times than I can count. This is easily the book I have re-read the most in my life. I have a nostalgic attachment to it since my father would listen to it while driving but I wasn't always there to hear the whole thing and was too young at the time to really be reading something like this. But I still remember listening to the scene where Chris listens to Angela explain her experiences in the conspiracy, and at 8 or 9 years old being so enraptured in the tale. I had to read it to completion when I got older, and I've loved it ever since. It's sci-fi/thriller/conspiracy at its best.
May 31, 2017
Once again, Dean Koontz proves he is a hit or miss writer.
This first book of the so-called "Moonlight Bay" trilogy has an intriguing main character, (Christopher Snow), an interesting premise involving secret experimentation at an abandoned military base using retroviruses to enhance intelligence in animals, and a nice setting on the California coast. Unfortunately, it just never quite lived up to its promise. It seemed like every time my interest started to peak, the main character waltzed off into several pages of introspection on his life and what it all means.
Granted, Christopher Snow's life is unique in that he suffers from a rare genetic disorder that leaves him dangerously vulnerable to light. Consequently he lives by night; even too many candles in a room make him squint. That's a great concept for a character but the plot wandered about quite a bit before settling on the obvious telegraphed path that had to unfold eventually. This one was close to earning only two stars from me except for some nice scenes with Christopher's best friend, Bobby, (a surfer dude), and a pretty cool fight with monkeys at the end. Monkeys, especially monkeys with heightened intelligence and an evil streak always make for great horror fiction.
It seems even Koontz has abandoned this trilogy since the second book was published in 1999 and nothing since. Reportedly, Koontz had said in 2000 that he was half way through book 3 at that time. Hmmm...
This first book of the so-called "Moonlight Bay" trilogy has an intriguing main character, (Christopher Snow), an interesting premise involving secret experimentation at an abandoned military base using retroviruses to enhance intelligence in animals, and a nice setting on the California coast. Unfortunately, it just never quite lived up to its promise. It seemed like every time my interest started to peak, the main character waltzed off into several pages of introspection on his life and what it all means.
Granted, Christopher Snow's life is unique in that he suffers from a rare genetic disorder that leaves him dangerously vulnerable to light. Consequently he lives by night; even too many candles in a room make him squint. That's a great concept for a character but the plot wandered about quite a bit before settling on the obvious telegraphed path that had to unfold eventually. This one was close to earning only two stars from me except for some nice scenes with Christopher's best friend, Bobby, (a surfer dude), and a pretty cool fight with monkeys at the end. Monkeys, especially monkeys with heightened intelligence and an evil streak always make for great horror fiction.
It seems even Koontz has abandoned this trilogy since the second book was published in 1999 and nothing since. Reportedly, Koontz had said in 2000 that he was half way through book 3 at that time. Hmmm...
December 10, 2014
Christopher Snow has a rare condition called Xeroderma pigmentosum which prevents his body from repairing the damage done by uv light from the sun, light bulbs, etc., so he is a person of the night. Accompanied by his dog Orson, girlfriend Sasha and friend Bobby, he accidentally uncovers a secret from an apparently abandoned military base in Moonlight Bay. As he attempts to learn more about it, he and his friends are met with increasing amounts of threats and violence.
I reread this as a botm for the Koontzland Goodreads group in Dec 2012. It was still entertaining to read again but I found many of the pages tedious and hard to keep reading as I didn't find it contributing to the story. The ending was disappointing as it felt rushed since it wrapped up in just a few pages and it left the book feeling incomplete as it didn't answer many of the questions about other parts of the plot.
The plot has the same basic characters as some of Koontz's books - hero, intelligent dog and a child with a mental affliction.
I reread this as a botm for the Koontzland Goodreads group in Dec 2012. It was still entertaining to read again but I found many of the pages tedious and hard to keep reading as I didn't find it contributing to the story. The ending was disappointing as it felt rushed since it wrapped up in just a few pages and it left the book feeling incomplete as it didn't answer many of the questions about other parts of the plot.
The plot has the same basic characters as some of Koontz's books - hero, intelligent dog and a child with a mental affliction.
September 29, 2023
It’s Dean Koontz….
you get exactly what you expect.
you get exactly what you expect.
September 29, 2017
This was a great read can't wait to read the second book in the trilogy
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