Another day another finished book! After having taken so long to finish the previous one this one was a breath of fresh air. It is good to get the total book count down a bit more. Especially since I have made an executive decision and am going to allow myself to buy some books for my birthday (28th April). Quite how and when these books will be acquired is yet to be decided. I might go online, I might decided to spend a wee while at the various second hand book shops of Milton Keynes, I might even go a bit further afield than Milton Keynes! Either way... decision made! I am going to end the dry spell of non-book-buying behaviour and lavish myself in the joy of buying books.... bliss.
Some of the books on the list: Sebastian Faulks - Girl at the lion d'or and Birdsong, Diary of Nobody, The End of the Affair (anything by Graham Greene really!), A woman in white, Ghormenghast, The postman always rings twice.. who was it again that wrote that one? Books by Dashiel Hammett (US pulp writer), oh... and the rest of the Philip Marlowe ones, love them!... ooh ooh and then there is that series by Wordsworth of Books of the Mysterious and Supernatural a lot of them are Ghost story ones so they will be nice for my collection... Ah man I am getting all excited thinking about what I can buy. Some of these were inspired by Sebastian Faulks' recent series on the BBC called Faulks on Fiction. He discussed a lot of books according to themes and some of them sounded really interesting. Another reason for me to treat myself to some new books is that I got a promotion at work and surely that deserves a treat!?
Only 10 more sleeps before the fun can start!!!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Dean Koontz - By the Light of the Moon
I am not sure if it is me or if I am just getting used to the way that Koontz plots his novels but this one has a simple plot that can be summarised in a few sentences and in effect nothing that much happens. Also the end is a bit... how shall I put it.. disappointing, too sweet, too perfect?
The story gives us three main characters. Dylan - the dependable one, the older brother, the caretaker, the rock, the one who makes you feel that everything will be okay. Like some other of Koontz' main characters he looks big, bulky, like a bit of a brute but he actually has a kind temperament and is an artist. What you see ain't what you get.
Then we have Shep - the younger brother, he has some kind of autism ans is locked up in his own world where everything needs to be orderly, predictable and square. In a way he is the bane of his brother's life but a burden that is (usually) suffered gladly by Dylan. Both brothers love one another dearly and travel around together. Dylan paints and Shep sheps. They have lost both parents - dad committed suicide and mum got shot by a burglar.. Well, that is what they believe is the truth at the start anyway. We find out in the end that again not is as it seems.
The third of the trinity is Jilly - she is the one that gets involved without any reason, sort of the accidental victim of circumstances. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. She is a feisty woman and at times very defensive and fiercely independent. Naturally there is a reason for this behaviour in this case a weirdo dad that used to come round threatening to poke her eyes out.
All three get injected with some kind of experimental serum that will change their lives forever. Dylan gets premonitions when he touches things, Jilly gets premonitions but they are less focused and later one she learns to fold time and space (basically that means she can jump from one location to another). Shep gets a bit more responsive, more talkative less withdrawn and turns out to be ace at folding space and time.
Being injected naturally involves some guys with guns being after you to try and terminate your lease with life early and the three of them have to go on the run. They prevent some major mayhem on the way and become as close as any set of strangers thrown together by a common enemy and common experience. The action of the books is good. Koontz keeps up the pace and by the time you reach the 200 page stage you feel that lots has happened and we are really only on the first day of meeting our newly injected friends. We know a bit about each of the characters' powers and we know there is more to come as Jilly's vision has not come to fruition yet. Her seems to be the big one the one that is going to be dramatic and the one that they are duty bound to prevent from happening!
The problem I have with the book is at the end. They manage to prevent Jilly's vision from becoming real and then fold away to somewhere quiet to contemplate what to do now. They realise that they really have no choice in the matter and that the new "powers" that they have been given will compel them to want to do right even at the expense of their own safety. They feel they are duty bound to act and be agents for good.. for it is the right thing to do. This is where the book could have ended and it would have been perfectly fine. Our heroes are resting, we know they will do the right thing, be agents for good and we can only hope that perhaps mr Koontz will write us another book detailing more of their adventures. However, there is more to come. Apparently we have to find out more about the how and why. Apparently we need to know that the brothers were not chosen at random (although Jilly was), that the deaths of both parents were not as we thought they were accidents but that there was a malevolent force involved. It was then also necessary for the evil to be taken out of the equasion and for them all (they are joined by a guy called Parish Lantern at the end as well... what all the other names were taken, no inspiration?) to form a happy band of forces for good, calling themselves The Moonlight Club. It is like Koontz wants to push the point that these people will be happy and will be fighting evil with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts.
Well.... actually mr Koontz, I did not need to know all that. I get the fact that you want to emphasise the fact that the good guys are not just avengers out of anger (which they could have been seen as had the truth of their parents' deaths have been revealed to them earlier on in the book) but do good for all the right reasons. I get the fact that there can be evil that is so bad that to remove it from the gene pool can be a blessing and that one can be forgiven for taking that road (do a wrong for the right reasons). But, honestly... next time quite while you're ahead. It should have ended with them siting there, coming down from the boost of adrenaline that they must have had form preventing a terrible thing from happening.... and Shep wanting cake.
Title: By the Light of the Moon
Author: Dean Koontz
472pages
Headline
ISBN nr 978-0-753-4252-5
Books bought: 0 ..... but that will change soon enough!!
Books to be read: 64
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