Product Description

Dean Koontz has surpassed his longtime reputation as “America’s most popular suspense novelist”(Rolling Stone) to become one of the most celebrated and successful writers of our time. Reviewers hail his boundless originality, his art, his unparalleled ability to create highly textured, riveting drama, at once viscerally familiar and utterly unique.

Author of one #1 New York Times bestseller after another, Koontz is at the pinnacle of his powers, spinning mysteries and miracles, enthralling tales that speak directly to today’s readers, balm for the heart and fire for the mind. In this stunning new novel, he delivers a tour de force of dark suspense and brilliant revelation that has all the Koontz trademarks: adventure, chills, riddles, humor, heartbreak, an unforgettable cast of characters, and a climax that will leave you clamoring for more.

Dylan O’Connor is a gifted young artist just trying to do the right thing in life. He’s on his way to an arts festival in Santa Fe when he stops to get a room for himself and his twenty-year-old autistic brother, Shep. But in a nightmarish instant, Dylan is attacked by a mysterious “doctor,” injected with a strange substance, and told that he is now a carrier of something that will either kill him...or transform his life in the most remarkable way. Then he is told that he must flee--before the doctor’s enemies hunt him down for the secret circulating through his body. No one can help him, the doctor says, not even the police.

Stunned, disbelieving, Dylan is turned loose to run for his life...and straight into an adventure that will turn the next twenty-four hours into an odyssey of terror, mystery--and wondrous discovery. It is a journey that begins when Dylan and Shep’s path intersects with that of Jillian Jackson. Before that evening Jilly was a beautiful comedian whose biggest worry was whether she would ever find a decent man. Now she too is a carrier. And even as Dylan tries to convince her that they’ll be safer sticking together, cold-eyed men in a threatening pack of black Suburbans approach, only seconds before Jilly’s classic Coupe DeVille explodes into thin air.

Now the three are on the run together, but with no idea whom they’re running from--or why. Meanwhile Shep has begun exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior. And whatever it is that’s coursing through their bodies seems to have plunged them into one waking nightmare after another. Seized by sinister premonitions, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to crime scenes--just minutes before the crimes take place.

What this unfathomable power is, how they can use it to stop the evil erupting all around them, and why they have been chosen are only parts of a puzzle that reaches back into the tragic past and the dark secrets they all share: secrets of madness, pain, and untimely death. Perhaps the answer lies in the eerie, enigmatic messages that Shep, with precious time running out, begins to repeat, about an entity who does his work “by the light of the moon.”

By the Light of the Moon is a novel of heart-stopping suspense and transcendent beauty, of how evil can destroy us and love can redeem us--a masterwork of the imagination in which the surprises come page after page and the spell of sublime storytelling triumphs throughout.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #336210 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-04
• Released on: 2003-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 496 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553582765
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Perhaps more than any other author, Koontz writes fiction perfectly suited to the mood of America post-September 11: novels that acknowledge the reality and tenacity of evil but also the power of good; that celebrate the common man and woman; that at their best entertain vastly as they uplift. His latest is one of those best, exciting and deeply moving, shorter than usual and also less prone to the overwriting, the flood of similes and metaphors, that sometimes overwhelms his storytelling. As usual for Koontz, the novel opens at full throttle: a mad doctor invades a motel in Arizona, injects both itinerant artist Dylan O'Connor and struggling comic Jillian Jackson (strangers to one another) with an unknown substance that, he says, is his life's work and will have some unknown effect, then warns them to flee before his enemies kill them; soon after, the doctor is slain by heavily armed assailants. The rest of the story is an extended chase, as Dylan and Jillian, along with Dylan's high-functioning autistic brother, Shep, dart around the West, only steps ahead of the assassins. Within hours, the effects of the injections materialize: Jillian experiences portentous visions-a flock of birds, a woman in a church; Dylan is overcome by the need to rush to the aid of people in distress (among others, in an intensely poignant scene, an elderly man searching for his missing daughter); and Shep learns to teleport himself and others. (Interestingly, Koontz bases the science behind these developments on nanotechnology, the same mechanism used by Michael Crichton in his just published Prey, an object lesson in how two writers can take the same premise and generate two very different yet excellent novels). The novel's only flaw is its abrupt ending, contrived probably to allow sequels-a probability that Koontz fans, but also anyone else who reads this novel, a predestined bestseller and rightfully so, will applaud.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Someone menacing is after itinerant artist Dylan, his autistic brother, and their new traveling companion, Jilly, a stand-up comic who has visions. And they only have the novel's 24-hour time span to figure out who it is.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
One night in an Arizona motel, he-man artist Dylan O'Conner and stand-up comic Jilly Jackson are forcibly injected with "stuff" by a guy who looks like a mild-mannered doctor or salesman. The assailant tells each of them that guys in black SUVs aim to snuff him and the stuff, and they will kill Dylan and Jilly, too, so they better hit the road in 20 minutes. Since Dylan's autistic brother, Shep, goes wherever Dylan goes, it takes a little pushing, but they hit the asphalt just as Jilly's beloved Coupe de Ville--just stolen--blows up, immolating a driver whom they think is Frankenstein, as Dylan has dubbed the doctor-salesman-whatever. On the lam, Dylan and Jilly discover they have fantastic new powers. He is psychically compelled to track down evildoers, and she can make psychically powered leaps in space. And golly, Shep can leap around in space and time! Seems Frankenstein stuck him, too. Koontz's latest is mostly a chase, with all the principals, including Frankenstein (a stooge was in Jilly's Caddy) and Jilly's favorite broadcaster, a psychic who has also been injected, eventually gathering for a Mexican showdown. The only really startling thing in it is the remark, made of Dylan and Jilly's downtime chitchat about movies, "as though Hollywood-produced entertainments could possibly have serious relevance to them now." Maybe Hollywood isn't relevant to characters in a story, but this story--a real load of laffs, action, schtick, and product placement ops--isn't seriously relevant to anything else. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Brilliant stuff
Ever since the Christopher Snow novels (Fear Nothing and Seize the Night), Dean Koontz has been perfecting his own sub-genre, the spiritual thriller. His work has fully come to fruition in his two latest books, One Door Away from Heaven and By the Light of the Moon.

It's interesting to compare the latter with Michael Crichton's Prey. Both deal with nanotechnology. Both are in the thriller genre. That's where the similarity ends. Crichton is a Cassandra. Koontz is a prophet of the good news (not really the Christian gospel, but something very close). The thing that most clearly separates Koontz from Crichton is the former's deep concern for people, especially those who would generally be considered the dregs of society-trailer park denizens, kids with terminal illnesses, dead-end divorcees. These are the people through whom salvation comes, not the scientists, not the theologians, not the cultural arbiters.

By the Light of the Moon, perhaps Koontz' most accomplished novel to date, concerns three misfits, Dylan O'Conner and his adult autistic brother, Shep, and Jillian Jackson, a third-rate stand-up comic. These three share a common, albeit bizarre, thread of recent personal history: each has been infected with an unknown substance, administered by a benign-looking although ego-maniacally demented mad scientist, that will either destroy them or endow them with remarkable powers-or perhaps both. They find themselves thrown together and on the run, from mysterious forces who want nothing less that their termination, with extreme prejudice.

What happens is a series a serio-comic chase scenes, personal revelations, and general Koontz-inspired mayhem and high jinks, all ending in a remarkable turn-around-is-fair-play denouement, featuring the most memorable minor character, apparent UFO-obsessed radio-talk-show-host Parish Lantern (great name, btw), since Kilgore Trout.

By perfecting the relational-friendly spiritual thriller, Koontz has done us all a great service: He has figured out how to insinuate deep messages into the most unlikely set of story circumstances, all the while entertaining our socks off. For that, I believe he has become the most important novelist of his generation.

On a personal note, I am the father of an autistic son approximately Shep's age, and I must say I was very moved by Koontz' conception and portrayal of an individual suffering from this condition. My son, Christopher (his name means "Christ-bearer"), is about at the same functioning level, and Koontz has exactly caught the mystery and much of the nuance of autism. Except, perhaps, for the depiction of autism by Dustin Hoffman in "The Rain Man" (based on the son of famous autism researcher, Bernard Rimland), Shep O'Conner is the most accurately rendered fictional autistic character I have seen.

Thank you, Dean Koontz, for your quirky, idiosyncratic vision. May it ensue in many more such inspired creations.

BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON - Dean Koontz is back in form
As a long time reader of Dean Koontz books, I have been somewhat disappointed with his most recent novels. Although by most standards they are very readable, they lack much of what has made Dean Koontz a solid best-selling author for so many years - strong characters, tight storytelling. I found the author's recent books to be overly descriptive and somewhat flowery (sorry, but it's hard to describe the exact nature of the problem - also note, I still read them all!).
I am very pleased then to say that his most recent novel, By The Light of the Moon is not only his best in recent years but may be his best since Dark Rivers of the Heart.
The characters - Dylan, Shepherd and Jilly - are brought together after they have been injected with nanobots, microscopic biological machines, which bring about unique changes in our characters. Dylan is able to identify events already happened or yet to come in the residue left by a person's touch on various objects. Jilly develops precognition. Shep, Dylan's autistic brother, develops the most exciting ability. He can "fold" from "here" to "there". He seems to be able to grasp the edge of reality where he is and fold it out of the way while folding into another location. While this "folding" can be accomplished in either space or time, the ability to "fold" into other dimensions is hinted at, creating exciting possibilities for these characters in the future. The author describes this process so eloquently that it reminds one of Stephen King and Peter Straub's young Jack Sawyer "Flipping" into the Territories in The Talisman and Dark House.
The author follows these character's actions with little interruption by the band of black Suburbans following them (full of thug golfers (you'll see!)). This is somewhat unusual for Dean Koontz who usually keeps the tension up by moving frequently from one cast of characters to another. Not so in this book. It works very well, however. The action is fast paced and "can't put it down" exciting.
Some might be disappointed by the ending which sets us up for additional stories, but I loved these characters so much that I can't wait for more.
Dean Koontz has with this novel created a new band of superheroes, but done so in a way that we care greatly about them and look forward to getting together with them in the (hopefully, near) future.

4 and 1/2 stars...Engaging Characters in a Comic Book Finale
Shame on me. Despite my father's encouragement, I've taken this long to read a Koontz novel. It was worth the wait.

"By the Light of the Moon" leaps forward from the first few pages. Clearly, Koontz is one of those writers who knows how to start the story at the right spot--in the middle of the action. Within twenty pages, he thrusts us into an otherworldly and suspenseful setting, where three young people will be altered forever.

The story begins when Jilly, Dylan, and Shep's lives collide in a motel where a mad-scientist type character injects them with "stuff" and promises that "it does something different to everyone." Indeed, Dylan begins to feel psychic spoors on objects he touches, Jilly sees visions/mirages, and Shep learns how to "fold" the world around him (read the book to find out more). As they focus their abilities, the characters are bound together in a race to save lives and divert heartache and pain.

Koontz masterfully draws his characters, causing us to care for them and their predicament. Shep is an autistic boy, Dylan is the brother committed to caring for him, and Jilly is the stand-up comedian who stumbles into their path. Koontz lets his characters be themselves. He lets us see into their pasts and into their hearts with effective timing and skill. He keeps surprises up his sleeve, and divvies them out at appropriate moments. Although he spices his writing with rich similes and metaphors that add to the mood and direction of the story, I did find the sheer volume of them distracting at times.

The climax of the book was my only disappointment. The story moved from fringe characters in a predicament to "The Matrix" meets "X-Men." The scenes are handled deftly, and the bigger issues of fate and free-will are intriguing to contemplate, but Koontz's comic book ending undermined my enjoyment of the themes he explored.