This
review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained
therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to
copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions.
Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s
Exalted Permission
Title: Fear Nothing
Series: Moonlight Bay #1
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 450
Format: Digital Edition
Title: Fear Nothing
Series: Moonlight Bay #1
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 450
Format: Digital Edition
Synopsis:
|
Christopher Snow
was born afflicted with (insert really long medically sounding name),
otherwise known as XP. His body can't heal from UV damage and
something like a flashlight can take years off his life or make him
go blind in months. He is now 28 and his parents have sacrificed a
lot to give him as much freedom as possible. He roams the night,
writes successful novels and surfs.
Several months ago
his mother died in a car accident. The book opens with his father
expiring from cancer in the local hospital. Everything Chris ever
starts to go sidewise as he sees the local mortician replace his
father's body with some hitchhiker's. His father's body is loaded
into a van and taken away to Wyvern, a supposedly closed military
base.
During the next 2
days Chris uncovers a lot of secrets hiding in Moonlight Bay. His
mother was involved in genetic experimentation with the aim of
helping cure Chris's XP. Chris's father's cancer might have been
caused by a rogue genetic experiment gone awry. Chris finds out that
the experiments have been successful, but not in the way his mother
intended. The politicians and top army brass have used it to enhance
intelligence in animals and to transfer animal characteristics to
humans. Unfortunately, the carrier evolved and people began becoming
infected unknowingly and spreading it even outside of Moonlight Bay.
Several of the
solid citizens of Moonlight Bay have already fallen to the gene
therapy. The Chief of Police dreams of raping and killing little
girls. He tries to kill Christopher to keep his secret but dies in
the attempt. A troup of bloody thirsty enhanced monkey's attack
Chris, his girlfriend and his beach bum friend one night. The troup
is led by a court-martialed sociopath who has been hiding his own
“becoming” from all his superiors.
To top it all off,
it turns out that Chris's own dog, Orson, is the product of the tests
and is just as intelligent as a human. Orson, however, shows no sign
of the psychopathic murderous tendencies exhibited in almost all the
other patients that Chris has seen.
The book ends with
Chris realizing that he simply can't fight this end of the world as
we know it.
My
Thoughts:
|
I actually read the sequel to this 18 years ago. I wasn't reviewing
per se, so I didn't remember any details and so nothing was spoiled
for this book. Just an anecdote, that is all.
In the character of Chris Snow are the seeds that will, 5 years
later, turn into Odd Thomas and that much more successful series.
I found the scene between Chris and the Chief of Police to be as
horrific as Koontz intended without it being offensive. There is
nothing graphic in what Koontz writes and yet when the Chief is
talking to Chris about his nightmares and his plans and his descent
into animal savagery, I was horrified. It walked the line of talking
about something absolutely evil without crossing that line into being
voyeuristic about it. More authors should take note, as it takes real
skill to write that way.
I enjoyed this but once again, like his Frankenstein series, Koontz
is actually only telling one story and splitting it up into “books”
to satisfy publishing demands. This book ends with Chris and Co
surviving the attacks by various infected creatures, human or
otherwise but the threat is so big that it IS the end of the world as
humans know it. If I hadn't known there was another book, I would
have assumed this was a standalone with the Big Ending (ie, the end
of the world) left up in the air for the readers to imagine.
Considering how proto-Odd Thomas Chris Snow is, I was figuring that
Snow's girlfriend was going to die the whole book. Color me
pleasantly surprised when she made it through almost unscathed.
That'll teach me to be cynical.
The other thing I'm learning about Koontz seems to be that he likes
to write about short time periods. The first ¾'s of the book only
took 12hrs and the final ¼ was the next 24. Thirty-six hours for a
450 page book. I'll have to remember that so I don't expect dramas
drawn out over the years.
★★★☆½
No comments:
Post a Comment