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 Dean Koontz born: 7-9-1945
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For six years Melanie was tortured by terrible experiments but the participating scientists (among them her own father) had no idea what they set free with them. When Melanie is found after six years she's autistic, has withdrawn herself into her own world and is terribly afraid what may come through the "Door to December". Her tormentors die one after another which isn't really a pity after reading what Melanie went through.
Koontz' best monsters are real people. A prime example is Junior Cain. He is a man who thinks of himself to be the best thing that evolution has brought forward. Seemingly unprepared and without thinking he commits his first murder to see what it feels like. From his 'good deeds' you'll only know what he's willing to tell. His 'mistakes' and 'failures' are told by other people. This is a very good stylistical move. In the same amount that Junior is absolutely bad all the other protagonists are absolutely good. Most of all Agnes Lampion and her son Bartholomew. As most of the time with Koontz all single destinies meet at one point and in the end all is well. But the road up to that point is a great trip with interesting stylistical details. One not to be misssed.
Three people who seem to have nothing to do with each other are the main characters in this terribly thrilling novel by Dean Koontz. The first storyline is already described in the cover text: Just recently released from prison Micky meets the 9-year-old precocious Leilani in a trailer park. When Leilani and her family disappear shortly after Micky and her aunt fear for the little girls life and Micky starts a search. But this is by far not the only story that's going on here.
A crazy scientist seemingly at random selects two young people, injects them with a strange substance and disappears after telling them some mysterious facts about the effects of the substance. And he advises Dylan and Jilly better not to be caught by the police and other men who will come after them. On their own Dylan, his autistic brother Shep and Jilly start a wild escape. Day by day they develop new mental capacities, apparently results of the injection which they are able to use to their advantage. And somehow they know where they have to go and how their abilities can be put to good use.
The whole master plan behind the events reveals itself to the reader step by step, as slowly as its reavealed to the protagonists of the story. That makes it thrilling and unpredictable. Of course the strange substance and its effects belong to the realm of Science Fiction and one has to be willing to believe and accept it. Then the whole story is fun. But this is something which one encounters quite often while reading Dean Koontz.
The novel is certainly not frightening, one can't call it a true horror story. The only horror lays in the concept that there might be scientists who are as unscrupulous as the one in the book to develop such a substance. Instead its a well written Science Fiction thriller with a touch of comedy. Worth reading.
"Little Melanie has been kidnapped when she was only three. She was nine when she was found wandering the L.A. streets, with blank eyes. What had become of her in all those years of darkness ... and what was the terrible secret, clutching at her soul, that she dared not even whisper?
Her loving mother and the police desperately hunted for the answer. They needed Melanie to help get to the bottom of the most savage scene of carnage the city had ever seen. And they would do anything to save her from whatever dreadful force or thing had invaded her young life. But first they would have to save themselves from a rising tide of terror ... and from an icy evil howling through ... The Door to December."
[Dorothée Büttgen, March 03]
"Bartholomew Lampion is blinded at the age of three, when surgeons reluctantly remove his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer, but although eyeless, Barty regains his sight when he is thirteen. This sudden ascent from a decade of darkness into the glory of light is not brought about by the hands of a holy healer. No celestial trumpets announce the restoration of his vision, just as none announced his birth. A rollercoaster has something to do with his recovery, as does a seagull. And you cannot discount the importance of Barty's profound desire to make his mother proud of him before she dies. The first time she died was the day Barty was born: January 6, 1965."
[Dorothée Büttgen, June 05]
"Micky Bellsong has a history of making wrong choices; she wants to change but can't find her way. She is living, temporarily, with her aunt in a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the Californian dream. There she meets Leilani Maddoc, a precocious, radiant, dazzlingly charming nine-year-old. Although Leilani's left leg requires a brace and her left hand is deformed as well, she is bouyant and indomitable; her great spirit begins to inspire change in Micky.
But under Leilani's charm and buoyancy, Micky also senses a quiet desperation and a fear that the girl dares not express. Then the Maddoc family disappears.
Micky is convinced that Leilani's life is in danger, and no one seems to care but Micky herself. To the surprise of everyone who knows her - indeed, surprising even herself - Micky is for the first time living for something bigger than her own desires, for someone other than herself. She sets out across America to track and to find the Maddocs, alone and afraid but increasingly obsessed - and discovers that she has pitted herself against an adversary as fearsome as he is cunning."
A small boy and his dog are fleeing from his mother's murderers. The bond between boy and dog becomes stronger every day and the boy reveals some extraordinary abilities so you start to ask yourself what's his secret is going to be.
And the third one is a shattered ex-cop who now works as a detective and looks after his terminally ill little sister.
How does it all go together and what do they have to do with each other? For more tha 750 pages they fight for their lives and that's so thrilling that you can't put the book down anymore. A certain amount of comedy is also involved, to keep the balance. I liked most about the book that it isn't as predictable as for example "Door to December". Piece by piece one learns the (sometimes unbelievable) connections and one just has to know how it all ends. Everyone who isn't afraid of a big book can look forward to some exciting hours!
[Dorothée Büttgen, November 04]
"On the road, on a hot Arizona night, Dylan O'Conner is overpowered by a stranger who injects him with an unknown substance. All he's told is that he's the "carrier" not of a disease but of something wondrous that will transform his life in remarkable ways - if it doesn't kill him in the next twenty-four hours. Now Dylan, his autistic brother, Shep, and another "carrier", a young woman, are swept into a desperate search for the shattering truth of what they are and what they might become. But first they must elude those sent to destroy them. Their only chance to survive is to discover the meaning of the messages that Shep, with precious time running out, begins to repeat, about a man who does his work ... by the light of the moon."
Some conversations between Dylan and Jilly, especially in the beginning of the story, seem to be rather screwball-comedy-like but the more they get to know each other the rarer those conversation get. And there is no love story, which is worth a positive mention.
[Dorothée Büttgen, February 04]
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