By the Light of the Moon [Paperback]

Dean Koontz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2003

When Dylan O'Connor pulls into a motel off the Arizona interstate highway, all he wants to do is relax with his autistic brother Shep, and get a good night's sleep. Yet within the hour he finds himself bound, gagged and being injected with some mysterious fluid by a 'doctor' who claims that Dylan will be the carrier for 'his life's work'. Meanwhile, comedian Jillian Jackson is midway through her tour of seedy cocktail lounges and and second-rate comedy clubs. Her plans for stardom are dramatically altered, however, when she too falls victim to the eccentric scientist, who makes off with her beloved Cadillac. The doctor warns his victims that he is being pursued and that they too are now targets. If they're caught, they'll be killed. Both are sceptical, but when three black Chevrolet Suburbans come screaming into the motel carpark and Jillian's car is found in flames, they begin to wonder if the lunatic doctor wasn't so mad after all...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perhaps more than any other author, Koontz writes fiction perfectly suited to the mood of America post-September 11: novels that acknowledge the reality and tenacity of evil but also the power of good; that celebrate the common man and woman; that at their best entertain vastly as they uplift. His latest is one of those best, exciting and deeply moving, shorter than usual and also less prone to the overwriting, the flood of similes and metaphors, that sometimes overwhelms his storytelling. As usual for Koontz, the novel opens at full throttle: a mad doctor invades a motel in Arizona, injects both itinerant artist Dylan O'Connor and struggling comic Jillian Jackson (strangers to one another) with an unknown substance that, he says, is his life's work and will have some unknown effect, then warns them to flee before his enemies kill them; soon after, the doctor is slain by heavily armed assailants. The rest of the story is an extended chase, as Dylan and Jillian, along with Dylan's high-functioning autistic brother, Shep, dart around the West, only steps ahead of the assassins. Within hours, the effects of the injections materialize: Jillian experiences portentous visions-a flock of birds, a woman in a church; Dylan is overcome by the need to rush to the aid of people in distress (among others, in an intensely poignant scene, an elderly man searching for his missing daughter); and Shep learns to teleport himself and others. (Interestingly, Koontz bases the science behind these developments on nanotechnology, the same mechanism used by Michael Crichton in his just published Prey, an object lesson in how two writers can take the same premise and generate two very different yet excellent novels). The novel's only flaw is its abrupt ending, contrived probably to allow sequels-a probability that Koontz fans, but also anyone else who reads this novel, a predestined bestseller and rightfully so, will applaud.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Someone menacing is after itinerant artist Dylan, his autistic brother, and their new traveling companion, Jilly, a stand-up comic who has visions. And they only have the novel's 24-hour time span to figure out who it is.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Headline Paperbacks (May 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747266824
• ISBN-13: 978-0747266822
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (223 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,257,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania where I graduated from Shippensburg State College (now Shippensburg University). When I was a senior in college, I won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition and have been writing ever since. My first job after graduation was with the Appalachian Poverty Program, where I was expected to counsel and tutor underprivileged children on a one-to-one basis. During my first day on the job, I discovered that the previous occupier of my position had been beaten up by the very kids he had been trying to help and had landed in the hospital for several weeks. The following year was filled with challenge but also tension, and I was more highly motivated than ever to build a career as a writer. I wrote nights and weekends, which I continued to do after leaving the poverty program and going to work as an English teacher in a suburban school district outside Harrisburg. After a year and a half in that position, my wife, Gerda, made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "I'll support you for five years," she said, "and if you can't make it as a writer in that time, you'll never make it." By the end of those five years, Gerda had quit her job to run the business end of my writing career. Gerda and I, along with our dog, Trixie, live in southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant stuff, December 22, 2002

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By the Light of the Moon (Audio Cassette)

Ever since the Christopher Snow novels (Fear Nothing and Seize the Night), Dean Koontz has been perfecting his own sub-genre, the spiritual thriller. His work has fully come to fruition in his two latest books, One Door Away from Heaven and By the Light of the Moon.

It's interesting to compare the latter with Michael Crichton's Prey. Both deal with nanotechnology. Both are in the thriller genre. That's where the similarity ends. Crichton is a Cassandra. Koontz is a prophet of the good news (not really the Christian gospel, but something very close). The thing that most clearly separates Koontz from Crichton is the former's deep concern for people, especially those who would generally be considered the dregs of society-trailer park denizens, kids with terminal illnesses, dead-end divorcees. These are the people through whom salvation comes, not the scientists, not the theologians, not the cultural arbiters.

By the Light of the Moon, perhaps Koontz' most accomplished novel to date, concerns three misfits, Dylan O'Conner and his adult autistic brother, Shep, and Jillian Jackson, a third-rate stand-up comic. These three share a common, albeit bizarre, thread of recent personal history: each has been infected with an unknown substance, administered by a benign-looking although ego-maniacally demented mad scientist, that will either destroy them or endow them with remarkable powers-or perhaps both. They find themselves thrown together and on the run, from mysterious forces who want nothing less that their termination, with extreme prejudice.

What happens is a series a serio-comic chase scenes, personal revelations, and general Koontz-inspired mayhem and high jinks, all ending in a remarkable turn-around-is-fair-play denouement, featuring the most memorable minor character, apparent UFO-obsessed radio-talk-show-host Parish Lantern (great name, btw), since Kilgore Trout.

By perfecting the relational-friendly spiritual thriller, Koontz has done us all a great service: He has figured out how to insinuate deep messages into the most unlikely set of story circumstances, all the while entertaining our socks off. For that, I believe he has become the most important novelist of his generation.

On a personal note, I am the father of an autistic son approximately Shep's age, and I must say I was very moved by Koontz' conception and portrayal of an individual suffering from this condition. My son, Christopher (his name means "Christ-bearer"), is about at the same functioning level, and Koontz has exactly caught the mystery and much of the nuance of autism. Except, perhaps, for the depiction of autism by Dustin Hoffman in "The Rain Man" (based on the son of famous autism researcher, Bernard Rimland), Shep O'Conner is the most accurately rendered fictional autistic character I have seen.

Thank you, Dean Koontz, for your quirky, idiosyncratic vision. May it ensue in many more such inspired creations.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON - Dean Koontz is back in form, December 31, 2002

By 

Victor Mondy (Amelia, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: By the Light of the Moon (Hardcover)

As a long time reader of Dean Koontz books, I have been somewhat disappointed with his most recent novels. Although by most standards they are very readable, they lack much of what has made Dean Koontz a solid best-selling author for so many years - strong characters, tight storytelling. I found the author's recent books to be overly descriptive and somewhat flowery (sorry, but it's hard to describe the exact nature of the problem - also note, I still read them all!).
I am very pleased then to say that his most recent novel, By The Light of the Moon is not only his best in recent years but may be his best since Dark Rivers of the Heart.
The characters - Dylan, Shepherd and Jilly - are brought together after they have been injected with nanobots, microscopic biological machines, which bring about unique changes in our characters. Dylan is able to identify events already happened or yet to come in the residue left by a person's touch on various objects. Jilly develops precognition. Shep, Dylan's autistic brother, develops the most exciting ability. He can "fold" from "here" to "there". He seems to be able to grasp the edge of reality where he is and fold it out of the way while folding into another location. While this "folding" can be accomplished in either space or time, the ability to "fold" into other dimensions is hinted at, creating exciting possibilities for these characters in the future. The author describes this process so eloquently that it reminds one of Stephen King and Peter Straub's young Jack Sawyer "Flipping" into the Territories in The Talisman and Dark House.
The author follows these character's actions with little interruption by the band of black Suburbans following them (full of thug golfers (you'll see!)). This is somewhat unusual for Dean Koontz who usually keeps the tension up by moving frequently from one cast of characters to another. Not so in this book. It works very well, however. The action is fast paced and "can't put it down" exciting.
Some might be disappointed by the ending which sets us up for additional stories, but I loved these characters so much that I can't wait for more.
Dean Koontz has with this novel created a new band of superheroes, but done so in a way that we care greatly about them and look forward to getting together with them in the (hopefully, near) future.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 and 1/2 stars...Engaging Characters in a Comic Book Finale, January 7, 2003

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: By the Light of the Moon (Hardcover)

Shame on me. Despite my father's encouragement, I've taken this long to read a Koontz novel. It was worth the wait.

"By the Light of the Moon" leaps forward from the first few pages. Clearly, Koontz is one of those writers who knows how to start the story at the right spot--in the middle of the action. Within twenty pages, he thrusts us into an otherworldly and suspenseful setting, where three young people will be altered forever.

The story begins when Jilly, Dylan, and Shep's lives collide in a motel where a mad-scientist type character injects them with "stuff" and promises that "it does something different to everyone." Indeed, Dylan begins to feel psychic spoors on objects he touches, Jilly sees visions/mirages, and Shep learns how to "fold" the world around him (read the book to find out more). As they focus their abilities, the characters are bound together in a race to save lives and divert heartache and pain.

Koontz masterfully draws his characters, causing us to care for them and their predicament. Shep is an autistic boy, Dylan is the brother committed to caring for him, and Jilly is the stand-up comedian who stumbles into their path. Koontz lets his characters be themselves. He lets us see into their pasts and into their hearts with effective timing and skill. He keeps surprises up his sleeve, and divvies them out at appropriate moments. Although he spices his writing with rich similes and metaphors that add to the mood and direction of the story, I did find the sheer volume of them distracting at times.

The climax of the book was my only disappointment. The story moved from fringe characters in a predicament to "The Matrix" meets "X-Men." The scenes are handled deftly, and the bigger issues of fate and free-will are intriguing to contemplate, but Koontz's comic book ending undermined my enjoyment of the themes he explored.