Fear Nothing [Hardcover]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 1998

Fear, compassion, evil, courage, hope, wonder, the exquisite terror of not knowing what will happen on the next page to characters you care about deeply—these are the marvels that Dean Koontz weaves into the unique tapestry of every novel. His storytelling talents have earned him the devotion of fans around the world, making him one of the most popular authors of our time, with more than 200 million copies of his books sold worldwide.

If you are already a fan, prepare yourself to settle into a novel Dean Koontz considers perhaps his best work to date. If you are a brand-new Dean Koontz reader, buckle up for what will be a most breathtaking ride through the long, enthralling night of...

Christopher Snow is different from all the other residents of Moonlight Bay, different from anyone you've ever met. For Christopher Snow has made his peace with a very rare genetic disorder shared by only one thousand other Americans, a disorder that leaves him dangerously vulnerable to light. His life is filled with the fascinating rituals of one who must embrace the dark. He knows the night as no one else ever will, ever can—the mystery, the beauty, the many terrors, and the eerie, silken rhythms of the night—for it is only at night that he is free.

Until the night he witnesses a series of disturbing incidents that sweep him into a violent mystery only he can solve, a mystery that will force him to rise above all fears and confront the many-layered strangeness of Moonlight Bay and its residents.

Once again drawing daringly from several genres, Dean Koontz has created a narrative that is a thriller, a mystery, a wild adventure, a novel of friendship, a rousing story of triumph over severe physical limitations, and a haunting cautionary tale.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you think you've got it tough, meet Christopher Snow, the hero of Dean Koontz's novel Fear Nothing. Not only did his parents die under mysterious circumstances, but he's also being stalked by shadowy characters who want Snow to stop trying to find out how they died--or else they'll bump off his remaining loved ones (his supersmart, beer-lapping dog Orson; his best surfing buddy Bobby; and his late-night deejay girlfriend Sasha). And as if being on the lam in his own hometown, Moonlight Bay, California, isn't bad enough, Snow has to outrun his pursuers without leaving town. He has XP--xeroderma pigmentosum--a rare genetic affliction that forces him to avoid light. Cumulative exposure to sun, fluorescent lights, and the like will give him cancer eventually, and he doesn't dare leave the place where he's skillfully "done the mambo with melanoma" for all of his 28 years. Koontz makes the night-town of Moonlight Bay come alive in this sometimes pulse-pounding, sometimes funny, but mostly rather lyrical thriller. Fans of Koontz's legendary 1986 novel Watchers will love this book's similar theme: our hero and a loveable super-dog deal with a genetic engineering laboratory run amok. Horror fans will savor the evil mutant rhesus "millennium monkeys" who hunt Snow, the few scenes of eloquent gore, and the plight of certain mutating townsfolk who are, as they put it, "becoming" something very creepy.

Koontz gives Snow and Bobby a lingo that does for surfer talk what Austin Powers did for the Swinging '60s, and his metaphors are almost as madcap as Tom Robbins's: "As the chains of the swinging light fixture torqued, the links twisted against one another with enough friction to cause an eerie ringing, as if lizard-eyed altar boys in blood-soaked cassocks and surplices were ringing the unmelodious bells of a satanic mass." Sometimes Koontz's style goes over the top and wipes out, surfer-style, but for the most part, Fear Nothing will have readers bellowing "Cowabunga!"

From School Library Journal

YA-Christopher Snow understands the night. He, like the owl, is nocturnal, living on the mysterious darker edge of society. Snow is afflicted with xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare and often-fatal genetic disease that makes ultraviolet rays-even those from lamps and televisions-deadly. His condition makes him a pariah in the isolated small town of Moonlight Bay where the ignorant and insensitive fear what they do not know. As the action begins, Snow's father dies, leaving him with only a handful of offbeat but fiercely loyal friends to turn to for understanding. At the morgue, Snow accidentally witnesses his father's body being replaced with the mutilated corpse of a vagrant. Before he can find out what is behind this scandal, he receives a frantic summons from a friend who is brutally murdered before she can finish explaining a strange story about monkeys and a secret project at the government compound at the edge of town. What begins as a disturbing puzzle quickly becomes a sinister conspiracy as Snow uncovers evidence of uncanny intelligence in many of the local animals and inhumanely vicious tendencies in some of the human residents of the Bay. They are "becoming" he learns, but becoming what? Chilling chase scenes steadily increase the breakneck pace as Snow, assisted by his remarkable dog, is pursued through the night by unseen forces. Despite some clunky and unnecessary surfer slang, fans will go wild for this well-plotted thriller.
Robin Deffendall, Prince William Public Library System, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Edition edition (January 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553106643
• ISBN-13: 978-0553106640
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (481 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #790,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, good characters, January 8, 2003

By 

Tammy L. Schilling "tammyl84" (MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fear Nothing (Mass Market Paperback)

As a long time Dean Koontz fan, I can attest to the fact that he can be very hit or miss. While I wouldn't necessarily call Fear Nothing a total hit/blockbuster, it was one of the best Koontz that I have read in a while. Those familiar with Koontz, but leery of his irregularity will not be disappointed with this novel.

I won't bother going through the plot again, as so many other reviewers have done quite well. I will just say that the plot was sufficiently suspenseful to keep me turning pages and happily entertained. The characters in this book, though, are really the best parts. Christopher Snow, a man with a serious disease that makes him deathly allergic to light is not only sweet, but funny as well. His friend Bobby, the coolest of all possible surfer dudes, is hysterical and philisophical at the same time. You really won't be able to help liking these characters.

Unlike in some other novels, Koontz maintains his talent for strong description and backstory, without getting into long-winded tangents that put readers to sleep.

Overall, I say Fear Nothing was quite fun, entertaining, and a pleasure to read. I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of Seize the Night, the next book in the Christoper Snow saga. I highly recommend this book to all who enjoy suspenseful reading and likable, funny characters.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ready for the third installment of this clan, February 19, 2000

By 

Natalie Lilley (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fear Nothing (Mass Market Paperback)

This books is one of D.K's greatest, along with it's sequal, Seize the Night. I highly reccomend these novels, although you may have to heavily rely on the suspension of disbelief to get through it. The commradare between these three friends, (four, if you count the dog) is wonderfully entertaining. The writing in this book is funnier than in most of Koontz's others. I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. Thats not to say anything about the suspense this book is filled with. My work performance suffered after late nights with this book. An incredible read!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moonlight Bay Revisited, April 24, 2000

By 

Tracy Davis (California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fear Nothing (Mass Market Paperback)

Although not as suspenseful as "Midnight", "Fear Nothing" is a great addition to the Koontz Moonlight Bay saga. The basic plot concerns Christopher Snow, who suffers from a pigmentation disorder ('XP') that prevents him from venturing outside in the daylight. This disorder confines Snow to a nocturnal existance (described poetically in several sections by Snow) and limits his contact with the 'normal' people in his community. However, if you read "Midnight", Koontz's 1980s novel, you know that very few people are 'normal' in Moonlight Bay! Snow's parents die separately but mysteriously, and when Snow witnesses his father's body in the hospital"s "cold room" being replaced with that of a transient -- sans eyes and badly beaten -- he knows something's terribly wrong. What follows is a fast-paced nighttime adventure that introduces the reader to Orson, Snow's very intelligent dog (more intelligent than we think, due to some 'enhancement' done at a supposedly closed military base); Bobby, his 'surfer dude' friend who is so laid back that it takes the "monkeys of the apocalypse" to worry him; and Sasha, Snow's girlfriend who is more than she seems, especially when the aforementioned monkeys attack Bobby's beachfront house at the end of the novel. The only criticism I have is that Koontz makes no mention of the previous events of his central coast community -- some reference to the other biological experiments of "Midnight" would have been nice. "Fear Nothing" does not go into the depth of the genetic research that "Midnight" does, but makes up for it with a protagonist who is funny, intelligent, poetic, and very human. My suggestion for reading this novel is to do what I did: read "Fear Nothing", then go straight into "Seize the Night", which takes place only a month after the events in "Fear Nothing" conclude. The stories make more sense, and frankly, could have been combined into one novel.