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5.0 out of 5 stars
Seize the Night, May 27 2004
Christopher Snow is back. Fans of Koontz's last offering, Fear Nothing (LJ 2/1/98), will remember Chris as the young victim of XP (xeroderma pigmentosum), a rare and deadly genetic condition that forces him to avoid light. Here, the horrifying tale of Chris's hometown, Moonlight Bay, continues to unfold. Chris and his tight band of friends take up the search for four missing children in this town, where experiments with a genetically engineered retrovirus have begun to turn several local residents into creatures that are less than human. Koontz successfully blends his special brand of suspense from generous measures of mystery, horror, sf, and the techno-thriller genre. But his greatest triumph in this series is the creation of Christopher Snow, a thought-provoking narrator with a facility for surfer-lingo and dark humor who, despite his extreme situation, is an undeniably believable character.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A very satisfying sequel to "Fear Nothing"..., Mar 14 2004
Chris Snow, his dog Orson, Sasha, and Bobby are all back, but this time it involves something more evil. Moonlight Bay looks more beautiful at night and Chris knows this from experience. Afflicted with a rare skin disorder that leaves him vulnerable to light, he has come to develop rituals that make the night his home. But as beautiful as Moonlight Bay is at night, that is when shows its menace. Now children are dissapearing. They are being taken right out of their homes and vanishing without a trace. There is nothing the families can do about it, because in Moonlight Bay, the cops work to conceal crimes and do anything they can to protect the town's deadly secret. Chris believes that the children's dissapearance and the town's secret are connected, and that the missing children are still alive. When an old friend of Chris's begs him to find her child, he plunges back into the realm of evil and mystery that only happens after dark. I read "Fear Nothing" and "Seize the Night" back to back. While "Fear Nothing" was the superior book in the Chris Snow series, "Seize the Night" is still a very worthy sequel. The story looks more into the mystery of Moonlight Bay, and it also offers creatures that are new and even more terrifying than the originals. The story was put on a much grander scale, because Chris attempts to rescue the missing children. In "Fear Nothing" the whole story revolved around Chris only helping himself. The characters are still top notch. In "Seize the Night", we get to take a deeper look into Bobby's past and see another side of him. He still has the great dialogue of a laid back surfer. I like Sasha better in this story, because Koontz gives her more of a role in helping Chris. The most surprising character however is Roosevelt. While he was in the first story, we learned nothing about him. He is the story's Dr. Doolittle, because he has the ability to communicate with animals. This also helps to give Chris's dog Orson more of a role in the story. The last thing that is great about both of the Chris Snow books is that they are in a first person narrative coming from Chris. It gives the story a more personal feel. "Seize the Night" does have its flaws however. At times I felt like I was reading a recycled version of "Fear Nothing". Koontz spends time repeating information about characters and events that happened in the first book. The sequel's job is to expand on issues from the first book, not repeat them. "Seize the Night" has very few flaws, and is almost as good as "Fear Nothing". The mystery of Moonlight Bay is expanded upon, new and scarier creatures are added to the story, and Koontz's character development of all the characters was amazing. The good news is that the ending was left open for another sequel. Hopefully Dean Koontz will choose to make the Chris Snow saga into a trilogy!!
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1.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly stupid, Feb 20 2004
This book reads like Dean Koontz stayed up late watching cliched, cheesy made-for-TV movies then wrote a book.
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