By the Light of the Moon

By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz was a fast paced thrill ride. As Koontz so often does, he delivered another novel that is a page turner and keeps the readers heart rate accelerated. I found myself, as I often do with his books, looking several paragraphs ahead to see what was going to happen because the book was so suspenseful.

The novel started off slow for me. Dean Koontz has a tendency to over-describe, if that is even a word, and he does it with great consistency. That made this book a little difficult to start. It is kind of like he uses a thesaurus for every third word and decides that he must use alliteration, analogies and/or metaphors every third sentence. If you can get past that though, you are in for one heck of a ride. Once past the mass of description, you are thrown into a ride so wild that you have no choice but to be all consumed by the book.

The adventure in this book begins with a set of brothers, one who suffers from autism, the other his faithful caregiver; a strong young woman self described as a "Southwest Amazon"; and, a crazy doctor who injects the aforementioned characters with some "stuff" that he says will do exceptional and amazing things to them. In addition, he tells them that they better run, because now that they have this "stuff" coursing through their veins, others will be out to kill them. The ensuing adventure is thrilling, scary and heart pumping.

Most of his books are written to take place over short periods of time. This book was no exception, lasting a mere 18 hours or so from start to finish. Maybe that is why he fills it with such description, because to not do so would leave him with a short story instead of a novel. Whatever the reason, he definitely makes the world around you disappear and his fictitious world replace it. You feel like you are there, with his characters on their terrifying and exhilarating journey. Around every corner is another turn that you don't expect. Add to the fast paced adventure the fact that the characters in this book are so lovable that you want to know them in your own life, and the result is a really good read. Dean Koontz rarely disappoints in this department!

Happy Reading!