Winter Moon
by Dean Koontz
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Fiction. Horror. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:"Koontz is brilliant in the creation of his characters and in building tension."CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
In Los Angeles, a hot Hollywood director, high on PCP, turns a city street into a fiery apocalypse. Heroic LAPD officer Jac McGarvey is badly wounded and will not walk for months. His wife and his child are left to fend for themselves against both criminals that control an increasingly violent city and the dead director's cult of fanatic fans.
In a show more lonely corner of Montana, Eduardo Fernandez, the father of McGarvey's murdered partner, witnesses a strange nocturnal sight. The stand of pines outside his house suddenly glows with eerie amber light, and Fernandez senses a watcher in the winter woods. As the seasons change, the very creatures of the forest seem in league with a mysterious presence. Fernandez is caught up in a series of chilling incidents that escalate toward a confronation that could rob him of his sanity or his life—or both.
As events careen out of control, the McGarvey family is drawn to Fernandez's Montana ranch. In that isolated place they discover their destiny in a terrifying and fiercely suspenseful encounter with a hostile, utterly ruthless, and enigmatic enemy, from which neither the living nor the dead are safe.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Dean Koontz's The City. show less
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Please note that I gave this book 4.5 stars, but rounded it up to 5 stars on Goodreads.
Well this is old school Koontz and I like it. We did have a golden retriever, but you can't win them all.
"Winter Moon" follows two parallel stories. One of Heather and Jack McGarvey and their young son Toby. And the other follows Eduardo Fernandez. These people have never met, but due to the actions of one, both are going to come face to face with something that is intent on destruction.
Jack is a LAPD patrol officer whose life is changed after responding to a complaint at a gas station. Before he knows what has happened, a seemingly rich man has open fire, shooting him, his partner, and the owner and others. For he and Heather this is just another show more long line of things that have gone wrong for them in LA.
Eduardo is still grieving the death of his wife three years before and the most recent death of his son who was an LAPD police officer. Living in Montana, in a ranch that was left to him by his dead employer, Eduardo has almost everything he can want. Until one night a light and sound wakens him and he realizes he is not as alone as he thought.
I liked all of the characters very much. I have to say though that I didn't really get Eduardo though. Maybe because my first response to something that freaks me out is to get the hell out as fast as possible. His reasoning for staying and trying to understand what was going on felt a bit false to me as a reader. I think Koontz wanted to keep him there for the story purposes which is fine. But trying to have him handwave it away due to this and him being a hermit, not being believed, felt wrong somehow.
Another character that felt a bit off to me was the character of Toby. He is eight. He also swore around his parents and I almost fell over at that one. Believe me when I say that my parents would have had soap so fast in my mouth it would not have been funny. He also seemed older than his years, though you can explain that by what has happened in his own family, and the fights he endures after his father is shot. So I got it. At least Koontz resisted the urge to have him older than his years and somehow be a super genius (yeah one of these days I am going to do an entire Koontz read and you it will not be pretty).
The writing was great. Koontz can turn a sentence and can instill fear in you in just a few short words. I did notice a few typos here and there (nothing terrible, was was capitalized in a middle of a sentence and another word should have been "and") but nothing that would disturb anyone's reading. Sometimes he got a bit too into explaining guns (which made me think of later books) but other than that everything gelled together nicely.
The setting of LA and Montana stood apart quite differently. These characters in different places both going through such terrible things pretty much showcased how the grass is not always greener.
One thing that did blow me away while reading this is how crazy that this book was written in 1993 and right now the same discussion regarding police officers and guns is going on in this country. I do have to say that I get that there are good and bad police officers out there. Koontz though showcased a world that had gone crazy due to politicians making things easier for those out there to commit crimes and the police having no way to push back against it. The whole thing left me a little bit sour mouthed because I don't believe people are against police officers doing their job. They are against bad cops thinking they are above the law. show less
Well this is old school Koontz and I like it. We did have a golden retriever, but you can't win them all.
"Winter Moon" follows two parallel stories. One of Heather and Jack McGarvey and their young son Toby. And the other follows Eduardo Fernandez. These people have never met, but due to the actions of one, both are going to come face to face with something that is intent on destruction.
Jack is a LAPD patrol officer whose life is changed after responding to a complaint at a gas station. Before he knows what has happened, a seemingly rich man has open fire, shooting him, his partner, and the owner and others. For he and Heather this is just another show more long line of things that have gone wrong for them in LA.
Eduardo is still grieving the death of his wife three years before and the most recent death of his son who was an LAPD police officer. Living in Montana, in a ranch that was left to him by his dead employer, Eduardo has almost everything he can want. Until one night a light and sound wakens him and he realizes he is not as alone as he thought.
I liked all of the characters very much. I have to say though that I didn't really get Eduardo though. Maybe because my first response to something that freaks me out is to get the hell out as fast as possible. His reasoning for staying and trying to understand what was going on felt a bit false to me as a reader. I think Koontz wanted to keep him there for the story purposes which is fine. But trying to have him handwave it away due to this and him being a hermit, not being believed, felt wrong somehow.
Another character that felt a bit off to me was the character of Toby. He is eight. He also swore around his parents and I almost fell over at that one. Believe me when I say that my parents would have had soap so fast in my mouth it would not have been funny. He also seemed older than his years, though you can explain that by what has happened in his own family, and the fights he endures after his father is shot. So I got it. At least Koontz resisted the urge to have him older than his years and somehow be a super genius (yeah one of these days I am going to do an entire Koontz read and you it will not be pretty).
The writing was great. Koontz can turn a sentence and can instill fear in you in just a few short words. I did notice a few typos here and there (nothing terrible, was was capitalized in a middle of a sentence and another word should have been "and") but nothing that would disturb anyone's reading. Sometimes he got a bit too into explaining guns (which made me think of later books) but other than that everything gelled together nicely.
The setting of LA and Montana stood apart quite differently. These characters in different places both going through such terrible things pretty much showcased how the grass is not always greener.
One thing that did blow me away while reading this is how crazy that this book was written in 1993 and right now the same discussion regarding police officers and guns is going on in this country. I do have to say that I get that there are good and bad police officers out there. Koontz though showcased a world that had gone crazy due to politicians making things easier for those out there to commit crimes and the police having no way to push back against it. The whole thing left me a little bit sour mouthed because I don't believe people are against police officers doing their job. They are against bad cops thinking they are above the law. show less
I love Dean Koontz's books because you just never know what his rich imagination is going to come up with...but whatever it is it's always a huge surprise. This is one of the scariest books that he's written in all of the years I have had the pleasure of reading his works. Usually there is a suspenseful story with some horror moments thrown in....this one has a dark undertone with both gory and psychological horror from the start to finish.
The book is actually two stories in parallel... Jack McGarvey, a cop, and his family in Los Angeles, and Eduardo Fernandez...Jack's deceased partner's father who lives on a ranch in Montana. Sometimes these two part stories clash and go off in different directions but Dean Koontz has managed to bring show more them together clean and neatly into an explosive ending. Anyone that is a fan of horror and the supernatural will want to make friends with not only this book... but the rest of this author's offerings. show less
The book is actually two stories in parallel... Jack McGarvey, a cop, and his family in Los Angeles, and Eduardo Fernandez...Jack's deceased partner's father who lives on a ranch in Montana. Sometimes these two part stories clash and go off in different directions but Dean Koontz has managed to bring show more them together clean and neatly into an explosive ending. Anyone that is a fan of horror and the supernatural will want to make friends with not only this book... but the rest of this author's offerings. show less
Oddly, I had completely forgotten about this book. The premise didn’t ring a bell, and neither did I recollect anything when I began re-reading. I find this surprising, as it’s quite a good story. More purely science-fiction than much of Dean Koontz’s work, which I think of as supernatural and paranormal thrillers. Perhaps I had forgotten it, because while the first half of the book contains tension, it flows around two separate men with seemingly no connection. One dealing with the adversity of being a cop injured in the line of duty, and the other dealing with a no lesser threat but undeniably strange. It’s in the second half of the book that the tension escalates, ending at a fast pace towards the end. If I have any negatives show more to add, it’s that although the story is over, the conclusion feels a little rushed after so much tension, which left me feeling a little dropped. I’m also not entirely certain the final decision the family makes felt entirely satisfying to me — I felt that had to be a better compromise. Still, these are small niggles, and I thoroughly recommend this book. Perhaps one to enjoy as a modern twist on the Lovecraft universe. show less
Sooner or later, I'll learn not to pick up a Dean Koontz novel unless I'm committed to read straight through it in my lazy, slow way. This tale of people you would like to get to know could have been stretched out to 600 or 700 pages, and would be by some other writer, but Koontz manages to make you live in the novel's world and see EVERYTHING, especially the dark force monster. I kind of wanted to see the dark force monster win, though, the kid survive, and another book build on that.
Great storytelling as an LA cop moves his family to an unexpected inheritance, a house deep in the woods, but one besieged by a mysterious enemy. Marked, as usual, by Koontz's great writing, pacing, and an ability to come up with a story unlike his previous work.
This book was "meh". The beginning was pretty good but the ending just dragged on. The climax seemed to last forever. Good plot though. Characters ok. More cops from Mr. Koontz as usual. Good for a casual read.
I listened to this book on CD. It is the story of a family who escapes the mean streets of LA after inheriting a beautiful home in Montana from an unexpected benefactor. Once they move in, they find themselves terrorized by an evil entity.
It passed the driving time, which is pretty much all I ask, but it was extremely silly. I often found myself laughing instead of being scared. I suspected that this might have been one of Koontz' earlier books and it turns out I was right. I can't enthusiastically recommend this one but I picked it up for a few bucks at a garage sale and passed it along to my sister, so I didn't actively hate it, either.
It passed the driving time, which is pretty much all I ask, but it was extremely silly. I often found myself laughing instead of being scared. I suspected that this might have been one of Koontz' earlier books and it turns out I was right. I can't enthusiastically recommend this one but I picked it up for a few bucks at a garage sale and passed it along to my sister, so I didn't actively hate it, either.
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Dean Koontz was born on July 9, 1945 in Everett, Pennsylvania. He received a degree in education from Shippensburg State College in 1967. A former high school English teacher as well as a teacher-counselor with the Appalachian Poverty Program, he began writing as a child to escape an ugly home life caused by his alcoholic father. A prolific writer show more at a young age, he had sold a dozen novels by the age of 25. Early in his career, he wrote under numerous pen names including David Axton, Brian Coffey, K. R. Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, Richard Paige, and Owen West. He is best known for the books written under his own name, many of which are bestsellers, including Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, The Husband, Odd Hours, 77 Shadow Street, Innocence, The City, Saint Odd, and The Silent Corner. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Bastei Lübbe Taschenbuch (13601)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Winter Moon
- Original title
- Winter Moon
- Original publication date
- 1994-01
- People/Characters
- Jack McGarvey
- Important places
- Montana, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA
- Epigraph
- Beaches, surfers, California girls.
Wind scented with fabulous dreams.
Bougainvillea, groves of oranges.
Stars are born, everything gleams.
A weather change. Shadows fall.
New scent upon the wind -- deay.... (show all)
Cocaine, Uzis, drive-by shootings.
Death is a banker. Everyone pays.
--The Book of Counted Sorrows - Dedication
- To Gerda, who knows a thousand reasons why, with much love
- First words
- Death was driving an emerald-green Lexus.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)That night, a full winter moon sailed the sky, and the ocean was spangled with silver.
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.54
- Canonical LCC
- PS3561.O55
- Disambiguation notice
- Originally published in a slightly different version as "Invasion", under the pseudonym "Aaron Wolfe"
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- Reviews
- 25
- Rating
- (3.35)
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- ISBNs
- 56
- ASINs
- 17