Midnight (Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc) [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Dean Koontz (Author), J. Charles (Reader)

Book Description

Series: Brilliance Audio on Compact Disc | Publication Date: February 10, 2004

In picturesque Moonlight Cove, California, inexplicable deaths occur and spine-tingling terror descends to this "edge of paradise." Growing numbers of residents harbor a secret so dark it is sure to cost even more lives. Tessa Lockland comes to town to probe her sister's seemingly unprompted suicide. Independent and clever, she meets up with Sam Booker, an undercover FBI agent sent to Moonlight Cove to discover the truth behind the mysterious deaths. They meet Harry Talbot, a wheelchair-bound veteran, who has seen things from his window that he was not meant to see. Together they begin to understand the depth of evil in Moonlight Cove. Chrissie Foster, a resourceful eleven-year-old, running from her parents who have suddenly changed and in whom darkness dwells, joins them. Together they make a stand against darkness and terror.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest tersely titled thriller by Koontz ( Strangers ; Lightning , etc.) displays the author's abilities at full throttle. A horror story with science fiction underpinnings, it concerns a brilliant, insane inventor, Theodore Shaddack, who uses the sleepy California town of Moonlight Cove as an outsize lab for a bizarre experiment that ultimately turns the community into a charnel house. He has devised a solution of microchips which, when injected into the (usually unwilling) subject, endows them with immense mental powers over their own bodies, leaving them, however, emotionally lobotomized. As a result, almost all the "New People" regress to animal form, to experience again primal sensationsand in animal form, they kill. The story is told from the points of view of four people who perceive that something horrible is happening in Moonlight Cove, and that if they do not act fast, it will happen to them. It is also related from the point of view of Sheriff Loman Watkins, himself a "New Person," but who retains enough moral sense to be disturbed by what is happening around him and in him. Despite some paper-thin characterizations and a predilection for the maudlin, Koontz's sense of pace and the dramatic are sure, and there are a number of memorable moments. This one should hit the bestseller list at a run. 200,000 first printing, $150,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild selection.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Four people are the last hope of Moonlight Cove, because one by one the rest of the citizens are changinginto boogymen, werewolves, mythical creatures, or something entirely new. They are the New People, willing victims of a seductive experiment in chemically induced evolution. They can transform their bodies at will and eliminate unproductive emotions, like grief and compassion. In fact, the only instinct left to the New People is self-preservation, and their only emotion is fear. And they want the rest of humanity to join them. Popular author Koontz ( Watchers , Lighting ) has again delivered a gripping horror thriller with well-drawn characters and plenty of suspense. Literary Guild selection. A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged; Unabridged edition (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593553269
• ISBN-13: 978-1593553265
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,848,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > Koontz, Dean

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hallucinagenic, creepy precursor to "Fear Nothing", April 24, 2000

By 

Tung Yin (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight (Paperback)

Starting in the mid-1980s, Dean Koontz hit his stride with a series of terrific cross-genre novels, starting with "Strangers," which was about alien contact; "Watchers," which was about genetic engineering; and "Lightning," which was about . . . well, you'll have to read that on your own.

"Midnight" continues the trend, though it veers more toward horror than the others. The novel is set in a small town in Northern California, where an experiment has been transforming humans into "something else." An FBI agent and a ragtag group of survivors bands together to respond to the horror.

As with most of Koontz's books, there is a palpable sense of eerieness that pervades the novel. Although the book is not without its violent and occasionally gory moments, it is not stomach-churning; Koontz generates suspense and terror more through implication than explicit description.

Interestingly, Koontz recycled the central plotline here in the recent "Fear Nothing." (The setting changed from Moonlight Bay to Moonlight Cove.) The character in "Fear Nothing" is quite different, however, so you can't entirely predict the outcome from "Midnight." Still, if you like "Midnight," you should like "Fear Nothing," and vice versa. (Personally, I thought "Midnight" was creepier.)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his mesmerizing bests!, August 5, 2000

By 

Marco Aurelio - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight (Paperback)

That was one of the first books by Dean Koontz I've read, when I almost didn't know his writing, and I loved it.

This is the kind of book you read in only one blink. The characters and the plot are so huge, so deep and well-written that you feel as if you were there suffering and having fun with them.

Everything starts when a woman is killed by monsters that are something like gorillas. Then, her sister, a FBI officer, a retired policeman and a child who is being threatened by her own parents get together unexpectdly to solve the problems and save their own life.

MIDNIGHT is a book for lovers of the horror genre, the suspense and the thriller. It's a book you'll never forget because of its hugeness, of its power. Nowadays, Dean doesn't write this kind of book anymore, and yes, I miss that. This is the kind of book you could keep reading forever. If you haven't read that one yet, take it! If you haven't read a book by Dean yet and want to try him, that's a wonderful first step. The important is, read it! And never be able to forget this wonderful plot.

Marco Aurelio.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Narrator!, July 21, 2004

By 

Mad Reveller "[e-mail]" (Delaware, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight (Audio Cassette)

Avoid at all costs buying the audio version of the novel. The narrator over pronounces the words as if he's speaking to a deaf mute trying to read his lips. Ever worse, he has no dramatic qualities to his voice. It's just comple monotone. Awful.