Seize the Night

Seize the Night (the continuing story of Moonlight Bay) starts when Lilly Wing's son, Jimmy, goes missing. Chris, better known as Snowman, and his intelligent dog, Orson, follow Jimmy's trial into Fort Wyvern—a now deserted army base where mysterious experiments are rumored to have been conducted. After losing Orson, Snowman calls in his surfer friend, Bobby, to help. The story then leaps into a super suspenseful fantasy tale with frenzied monkeys, suicidal birds, and some wiggly cocoon things that gave me the creeps. Realizing they might have bitten off more than they can chew, Snowman calls in the whole gang: Sasha (girlfriend), Roosevelt (the old rich guy who talks to animals), Mungojerrie (super cat), and Doogie (biker dude) and show more soon they are fighting for their lives in the weird underground levels of the fort. Full of action and riddles not easily explained, this book was witty, riveting, and just good fun. show less

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Title: Seize the Night
Series: Moonlight Bay #2
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal/Thriller
Pages: 482
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

It has been a month since the events in Fear Nothing. Chris Snow is just chilling in Moonlight Bay, waiting to see if the end of the world will come quickly or slowly. He's out bicycling one night when he meets an old flame. She lost her husband 2 years ago and that very night her 6 year old boy show more has gone missing. Chris begins to track down the kidnapper and ends up at the Wyvern Base. He has a run in a psycho who tries to kill him and then in the process of leaving, has another encounter with the Troop. Also, Orson the dog has gone missing during the initial attack on Chris. While hiding from the Troop, he's rescued by his surfer friend and they continue the hunt for Jimmy. They find a room that appears to take them somewhere else and they appear to see things that have happened in the past. They barely escape with their lives when some kind of monster infects a past researcher and they're stuck with him. Thankfully, the “time machine” brings them back before they get axed.

Once home, before daybreak, Chris and Bobbie are confronted by the police and told to ignore everything, as “Higher Ups” are taking care of it. Considering the past track record of these “Higher Ups”, Chris and Bobby decide to ignore the cops and keep on looking for little Jimmy once night falls. They are told that the retrovirus burns itself out as the victims implode psychologically (ie, suicide) and that there are humans with natural immunity. Humanity is saved from the devastation Chris's mom let loose. Hurray. They still have to find Jimmy and some other children who have gone missing.

Chris, Bobby, Sasha (Chris's girlfriend), Mungojerrie (an intelligence enhanced cat) and some others all had to Wyvern to rescue Jimmy and the other missing children. Mungojerrie detects that the kids are beneath the time machine room and the machine is running while they make their rescue. Bobby is killed by security from the past and everyone sees into another dimension and a being comes through. It turns out that a murderous psycho who has been groups of children over the last 2 years is the head of the Mystery Train project and he wants to go to the other world so he can kill to his hearts content. It would appear though that he has tried to open a door to hell and something gets through. The group meets themselves on the elevator and Chris grabs Bobby and takes him with them. They escape and the time machine goes nuts. They watch it un-make itself, thus undoing the whole project but they still remember it.

Turns out the murderous psycho is still alive but now working on another project. Chris vows to stop him again and they all live happily ever after.

My Thoughts:

This was much more paranormal than the previous book. That just had a retrovirus turning everyone into bestial creatures who were just slathering to kill, pillage and rape. Here, the Mystery Train is a time machine only it turns out to “sidewise” in time and bad things have happened, hence why the project was shut down.

This book was only 48hrs and my goodness did Koontz pack in the thrills and chills. He's very descriptive and I have to admit I wanted to skip it all but his descriptions really set the mood. Very atmospheric writing and downright creepy in place. I really liked it.

I also liked how Koontz unabashedly talks about the spiritual and how it is just as real as anything “scyenze” today can try to explain. In one paragraph Chris the main character is talking to his friend Bobby and Bobby says:
“That doesn't bother you like it does me, 'cause you've got God
and an afterlife and choirs of angels and palaces of gold
in the sky but all I've got is broccoli.”

It is kind of silly but it really got across the hope I have as a Christian. It's refreshing and encouraging.

I think the only thing I didn't really care for was how open ended the book was. Yes, the Mystery Train project is revealed, the retrovirus appears to be either burning itself out or a cure quickly on the way but with the whole Tornado Alley project throwaway line and the revelation that the murderous child burning psycho is still alive and working, well, it came across as Koontz leaving the door open for more books if he needed it. He didn't have a definite “This Is the End” like he did for Odd Thomas.

And that reminds me of the only other nitpicky thing I can blab about. The recycling of ideas. Depending on how things continue in this vein, I might end up having to read these books a bit further apart than I have been. Time machines, evil materialized, calm and rational head character, creepy and spooky looks into a horrible dimension or the future, it all is extremely familiar. Now, Koontz does a fantastic job of not making the stories (so far) clones of each other but I'm leery of the same ideas being used in different ways. We'll see what the future holds.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased and the taut thrill of reading this was just what my brain needed.

★★★☆½ show less

There are no rules in the dark, no place to feel safe, no escape from the shadows. But to save the day, you must seize the night.

At no time does Moonlight Bay look more beautiful than at night. Yet it is precisely then that the secluded little town reveals its menace. Now children are disappearing. From their homes. From the streets. And there’s nothing their families can do about it. Because in Moonlight Bay, the police work their hardest to conceal crimes and silence victims. No matter what happens in the night, their job is to ensure that nothing disturbs the peace and quiet of Moonlight Bay.

Christopher Snow isn’t afraid of the dark. Forced to live in the shadows because of a rare genetic disorder, he knows the night world better show more than anyone. He believes the lost children are still alive and that their disappearance is connected to the town’s most carefully kept, most ominous secret - a secret only he can uncover, a secret that will force him to confront an adversary at one with the most dangerous darkness of all: the darkness inside the human heart. show less

This was an absolute turkey. I heard it was supposed to be the second of a trilogy - never fancied reading the third (if there ever was one) if this effort was anything to go by. Following on from Fear Nothing (which I thought was quite good) this follows Christopher Snow, XP sufferer and night-time wanderer, trying to solve the mystery of some missing children, along with his laid-back surfer-dude pal who talks and acts as though his batteries are running down. The story descended into such dreary time-consuming nonsense towards the end that I convinced myself it couldn't get any worse.....except that Koontz then executed perhaps the most dire denouement of all time. He really does blow hot and cold and this was near freezing.

Almost as good as Fear Nothing, which if a 10 would make this a 9 1/2.
However, I've learned that part 3 has not been written yet.
This is unconscionable, it's been over 20 years!!!
If Koontz or me dies before it's published, I'm not gonna be happy, maybe haunt his remaining family.
Something to think about Dean.

I loved Dean Koontz when I was younger...in fact I still love Dean Koontz. However, I couldn't really connect with this book at all. The characters were OK, but I felt the story dragged for a lot of the time, then the denouement was like a freight train rushing at you. Because of this it felt unbalanced and left me a little flat at the end. I started reading this not knowing that it was a sequel, and I agree with some other reviewers that it doesn't really matter as it fills in the necessary gaps for you. It's not going to put me off reading Koontz's books again, but I suppose not every book can be as good as others...

I am glad the dog survived though...

Sequel to "Fear Nothing," in which Christopher Snow, his girlfriend Sasha Cohen, best friend Bobby Holloway and dog Orson confront the evil past of Christopher's mother and the evil future of Moonlight Bay.

Again, Koontz has created some fascinating characters that are nevertheless people I could meet, and would enjoy meeting, and put them into a plot full of horror, pain and labyrinthian twists. I re-read this every few years, and it's never lost its savor for me.



*Spoiler* The dog lives.