Midnight

It goes like this: The breakers crash the snowy surf, the Cyprus trees curl over the gently rolling hills that lead into the Valley which is bordered by the scant forest covered in the pearly fog as the scary creatures ululate their cries through the tiny coastal village. Did I mention that the moon is pearly also and that the evil creatures like to ululate? So much useless description, very little attention to characters. I found myself skipping paragraphs. Then I decided to skip the whole thing. But if you like your scary creatures to ululate under the pearly moon as they scamper through the pearly fog, this is the book for you.

I read a book on suspense which recommended a few authors: Cornell Woolrich, Robert Bloch and James Cain. Plus this guy. I loved the first three. Skip this, go buy books by the other authors.

EXTREMELY verbose. Even for Dean Koontz who usually goes into extreme details about the plants and foods and other non-important details in the story. I found myself skimming paragraphs and looking for the actual meaningful parts of the story. I've read nearly 50 of his works and this one is by far the worst I've read in recent memory. He also spilled the beans about the whole plot in the first few chapters. No twists and turns and mysterious sub-plots in this one. It's a monster story where he tells you how the monsters are formed right off the bat. It was boring - monsters on the loose. People hiding and running from the monsters....Monsters all die. End of story. There, if you read this review, you just read the book. Buy something else.

As a self-proclaimed diehard Koontz fan, I bought into the idea that t his would be a great story without even reading the synopsis. I mean, it's Koontz right? Then I read the synopsis and I was even more excited! Who could resist a story about a small town with a deep secret, a brave little girl and her fight to stay alive, a jaded FBI agent and a perpetually optimistic sister of one of Midnight Cove's first victims? Then to delve even further into the story to find that it's wrapped around a compelling argument for why humans are the makers of their own demise? Hell, I should have been captivated!!!......Spellbound even. But that didn't happen and here's why.....

The plot was excellent. but it was ruined by:

An unimpressive narrator

His voice was so boring that I almost fell asleep and careened off of the road listening to him.

Overly preachy and descriptive

Yes, Koontz is known for being descriptive but in this book he was not only overly descriptive but preachy. Overly descriptive because he described things, situations, thoughts and feelings in a redundant fashion and then later on you'll think back and wonder why he bothered to mention something so unimportant and mundane. I guarrantee that if you read this story you will REALLY know how everyone feels and EVERYTHING YOU DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW because he will tell you at least 50 times this to make sure you get it!

Unappealing characters who lacked chemistry

Koontz usually has a knack for creating interesting and sometimes even lovable characters. You root for them not just because they are the "good guys" but because he developed characters in such a way that we could relate to them or at least know enough about them to care. But in this book it seemed that the only characters that he was successful at getting me emotionally invested in was a dog and maybe the little girl (in that order). Sad, ain't it?

Characters with no chemistry - Also, every once in awhile he'll interject some sort of romance between the two main characters and if he does it's one that seems natural. The attraction is intense and by the end of the story we all feel like the two people involved couldn't be any more made for each other! But in Midnight, even if you're lucky to recognize that he's trying to pair the two together, you'll still be indifferent or be in shocked that he is actually expecting us to believe that they had enough chemistry to be together in the first place!

So the bottom line is that the story line and the whole concept was really good but it was ruined by Koontz taking everything that I admired about his work and "ratcheting" it up until it was overkill!!! So much so that I found that my only motivation for even finishing the book was so that I didn't label myself as a quiter and because of the faint hope that somehow he (Dean Koontz) would save this book and I'd once again be thrilled by great story telling. In the end, I had nothing else to say but,"Man, I should have just read Watchers over again."

Dean Koontz's "Midnight" takes place in the town of Moonlight Cove, CA. The people of Moonlight Cove, CA are changing. Some are losing their emotions, while others are giving into their wildest fantasies and urges. The few people that have not yet changed are either murdered at night, or forced to join against their wills. Sam Booker is a skeptical FBI agent who has been sent into Moonlight Cove to investigate the amount of unnatural deaths and other strange things that are going on. Now Sam, with the help of three other unlikely survivors confront the darkest realms of human nature.
If I had to describe "Midnight" in one sentence, I would say that it is a mix between Koontz's other novel "Fear Nothing" and the film "The Island of Dr Moreau". The story is terrifying, and extremely well written. It involves the entire town against itself, with the heroes of the story caught in the middle. The townspeople in "Midnight" are extremely evil, because they give into their animal instincts. The creatures that some of the townspeople change into, are very violent. "Midnight" also offers a sense of paranoia because the story involves the entire town. Literally anyone could be an enemy. I love books that have conspiracies and make you ask the questions - What are they hiding? and Why are they doing it?
Koontz's character development is great in this book. The story's four unlikely heroes are lead by FBI agent Sam Booker. He is originally brought in to investigate all of the strange things going on. Sam figures that there must be a logical explanation for everything. However, as the story unfolds, he is forced to step outside his normal way of thinking in order to survive. The rest of the group includes an independent film maker named Tessa Lockland who is town investigating the strange death of her sister, a 10 year old girl named Chrissie who escaped from her parents that went crazy, and a man in a wheelchair named Harry Talbot who spies on the townspeople from his bedroom window. Thomas Shaddack may be one of Koontz's best villans ever. He is rich, powerful, and completely out of his mind. Koontz does a good job developing him because the reasons behind Tom's actions are hidden until the very end. As the story unfolds, we slowly learn why he is changing the town. It is almost as if he is a puppeteer, and the people of Moonlight Cove are his puppets.
Overall, Midnight really impressed me. The creatures are violent, the people in Moonlight Cove are sadistic, the heroes are inspiring, the main villan is one of Koontz's best, and the book creates a giant conspiracy because no one in the town can be trusted. This book's oustanding mix of horror, suspense, and paranoia makes it a treat to read.

I read this book years ago & just finished reading it again as I am doing with quite a few Koontz books. The story was still just as good & I had forgotten enough that it was easy to keep reading. However, my favorite part was the new Afterword. I didn't know a lot of the details of Mr. Koontz's career & I am so happy to know that he is now "almost" satisfied with the reception of his books by the public & by the people that help him get the books to all of us. He kept trying & it worked! He is one of the best story tellers around & I think one reason is that there is always hope in his stories, no matter how bad things get. It is something we all need & sometimes don't find in every day life. Love his books & his attitude.

All is not well in Moonlight Cove. "Midnight" is a suspenseful horror/science fiction novel of the hubris and (bio)technology run amok variety. It shares some ideas, and explicitly alludes to H.G. Wells' "Island of Dr. Moreau" (complete with mad genius), but perhaps owes more of a debt to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with its theme of emotions and what makes us human. Like his best selling contemporary Stephen King, Koontz can write a propulsive narrative that grabs you by the throat (i.e. a page turner) as well as having a firm grasp on creating (also like King) sympathetic and recognizable ordinary Joes and Josephines, which has undoubtedly helped his bestsellerdom. This is the second novel by Koontz, I've read, the first being "The Strangers", and a criticism of both would be that occasionally his characters "shed their skins" and become too obvious a mouth piece for a Koontz lecture on morality and ethics. On the plus side, "Midnight" deals with the transformation of people into various human-animal creatures, cybernetic creatures, and one feisty protoplasmic blob (always a favorite), and the descriptions, both physical and psychological, are compelling, vivid, and powerful. In other words, cool special effects. Neither "Midnight" nor "The Strangers" converted me into an ardent Dean Koontz fan, but both provided what I asked for - an exciting thrill ride.

This review is strictly about the audiobook of Midnight and doesn't concern Koontz's story. This recording is the first bad audiobook I've ever heard. The reader is someone named J. Charles and he's described as someone with over 40 years of theater experience, but apparently he never learned the art of narration. His pace is too fast, and his inflections and rhythm have a clipped style. At times it almost sounds like a synthesized, robotic voice and there are moments where he pauses inappropriately in the middle of a sentence altering its meaning. Charles' reading is, in a word, incompetent. The recording is a complete disaster and is an insult to Koontz and his fans. It's a mystery why the recording's Director, Koontz, and his publisher allowed this thing to be released. I honestly believe I could have recorded a more listenable version; yep, it's THAT bad. I struggled painfully to listen to the first 15 minutes then quit, shocked and angered at how bad it was. Don't waste your money on the audiobook, Midnight is one you have to read.

Koontz views the Computer Culture in much the same way the FBI viewed the Drug Culture of the 1960s and '70s. He may be a little overly alarmist, but the speculation is not entirely without merit, and he drives his point home well.
A mad Utopian has a plan for saving humanity from itself. He's going to make humans as rational as computers - by making them computers. As if that plan isn't off-base enough, the experimental town of Midnight Cove is demonstrating that his human computer virus has a few more bugs in it than he thought...
This book was the better-written inspiration for the author's later Christopher Snow novels. Like the Snow novels, it works best when hewing to a more science-fictional vein than a fantasy one, but veers a little over the edge from time to time.
I didn't care for it that much when it first came out, but on a re-read a couple years ago I found it to be much cleverer and satisfying than I remembered. It suffers from way too much padding in the beginning, but is one of Koontz's better books.

At least not in the begginning.... that's what makes it so darn good! This book starts out revolving around some very mysterious dissappearances in a peaceful small town. The townspeople and cops won't cooperate. At first it seems like a simple foul-play mystery, but that perception is dashed to pieces soon enough. The townspeople suddenly have the emotional capacity of a piece of wood. But they are hiding something, and they are willing to kill to keep it a secret! But even the townspeople are slaves to a condition that is slowly devouring everything that ever made them human. In effect, keeping the secret is killing them slowly...
As the book progresses, the story subtly evolves into a weird set of occurences that chill to the bone. Three main characters become the focus of the story as they find themselves trapped in this strange town, and whose only way out is to unravel the mysteries hidden within while running for their lives. This story goes at a heart-racing pace that doesn't stop once it begins.

Set in an isolated California community named Moonlight Cove, this horror novel pays homage to some of the finest most chilling horror stories of the fifties. The citizens of Moonlight Cove are changing. Against their will, some of them are surrendering to their most primal urges, transforming into ravening beasts. Struggling to understand and survive the town's transformation are four people: Tessa Lockland has come to Moonlight Cove to find out the truth behind her sister Janice's death. Tessa does not believe the official story that her vibrant, fun-loving sister committed suicide. FBI agent Sam Booker has come to Moonlight Cove to investigate a mysterious series of deaths that may indicate the corruption of the town police department. He is unaware that something more insidious, something infinitely evil has captured the soul of the town and its citizens. Ten year old Chrissie Foster knows part of the truth about what has happened. She narrowly escaped death at the hands of her own parents who have transformed into something so alien that Chrissie cannot even describe it. And high on a hill watching the disintegration of his beloved town is crippled Vietnam vet Harry whose telescope has given him a frightening glimpse of the hell which grips his fellow citizens. These four characters must find each other to uncover the truth and defeat the taint which has infected an entire town. Koontz has crafted a story which emulates "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Stepford Wives" to show an entire town corrupted by a scientist whose lust for power drives his genius. As always, Koontz develops sympathetic, realistic protagonists who inspire the reader with their courage and determination. He has an unerring touch in ratcheting up the suspense.

Starting in the mid-1980s, Dean Koontz hit his stride with a series of terrific cross-genre novels, starting with "Strangers," which was about alien contact; "Watchers," which was about genetic engineering; and "Lightning," which was about . . . well, you'll have to read that on your own.
"Midnight" continues the trend, though it veers more toward horror than the others. The novel is set in a small town in Northern California, where an experiment has been transforming humans into "something else." An FBI agent and a ragtag group of survivors bands together to respond to the horror.
As with most of Koontz's books, there is a palpable sense of eerieness that pervades the novel. Although the book is not without its violent and occasionally gory moments, it is not stomach-churning; Koontz generates suspense and terror more through implication than explicit description.
Interestingly, Koontz recycled the central plotline here in the recent "Fear Nothing." (The setting changed from Moonlight Bay to Moonlight Cove.) The character in "Fear Nothing" is quite different, however, so you can't entirely predict the outcome from "Midnight." Still, if you like "Midnight," you should like "Fear Nothing," and vice versa. (Personally, I thought "Midnight" was creepier.)

Something is happening to the citizens. Something horrible, something terrible...something unexplainable. And it is up to a small handful of people--and a faithful dog--to find out the answer, before it is too late...
Like in most Dean Koontz novels, plot is irrelevant. Not that it isn't good; Koontz weaves together some of the most creative plots in modern fiction. But the thing with a Koontz novel is this: character development. He has a knack for bringing characters to life, so it's as though they are right there beside you, telling you their accounts. Or it could just be me...
Suspense, too. Koontz writes nothing without some element of suspense; in his novels (which almost always blend sci-fi and horror with commercial thriller fiction), suspense is given the go-ahead to run free and rampant, pushing you to the edge of your seat, but holding back just enough so you won't fall and hurt yourself.
These Berkley reprints are great; we get some of Koontz's best novels, with new afterwords (in this one, Koontz talks about this novel being his first number one hardback, and a crocodile named Chloe who eats literary critics). The only problem is, die hard Koontz fans like myself are forced to spend another six-to-eith bucks for a book we already own...but oh well.
"Midnight." Dean Koontz. How can you miss, really? A sci-fi/horror/suspense novel, "Midnight" races along at speeds faster than most automobiles. Buckle up and hang on!

Midnight is the deadline for something ominous to happen to the denizens of a small and lovely sea-side town In "Midnight". "Moonlight Cove" is far too nice to be terror-free, especially when it exists in a Dean Koontz novel. A detective comes here to investigate the mysterious death of a young woman by forces unknown. He gets little help from the town, as if the inhabitants of the cove were not only protecting something, but had become the something itself.
Unfortunately, Koontz is better at creating the idea than executing it, and he doesn't let his story get far before he just tosses mystery aside and has two of his characters explain exactly what's going on. Without explaining too much (since Koontz saves us all the trouble) the Cove has become a rather freaky laboratory run, with the tacit agreement of the town, by a local genius who's certifiable in equal parts genius and the psychotic. The experiment uses nano-computers to tap into the latent minds of all humans, all centered around a huge computer that both manages it and provides a safety device (for the inventor, that is; he can shut everything down if he wants or feels its necessary. Of course, that will also annihilate the town). Faster than you can say "monsters from the id!", the secret is out, and it's downhill from there. The way the secret is revealed is an enormous cheat - our hero is a detective! Couldn't Koontz work up a plot that has the detective being forced to learn enough about bio-mechanics so that he could at least solve some of the mystery? Instead, as the clock ticks to midnight, our heroes spend much of their time dodging the rapidly revealed menace. Also, the conversation in which the secret is revealed is impossible: with the reclusive genius and the sheriff having a completely gratuitous conversation - it's almost like me overhearing a conversation between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, in English! Even the manner in which the monsters appear is utterly fake. Koontz telegraphs his chills so that they have no edge by the time they climax. His descriptions of the monsters doesn't mount to much either - since they all pretty much have the same menace, it doesn't matter that some look like Frankenstein's monster, while others resemble werewolves. When a monster intended to resemble the creature from the "Alien" movies is described pretty much in those terms, I was ready to toss this book without waiting for midnight.

Dean Koontz is a decent writer who falls short more times than not. Sometimes the suspense he delivers is powerful but lately I have been getting tired of his prose. It's as if the author himself is getting burnt out. You have to question an author who dishes out so many books. It takes the value out of the individual novels in my opinion. Midnight had a good premise but became unbearably boring in the middle and I almost didn't finish it. This book has many similarities with other of the author's books. Now if the similarities were interesting and fresh, than it would have been all the better. But they arent. They are boring and tiresome. One thing though that I did like about the book was that it had a positive message which is rare for the horror genre. Koontz has the potential to be a great writer but unfortunatly wears himself too thin. If you want to read fantastic, fresh, horror/fantasy, I recommend Dan Simmons, Robert E. Howard, and Ray Bradbury

MIDNIGHT incorporated horror within the realm of science and created a story of what could happen if one man took it upon himself to create a paradise free of crime and disease. Detective Sam Booker and cinematographer Tessa Lockland come across a town that is systematically having it population injected with a serum to make them "new people". Everyone is as law-abiding and healthy as can be, at least until Tessa's sister is found dead on the beach resort. Then, it's the dynamic duo versus the town that Dr. Frankenstein created, due to the people regressing into beings that may or may not have been part of a bigger scheme in this so-called "new world order". At times, repetitious and slightly long-winded, still, a pretty cool novel.

Futurologists led by a weasely mastermind have invaded Moonlight Cove, a sleepy lagoon town in Northern California sort of like Bodega Bay where Hitchcock's THE BIRDS took place. The entire population of the little town has become a race of guinea pigs that New Wave Technologies can play with like a puppeteer a bunch of puppets. What's worse, they don't even know what's happening to them.

Men at the top are covering up a rash of mysterious deaths that have been occurring all over the village, but the FBI is on the case and has sent in their top agent, a man with secrets of his own, to uncover who or what is behind the murders. They suspect a serial killer, but the truth is far worse. This man, Sam Booker, blends in easily with the lackluster villagers, and yet when night falls he finds that he is the prey, and they become predators. It's all part of a scheme to advance human consciousness and to upgrade humanity to a new level, but inevitably there are drawbacks to any utopian scheme. In this case, a certain percent of the lab "rats" become monsters!

Others drawn into helping Sam include the lovely Tess Lackland, whose poor sister died in Moonlight Cove, and little Chrissy, whose parents have changed beyond recognition as a result of New Wave's consciousness altering drugs. An appealing VietNam vet has a handicap but that doesn't stop him for entering the ultimate battle between good and evil. Of course it all begins at . . . midnight! Dean Koontz has written many skillful bestsellers and this is one of his signature titles.

Recommended, especially if you want to lose a good night's sleep!

The residents of sleepy MoonLight Cove are turning into monsters; reverting to their most primal selves in the grasp of night. A computer company, New Wave, is involved. Can a small handful of survivors stop the coorporation before its awful experiments go beyond this tiny nightmare town?

Koontz at his best here. A little bit of "The Island of Dr. Monreau", Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", this is a intelligent, suspenseful tale that blends hard science with visceral scares and numerous twists. Characters, as with most of Koontz's work, are likeable and well-rounded, and UNlike most of Koontz's novels, the happy ending actually feels justified.

A fine addition to any horror/sci-fi buff's library.

More science fiction than horror, Koontz delivers a gripping story about the consequences of man's need to force evolution and become omnipotent. Set in a small town in California, the atmosphere is harsh and oppressive. The story, while inventive, feels far-fetched and intricate. Koontz sticks to his patterned characters leaving readers hearing that old familiar tune and feeling cheated. Pace is precise and balanced. Written in the third person, Koontz's style of writing is smooth with proportional amounts of dialogue.

Now, after stating my own view on the book, let me say I did enjoy it. Granted, even though I saw the end coming a mile away, I still felt warm and fuzzy putting it down. This book doesn't try to be more than it is, a guilty pleasure with a rewarding conclusion. Yes, the characters are transparently trivial, but you still identify and root for them.

I give the book a 2 . Get it at the library, though entertaining, you might need that money for a more alluring purchase.
-Bloodymary

Believability is always a difficult undertaking when writing suspense/horror type novels. Although one may be skeptical of agile, four-legged, flesh eating and self-metamorphosing humans, Koontz instills a high level of believability to Midnight, not so much with the villainous creatures featured in the novel, but with all primary characters and their development throughout the book. Harry the shut-in Vietnam Vet, Sam the FBI man, Tessa the sister to one of the deceased and Chrissie the hapless pre-pubescent girl who narrowly escapes the clutches of her evil "converted" parents all add their own unique facets to the novel.

Believability soon fades for me after some craziness with the creatures somehow physically merging with computers. I suppose at this point it's pretty much irrelevant since all hell breaks loose within the town with the monsters running to and fro having their own carnivorous all you can eat festival.

Midnight makes for a semi-entertaining and effortless read, especially if you're in to far fetched tails involving flesh eating monsters. Koontz writes well and provides vivid description and realistic dialogue which is crucial when writing with this sort of subject material. As this is my first Koontz novel, I will be interested to read some of his other works, preferably with a little less horror, sci-fi elements and a little more down to earth, suspense material.

Insane inventor Theodore Shaddack injects microchips into captive townspeople, giving them immense mental powers but leaving them emotionally dead. The "New People" almost all regress to animal form, experiencing animalistic sensations, becoming killers, all except Sheriff Loman Watkins. Watkins is a "New Person" but retains enough morality to be disturbed by what is happening.
Koontz is a top-notch storyteller and it's this ability to keep the reader turning pages that puts his books on the best seller list again and again. MIDNIGHT is sensationalist trash judged by even the most lax literary standards -- horror with a science fiction twist -- but it's entertaining.

Beasts in the night; heroic, yet troubled FBI agent; a mad scientist; corrupt small-town police, and it is all one big smarmy cliche, right? WRONG.

MIDNIGHT is a wonderfull novel, and a terribly disturbing story. Yes, as a matter of fact, there are horror cliches. But if you prefer to think, as I do, they are stylistic tributes and more than excellent portrayals of terrifying literature.

Mr. Koontz stepped up his suspense, his characterization, as well as his tone and style with this one, and that is why it earned him his first bestseller. It's no surprise either; MIDNIGHT is a word that becomes here, a nightmare.

This was the first Koontz novel I read, long ago, when I was much younger. I was also more suscptible to scares, or being scared not only by monsters who "caper" in moonlight, but those mosters of uspeakable psycholgical madness. And after years of refusing to reread this book, for the fear of spoiling its terrific shocking contents, I choose to remember it just as well.

MIDNIGHT is really an updated FRANKENSTEIN. And although I'm not sure what the author is up to with his new endeavor with the Mary Shelley story, I know that it will be worthwhile. I know this because I've read both FRANKENSTEIN and MIDNIGHT.

Separated by more than a hundred years, these two stories hold disinct similarities. The flight from moral obligations, and the differences between progressive science and pure madness are here. But most importantly is the overwhelming human nature of escaping responsibilty. The word "regressive" implies it, but only this story and these characters can tell it as well.

Here, the townsfolk do not "regress" into a mob of different kind of monsters, as in FRANKENSTEIN. Instead, they BECOME the monster, each in their own way. They flee responsiblity and compassion and humanity to become something easier. They lose their hope, and regress. And the struggle of those left behind becomes impossible, if not hopeless. But a good Koontz charatcter has nothing if not hope.

My First, and one of my all time favorite Koontz novels.

If you don't want to be completely paranoid about computers and science, you might want to skip this one.
Once again Dean Koontz has taken an everyday situation and shown that not everything is as innocent as it seems. Our villian is probably someone you know (I think I used to work with him!!!) and our "heroes" are people who seem the most unlikely.
If you want to know what all the hoopla is over Dean Koontz, this is the book to start with. Just keep any dangerous objects out of arms reach and warn people not to sneak up on you while reading this one!

Midnight is one of the top five Koontz novels, although most of his books are very good. He really captured the cross-genre quality in this work by mixing Science Fiction and Horror in a seamless meld. I'd have to disagree with a previous reviewer who thought the transformation scenes were overdone. I enjoyed them immensely. Koontz not only tells a good story, but has a style that fits his material and which I personally consider one of the better styles in the thriller field. Books like Midnight, Lightning, and Phantoms are virtually textbooks on how to write a thriller.

Charles Gramlich

Author of "Cold in the Light"

3.5 Stars

Koontz is in top form here. An intriguing fast paced suspenseful plot makes this for a fast read. All characters are fairly easy to connect and identify with. I especially enjoyed Harry's(Wheelchair bonud veteran)character. The only thing that I disliked about this book is the ending. It's a little sappy, and seems rushed. All in all, a good read, and definitely something I would recommend to somebody looking for a good thriller.

While many of Koontz's books aren't believable, they are still good. Midnight is one of those!
Ala Stephen King, Koontz takes the idea of something other than human things walking this earth & wreaking havoc. What's scary is that these are humans, evolving into something else. The concept & the story did manage to give me the chills. I guess the main thing you need to keep in mind when reading a story like this is that it's not supposed to be realistic!

I've noticed that Dean Koontz uses similar situations and details in many of his books. In other words, in this book when the "changed" people are especially hungry, they say, "I need," over and over again and in the book, Mr. Murder, the villain also uses the same words when he needs food to fuel his need to recuperate quickly from injuries. There's quite a few little similarities in many of his books. Koontz's books are enjoyable, some much more so than others, but there's one thing that's totally different in this horror writer's novels. In novels by the master, Stephen King, you know the hero or heroine is either a believer or led by God in some way. It endears you to these characters. In Koontz's books, there's the idea that all religions are as worthy as the others, and there's an overtone in several of them that reincarnation is the truth. This is nothing more than eastern mysticism religion and in the book, MIDNIGHT, it is clear that the hero is afraid of death because of a near death experience where he found that he had to live life again many times. He didn't like or want to embrace life and thus because death meant he had to live again, he became afraid of dying. What a twisted view, eh? Well, I know this is only a novel and it's fiction, but writing with good and evil is still, God and the devil...not these half baked ideas of eastern mysticism that gets no one anywhere. I often wonder what Koontz's own beliefs are because of what he writes. This book is worth a read, but it's not his best.

This here's a retread of several other classic books, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I really loved Koontz' Odd Thomas and Forever Odd, and decided to explore his other novels, and found here, quite a stinker. The old adage of if you're going to do a remake, it had better be better than the original is a good standard to uphold, but the author does not apply it here. Although this novel is mildly diverting - why waste time on a weak remake? Also, I got to say the authors photo on the backs of most of his paperbacks is a rather annoying, self indulgent feature. I'd much rather see some information about the book itself.

First let me say that I listened to the audiobook version. I want to suggest two things if you are going this route: 1. Don't spend your hard earned money to purchase it when you can rent it from the library for free.
2. Don't listen to the audiobook, check out the actual book!(The reader is almost as dry as the book).

The setting (Moonlight Cove) and the plot(mysterious happenings in a small town) misled me to believe that I was in for a good read, but even as early as disc two my mind started to wonder. I missed parts of the story and didn't care that I had.

I could not connect with any of the charcters other than Harry Talbot(disabled veteran) and his dog Moose. Mr. Koontz could have dropped the other three characters and just went with Harry and Moose. I could have cared less what happened to the rest of the characters.

The dialogue is ridiculous. There is way too much repetition and descriptions of situations. It's like the author feels like we as the reader will forget what he just said two seconds ago!

I feel like a lot of the dialogue in this book was just to fill pages.

I read a review where someone actually thought the book was scary!Ummm... NO.

The only thing scary about this book is the 11 year old girl Chrissie (and she's supposed to be one of the good guys)! She has the most disturbing fantasies and her character is too unbelievable for me.

Even in fiction I expect for a story to make some kind of sense or atleast to be well written-this one just doesn't cut it.

I will say something positive about this book, it kills a lot of time.

14 yrs ago my english professor at college was giving away books, the hardcover was one of them. Up until that point I never read for pleasure. Dean Koontz opened up a world of fiction for me where I could escape from the everyday worries of life. Thank you, thank you...

Very silly, pretty much like everything that comes from under Mr. Koontz's pen (he must be moonlighting for the Weekly World News - his story ideas come straight from the tabloids).
Yet, Koontz is a talented storyweaver, and despite laughing sometimes in inappropriate places, I was thoroughly involved and entertained by the twisting plot and rich descriptions.
My only complaint plot-wise is that he introduced us to the bad guys a bit too quickly, eliminating all suspense from guessing as to who the creatures were. The opening is the best part of the book, by the way, and I knew I wouldn't put it down after an amber-eyed monster killed the jogger. Realizing the nature of the monsters so early in the beginning was a letdown.

After reading the first 10 pages, I was immediately engrossed. Almost like beginning of the movie "Jeepers Creepers" (which stunk). I was frightened of what the "creatures" were, but once that was discovered, it was a little to difficult for me to beleive in them.
This book was a little to sci-fi for my taste.

Midnight definitely had some "oh my gosh" moments. Dean Koontz created some scary characters and scary moments in this book. There were a few times I felt the narration was a little long, but the suspensful moments definitely made up for it. Midnight was enjoyable!

Usually the "villian" is the character that you would most fear in Koontz's stories but I have to say that the villian in "Midnight" is some what of a coward...and sort of annoying. The reason I gave this a four star rating was that the "regressives" were just downright "eerie"! And the ones trying to hold back from turning into these regressives were just as unsettling. I actually found the regressives and their behavior the most intense part of the story! I also loved the character "chrissie"-full of imagination, courage and humor for someone running for her life! And that she is only eleven years old!

Midnight does not let you stay still, it makes you feel that you need to be constantly on the move and looking over your shoulders.

This is a very good combination of horror and science fiction. The book takes off from the very beginning and has a very uplifting ending. The characters are really good, you do care for them and this is very inportant. The characters are always in danger of being killed and you find yourself on the edge of your seat thinking please don't die. The whole concept is extremely interesting and the story is great. I highly recommend it.

Although the plot of this book is intriguing, Koontz seems to get lost in the details here. The few "action sequences" are spoiled by page after page of monotonous unnecessarily bland descriptions. This work crawls towards the finish line like a severely dehydrated marathon runner...slow and agonizing. It seems to me that after reading "watchers", "dragon tears" and now "midnight", koontz has fallen into the trap of creating the same basic story with different names.

Every book it seems involves a down-and-out male who is handy with firearms, who meets a female who fulfills the "opposites attract" mold, a child who interjects with cheesy if not flat-out semi-mentally-challenged commentary, a bad guy who is driven by latent childhood trauma, and, of course, a dog.

Now, I could be a great painter by going out and buying a book which teaches me how to paint Monet by numbers, but wouldn't the final product be nothing but an illusion of grandeur? A true artist breaks through the conventional molds, creating his or her own ORIGINAL work. If DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa 15 times, with different hairstyles, various outfits, perhaps a different background, I think that the value of his art would have suffered. The same goes for Mr. Koontz.

He is an extremely talented writer, who can paint a scene in one's mind better than most modern novelists. However, I would like to see him reach out and try something, say, novel for a change?

Bottom line: this book had a lot of potential, could've been improved by removing 100 to 150 pages of blather. I recommend trying a different choice instead.

Next to Lightning this is my favorite Koontz book. The others reviewers have done a good job with the synopsis so I won't bore you with my version. I'll only say that it is one his best and you won't be dissapointed.

Gripping from the first pages to the last, Midnight takes the reader on break-neck ride through the city of Moonlight Cove. Koontz has never been better in his characterization or his plotting, either. This is a story to twist your sense of science's limits and our own limits. A home run for Koontz!