This is the second Chris Snow book, after Fear Nothing, and the character has finally found his own voice. One of my complaints in the previous novel was Chris's lack of a personality: he acted differently depending on who he was talking to. This time, however, he's far more consistent, as are the other characters. Unfortunately, the plot surrounding him is far weaker. Koontz can't decide what to use as the Big Bad, so he throws in a little bit of everything: sociopathic serial killer, genetic engineering, time travel, evil government/military types, etc. It gets a little silly after a while. Chris's XP (a genetic disorder which means he can't handle UV light) is almost forgotten for most of the story, which is a little strange considering how many times there are talks about fluorescent lights blinking on and, more importantly, the infrared goggles. Perhaps Koontz doesn't know this, but IR goggles require a digital screen, meaning that Chris basically put a small computer monitor against his eyeballs which are supposedly so sensitive he can't sit too close to a television. But oh well, that's certainly the least of the inconsistencies in these books. Chris Snow is a great character, as are his buddies (Sasha, Bobby, Roosevelt, Doogie, Orson); I just wish they'd been given a better plot to play in. ( )

Follow-on to Fear Nothing. Review to follow when I read it again. ( )

Absolutely LOVE this series--would like to see more! ( )

The second book in the series about Christopher Snow, the 28-year old with XP. This book takes place a month after FEAR NOTHING. In some ways, it’s just as good, in others, it is not.

I think the reason it is not as good as the first one is because with the first one, everything is still a mystery to you. Chris’ life, how his parents died, etc. By the second one, you at least know HIS background and where he comes from, so that takes away a little of the excitement of reading a new book for the first time and knowing nothing about what is happening.
What makes this book better is that is picks up on what I thought was one of the best things about the first book, Chris’ relationship with his best friend Bobby. The dialogue these two partake in is BRILLIANT! And where Bobby was only in the first book a little bit, he is thru-out this book. Most of the book, in fact, is Chris and Bobby working together and the dialogue is top-notch. There are a few intense scenes I can so easily picture on the big screen, it’s amazing! My favorite 2 scenes being the scene with the birds flying into the building! Pock, Pock, Pock. I can see and hear that so clearly. And the scene when they first encounter the big monkey and they are in the jeep in the tall grass and the monkey screams. Bobby jumps out of the jeep, Chris jumps up in the jeep and they don’t see the monkey. Bobby says it was close and Chris say something like, "Yeah, up my ass!" and they both turn to look UNDER the jeep! Priceless scene! Those are two scenes I would have loved to have written!

The disappointing thing is that they actually solved one of the many riddles of Moonlight Bay. Of course, that still leaves others, but one of the many mysteries from the first book is actually solved here. While others continued.

The book ended with a setup for a third book, and I’ve heard recently it is supposed to be a trilogy and the third one is already underway and should be out soon! Awesome! But I want more than a trilogy!

On a scale of 1 to 10, still a 10!! Still up there with the first book! I still love the character of Christopher Snow! ( )

This is a hard review to write. I started reading this book, then had a week of migraines which meant at best I read it in short bursts if at all. This is NOT a book to read that way, but once I'd recovered from the migraines and could read for longer periods I found I really enjoyed it.

It is, purely in terms of the story, much longer than it needs to be. In fact it is fair to say that, as stories go, almost nothing happens. It is spread over two nights and there is a limit to what can happen in such a period of time.

The reason you will probably want to be able to read in longer bursts? There are lots of diversions, literary curlicues and flourishes and digressions. At one point they are walking through a deep underground tunnel and feeling rather ill-at-ease. There is a page long digression about Dante's Inferno - the first sentence would normally be enough, but in this book the character rambles about which circle they might be on, how the lake of Burning Blood is probably not contained within green-painted walls and the like. It makes the central character far more interesting than your typical horror or sci-fi story character, and if you are reading in big chunks the diversions and the advancement of the character work well together.

I will probably look out the other two books when I get the chance. I can say, with certainty, that although this is the middle of a trilogy, it works as a stand alone book perfectly well. I know I've missed stuff in book one, but it's not essential to book two, and the few bits that matter are handled seamlessly. The final couple of paragraphs seem to lay the ground work for book three, but they also round off this book nicely, so no complaints there. ( )